1. A mobile body monitoring system having a terminal device and a monitoring device, wherein the monitoring device monitors an unidentified mobile body by collecting information on the unidentified mobile body around the terminal device,

it is characterized in that the preparation method is characterized in that,

the terminal device comprises an information acquisition unit, a detection information generation unit, and a terminal-side communication unit,

the information acquisition unit acquires unknown moving object information including position information of the unknown moving object,

the detection information generation unit generates detection information on an unknown moving object, the detection information on the unknown moving object being obtained by adding time information at a time point when the information on the unknown moving object is obtained and identification information on the unknown moving object to the obtained information on the unknown moving object,

the terminal-side communication unit transmits the generated detection information,

the monitoring device includes an integrated side communication unit and a determination unit, wherein,

the integrated-side communication unit receives the detection information transmitted from the terminal-side communication unit,

the judging section judges whether or not the unknown moving body exists based on the received detection information,

the determination unit sets the accuracy of the detection information based on the number of pieces of detection information in which a predetermined unknown moving body is detected at the same time and at the same position.

2. A mobile body monitoring system having a plurality of terminal devices and a monitoring device, wherein one of the monitoring devices monitors an unknown mobile body by collecting information on the unknown mobile body around each of the plurality of terminal devices,

it is characterized in that the preparation method is characterized in that,

each of the plurality of terminal devices has an information acquisition unit, a detection information generation unit, and a terminal-side communication unit,

the information acquisition unit acquires unknown moving object information including information on the presence or absence of the unknown moving object and information on the position of the unknown moving object when the unknown moving object is present,

the detection information generation unit generates detection information on an unknown moving object, the detection information on the unknown moving object being obtained by adding time information at a time point when the information on the unknown moving object is obtained and identification information on the unknown moving object to the obtained information on the unknown moving object,

the terminal-side communication unit transmits the generated detection information,

the monitoring device includes an integrated side communication unit and a determination unit, wherein,

the integrated-side communication unit receives a plurality of pieces of detection information transmitted from the plurality of terminal-side communication units,

the judging section judges whether or not the unknown moving object exists based on the plurality of pieces of the received detection information,

the determination unit sets the accuracy of the detection information based on the number of pieces of detection information in which a predetermined unknown moving body is detected at the same time and at the same position, with respect to the plurality of pieces of detection information received.

3. The moving body monitoring system according to claim 2,

a plurality of the terminal devices are respectively provided on a plurality of mobile bodies on one hand, and the monitoring device is provided on a mobile body on the other hand,

the integrated-side communication unit of the monitoring device installed in the mobile body receives the plurality of pieces of detection information transmitted from the plurality of terminal-side communication units, respectively, by performing communication with the plurality of terminal devices installed in the plurality of mobile bodies, respectively.

4. According to claimThe moving body monitoring system according to any one of the above aspects,

the identification information added to the detection information on the unknown moving object includes category information indicating a category of the unknown moving object,

the determination unit of the monitoring device sets the accuracy of the detection information based on the type information of the unknown moving object included in the identification information in the detection information in which the predetermined unknown moving object is detected at the same time and at the same position with respect to the plurality of pieces of the received detection information.

5. The moving body monitoring system according to any one of claims 1 to 3,

the integrated communication unit of the monitoring device transmits a request for acquiring the unknown moving object information at a predetermined time,

the information acquiring unit included in each of the plurality of terminal devices acquires the unknown moving object information at the designated time.

6. The moving body monitoring system according to claim 5,

the determination unit of the monitoring device sets the accuracy of the detection information based on the total number of the detection information obtained by adding the number of the detection information items in which the predetermined unknown moving object is not present to the number of the detection information items in which the predetermined unknown moving object is detected at the same time and at the same position.

7. The moving body monitoring system according to claim 5,

the information acquisition unit of each of the plurality of terminal devices is configured to include an external sensor that detects external information including information on presence/absence and position of an object present around each of the plurality of moving bodies,

the unknown moving body information includes information of detection accuracy of external information relating to the external sensor,

a determination unit included in the monitoring apparatus preferentially determines whether or not the unknown moving object exists using first detection information obtained based on information on the unknown moving object detected by the external sensor with a first detection accuracy, when the plurality of pieces of detection information received include the first detection information and second detection information; the second detection information is information obtained based on information of an unknown moving body detected by the external sensor with a second detection accuracy lower than the first detection accuracy.

8. The moving body monitoring system according to claim 3,

a determination unit provided in a monitoring device provided in the mobile body, the determination unit determining whether or not the current position of the unknown mobile body has entered a dead angle region of the mobile body,

a determination unit of a monitoring device provided in the mobile body, wherein when the received plurality of pieces of detection information include third detection information and fourth detection information, the determination unit preferentially uses the third detection information to determine whether the unknown mobile body exists, the third detection information being information obtained based on information indicating that the unknown mobile body has entered the dead angle region; the fourth detection information is information obtained based on unknown moving body information indicating that the moving body does not enter the blind spot region.

9. A mobile body monitoring method used in a mobile body monitoring system having a plurality of terminal devices provided in a plurality of mobile bodies, respectively, and one monitoring device for monitoring an unknown mobile body by collecting information on the unknown mobile body around each of the plurality of mobile bodies,

the moving body monitoring method is characterized in that,

the plurality of terminal devices each perform the steps of:

acquiring unknown moving body information including information on presence or absence of the unknown moving body and position information of the unknown moving body when the unknown moving body is present;

generating detection information on an unknown moving object, the detection information being obtained by adding time information at the time point when the information on the unknown moving object was obtained and identification information on the unknown moving object to the obtained information on the unknown moving object; and

transmitting the generated detection information on the unknown moving body,

the monitoring device performs the steps of:

receiving a plurality of pieces of detection information transmitted from a plurality of terminal apparatuses, respectively; and

determining whether the unknown moving body exists or not based on the received plurality of detection information,

in the step of determining whether or not the unknown moving object is present, the accuracy of the detection information is set based on the number of pieces of detection information in which a predetermined unknown moving object is detected at the same time and at the same position with respect to the plurality of pieces of received detection information.

10. The moving body monitoring method according to claim 9,

the identification information added to the detection information on the unknown moving object includes category information indicating a category of the unknown moving object,

in the step of determining whether or not the unknown moving object is present, the accuracy of the detection information is set based on the type information of the unknown moving object, which is information included in the identification information in the detection information in which a predetermined unknown moving object is detected at the same time and at the same position, with respect to the plurality of pieces of received detection information.

Background

Recently, in order to reduce the driving load of the driver and to realize safe and comfortable vehicle running, an autonomous vehicle having an autonomous function has been increasingly popularized.

In order to realize safe operation of an autonomous vehicle, a driving assistance device provided in the autonomous vehicle is required to accurately grasp distribution information of objects including objects such as guardrails, traffic lights, signs, and the like existing around the vehicle and other traffic participants such as vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians.

In order to meet such a demand, for example, patent literature 1 describes an invention of an obstacle map generating device that generates an obstacle map indicating a movable area, an obstacle occupied area, and a blind spot area using information of an obstacle observed by an obstacle observation means.

Specifically, the invention of the obstacle map generation device according to patent document 1 includes: an obstacle information acquisition unit that acquires information on an obstacle observed by an obstacle observation mechanism; a calculation unit that calculates a position of the obstacle based on the obstacle information acquired by the obstacle information acquisition unit; a virtual point setting unit that sets a position different from a position where the obstacle observation mechanism is provided as a virtual point; and a virtual area specifying unit that specifies the movable area and the dead angle area based on the position of the virtual point and the position of the obstacle, with the position of the virtual point as a base point.

According to the obstacle map generation device of patent document 1, it is possible to contribute to safe operation of the autonomous vehicle by providing the obstacle map related to the distribution information of the obstacles.

[ Prior art documents ]

[ patent document ]

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2020-4144

Disclosure of Invention

[ problem to be solved by the invention ]

However, according to the invention of the obstacle map generating device of patent document 1, there is still a technical problem that it is difficult to accurately and exhaustively grasp information on an unknown moving object in a blind spot area of an observation point. In addition, there is a technical problem of questioning the reliability of information on an unknown moving body.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a mobile object monitoring system and a mobile object monitoring method capable of improving the accuracy of information on an unknown mobile object in a blind spot area of an observation point.

[ solution for solving problems ]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a mobile object monitoring system according to (1) of the present invention is a mobile object monitoring system including a terminal device and a monitoring device, wherein the monitoring device monitors an unknown mobile object by collecting information on the unknown mobile object around the terminal device, and the terminal device includes an information acquisition unit that acquires unknown mobile object information including position information of the unknown mobile object, a detection information generation unit that generates detection information on the unknown mobile object obtained by adding time information at a time point when the information on the unknown mobile object is acquired and identification information on the unknown mobile object to the acquired unknown mobile object information, and a terminal-side communication unit, the monitoring device includes an integrated-side communication unit that receives the detection information transmitted from the terminal-side communication unit, and a determination unit that determines whether or not the unknown moving object is present based on the received detection information, wherein the determination unit sets the accuracy of the detection information based on the number of pieces of detection information in which a predetermined unknown moving object is detected at the same time and at the same position with respect to the received detection information.

[ Effect of the invention ]

According to the present invention, the accuracy of information on an unknown mobile object in a blind spot region of an observation point can be improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an outline of a mobile object monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an in-vehicle device having a terminal apparatus.

Fig. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a communication frame transmitted from a terminal device to a monitoring device in the mobile monitoring system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a monitoring device.

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing information processing procedures performed in sequence by each of a terminal device (responder) and a monitoring device (requester) in the mobile monitoring system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is an overall configuration diagram showing an outline of a mobile object monitoring system according to a modification of the embodiment of the present invention.

[ description of reference numerals ]

11: a mobile body monitoring system; 13: an unknown moving body; 15: a vehicle (moving body); 17: a terminal device; 19: a monitoring device; 21: a roadside apparatus; 61: an information acquisition unit; 63: a detection information generation unit; 65: a terminal-side communication unit; 91: an integrated side communication unit; 93: a determination unit.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, a moving object monitoring system and a moving object monitoring method according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In the drawings shown below, the same reference numerals are given to components which have the same functions and are not necessarily distinguished from each other. In addition, the size and shape of the components may be schematically shown in a deformed or exaggerated manner for convenience of explanation.

[ Structure of moving body monitoring System 11 ]

First, the configuration of a mobile object monitoring system 11 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 1.

Fig. 1 is a general configuration diagram illustrating a mobile object monitoring system 11 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 1, the moving object monitoring system 11 according to the embodiment of the present invention has a monitoring function of monitoring an unknown moving object 13 by integrating information on the unknown moving object 13 at each detection point acquired by vehicle-to-vehicle communication or road-to-vehicle communication.

In order to realize the monitoring function, as shown in fig. 1, the mobile object monitoring system 11 is configured to include a plurality of terminal devices 17a to 17g and one monitoring device 19, which are provided in a plurality of vehicles 15a to 15g, respectively.

When it is not necessary to particularly distinguish the plurality of vehicles 15a to 15g, these vehicles are collectively referred to as the vehicle 15 only. Similarly, when it is not necessary to particularly distinguish the plurality of terminal apparatuses 17a to 17g, these apparatuses are collectively referred to as only the terminal apparatus 17. The plurality of vehicles 15a to 15g correspond to "moving bodies" of the present invention, respectively. The "moving body" of the present invention is assumed to be all objects that can move, such as a large vehicle, a general vehicle, a motorcycle, a bicycle, a pedestrian, and the like.

The monitoring device 19 is provided in, for example, a roadside apparatus 21. The monitoring device 19 has a function of monitoring the unknown mobile bodies 13 around the plurality of vehicles 15a to 15g in cooperation with the plurality of terminal devices 17a to 17 g.

Here, the unknown moving body 13 is a moving body that locally enters a dead-angle area 18 of an observation point (in the example of fig. 1, a vehicle 15g), and is, for example, another vehicle, a motorcycle, a bicycle, a pedestrian, or the like that exists around the own vehicle 15. In particular, in the present invention, the unknown mobile object 13 is assumed to be all mobile objects showing suspicious behavior such as moving at a speed different from the speed (including parking) of the host vehicle 15 and other vehicles in the vicinity thereof.

The blind spot region 18 of a certain observation point is a region that is not directly visible from the observation point, and is a region that extends behind an object including an object and a marker existing around the observation point.

The reason why such an unknown moving object 13 is to be monitored is as follows: according to the knowledge of the present inventors, there is a tendency that such an unknown mobile body 13 disturbs the traffic flow and causes a traffic accident with high reliability.

Next, the installation environment of the terminal device 17 and the monitoring device 19 mounted on each vehicle 15 will be described.

Fig. 1 shows an unknown mobile object 13 passing near a T-intersection 5 and a plurality of vehicles 15a to 15 g. At a T-intersection 5 shown in fig. 1, a single-side two-lane trunk road 7 and a single-side one-lane branch road 9 intersect in a T-shape.

On the one-side two-lane arterial road 7, 3 vehicles 15b, 15d, 15f on the right lane 7a and 3 vehicles 15a, 15c, 15e on the left lane 7b travel slowly in the traveling direction, respectively. These vehicles 15a to 15f have respective terminal devices 17a to 17f as respondents. The terminal devices 17a to 17f as the respondents are providers of the detection information.

In short, 3 terminal devices 17b, 17d, and 17f provided for 3 vehicles 15b, 15d, and 15f present in the right lane 7a, and 3 terminal devices 17a, 17c, and 17e provided for 3 vehicles 15a, 15c, and 15e present in the left lane 7b, are arranged on the highway 7 shown in fig. 1.

On the one-side one-lane branch road 9, one vehicle 15g stops at the stop line 10 on the left travel lane 9a toward the traveling direction. The vehicle 15g has a terminal device 17g as a requester. The requesting terminal device 17g is a party that requests the provision of the detection information.

In short, one terminal device 17g of one vehicle 15g existing on the travel lane 9a is provided on the branch road 9 shown in fig. 1. The driver of the vehicle 15g waits for a chance to merge into the inter-vehicle gap 16 between the vehicle 15d and the vehicle 15b on the right lane 7a in the main road 7, which is the priority road.

The unknown object 13 is not particularly limited, and is, for example, a motorcycle. The unknown moving body 13 passes through the left side while traveling at a higher speed than the surrounding vehicles 15 in the traveling direction of the slowly traveling vehicles 15f and 15d in the right lane 7a of the highway 7.

The monitoring device 19 is provided at a left corner in the traveling direction of the branch road 9 at the T-intersection 5 shown in fig. 1.

The T-intersection 5 is not particularly limited, and is, for example, a place where traffic accidents frequently occur.

The T-intersection 5 has a technical problem that the movement of all obstacles including an unknown moving object 13 and a vehicle 15 traveling on the arterial road 7 cannot be fully seen due to blind spots at the time of congestion. In the example shown in fig. 1, a dead-angle region 18 exists behind a vehicle 15c as viewed from a driver of the vehicle 15g in a parking waiting state at a stop line 10 in a driving lane 9a of a branch road 9. The whole of the unknown moving body 13 and the vehicle 15f, and also the rear portion of the vehicle 15d enter the dead-angle region 18.

Here, the unknown mobile object 13 that has entered the dead zone 18 of the driver of the vehicle 15g as a whole is expected to enter the T-intersection 5 at a higher speed than the vehicle 15 from the gap between the plurality of vehicles 15 constituting the vehicle group.

In such a case, when the driver of the vehicle 15g attempts to merge into the inter-vehicle gap 16 between the vehicle 15b and the vehicle 15d in the right lane 7a on the highway 7 and enters the T-intersection 5 only by paying attention to the operation of the vehicle 15d, there is a possibility of head-on collision with the unknown mobile body 13.

Therefore, in the moving body monitoring system 11 according to the embodiment of the present invention, by monitoring the unknown moving body 13 by integrating the detection information (details will be described later) on the unknown moving body 13 at each detection point acquired via the inter-vehicle communication or the road-to-vehicle communication, the accuracy of the information on the unknown moving body 13 existing in the dead angle region 18 with respect to the vehicle 15g can be significantly improved.

[ Structure of the in-vehicle device 31 having the terminal device 17 ]

Next, the configuration of the in-vehicle device 31 including the terminal apparatus 17 will be described with reference to fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the in-vehicle device 31 having the terminal apparatus 17.

As shown in fig. 2, the in-vehicle apparatus 31 has an input/output device 33 and a vehicle control device 35, and the vehicle control device 35 has a terminal device 17 and a driving assistance device 34. The vehicle control device 35 is connected to the driving device 37.

As shown in fig. 2, the input/output device 33 is configured to include an external sensor 41, a navigation device 43, a V2X communication device 45, a vehicle state sensor 47, and an HMI (Human Machine Interface) 49.

[ external sensor 41]

The environment sensor 41 has a function of detecting environment information on an object including an object or a logo around the host vehicle 15. The environment sensor 41 is configured to include a camera 51, a radar 53, and a laser radar 55.

The camera 51 has an optical axis inclined obliquely downward in front of the vehicle, and has a function of capturing an image in the traveling direction of the vehicle 15. As the camera 51, for example, a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) camera, a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) camera, or the like can be suitably used. The camera 51 is provided near a rear view mirror (not shown) in the cabin of the vehicle 15, and in the front portion of a right side door and the front portion of a left side door outside the cabin of the vehicle 15.

The camera 51 repeatedly captures external images of the front, right rear, left rear, and rear of the vehicle 15 in the traveling direction substantially periodically. However, when an acquisition request for acquiring the moving object monitoring information is generated from the vehicle control device 35, the outside world image is captured at the timing according to the acquisition request.

In the present embodiment, the camera 51 provided near the rear view mirror is formed by, for example, arranging a pair of monocular cameras side by side. However, the camera 51 may be a stereo camera.

The image information of the forward, right rear, left rear, and rear in the traveling direction of the host vehicle 15 captured by the camera 51 is transmitted to the vehicle control device 35.

The radar 53 has the following functions: the distribution information of the target object including the distance to the target object and the direction of the target object is acquired by irradiating the target object including the preceding vehicle to be a following object traveling ahead of the host vehicle 15 with a radar wave and receiving the radar wave reflected by the target object. As the radar wave, laser light, microwave, millimeter wave, ultrasonic wave, or the like can be suitably used.

In the present embodiment, for example, 3 radars 53 are provided on the front side and 2 radars are provided on the rear side, and the total number is 5 radars. The distribution information of the target objects of the radar 53 is transmitted to the vehicle control device 35.

The laser radar 55 (LIDAR: Light Detection and Ranging) has, for example, the following functions: the presence or absence of the target object and the distance to the target object are detected by measuring the time required for detection of the scattered light with respect to the irradiation light. In the present embodiment, for example, the laser radar 55 is provided with 2 on the front side and 3 on the rear side, and the total number is 5. The distribution information of the target object acquired by the laser radar 55 is transmitted to the vehicle control device 35.

[ navigation device 43]

The navigation device 43 has the following functions: the current position of the own vehicle 15 is drawn on a map and route guidance to a destination or the like is performed. The Navigation device 43 is configured to include a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receiver, Navigation map information, a touch panel display device functioning as a human interface, a speaker, a microphone (none of which are shown), and the like. The navigation device 43 infers the current position of the own vehicle 15 through the GNSS receiver, and derives a path from the current position to a destination specified by the user.

The current position of the own vehicle 15 estimated by the navigation device 43 and the route to the destination derived by the navigation device 43 are supplied to the vehicle control device 35.

[ V2X communication device 45]

The V2X communication device 45 has the following functions: inter-vehicle communication (V2V communication) is performed with a nearby vehicle 15 other than the host vehicle 15 via a wireless communication medium, or road-to-vehicle communication (V2R communication) is performed with a roadside device 21 provided on a highway 7 on which the host vehicle 15 travels. The communication protocol of the V2X communication device 45 is not particularly limited, but, for example, TCP/IP may be suitably used.

The V2X communication device 45 broadcasts (transmits by broadcast) the detection information (see fig. 3) generated by the detection information generating unit 63 (details will be described later) to the nearby vehicle 15 and the roadside apparatus 21 other than the own vehicle 15.

[ own vehicle state sensor 47]

The own-vehicle state sensor 47 has a function of acquiring own-vehicle state information relating to the state of the own vehicle 15. The own-vehicle state information acquired by the own-vehicle state sensor 47 is transmitted to the vehicle control device 35.

The vehicle state sensor 47 includes, for example, a speed sensor, an acceleration sensor, a steering angle sensor, a yaw rate sensor, a position sensor, and an orientation sensor for detecting the behavior of the vehicle 15. The vehicle state sensor 47 may include a sensor that detects the behavior (squint) of the driver and biological information (e.g., heart rate and wakefulness).

[HMI49]

The HMI49 has constituent elements of a driving operation system and constituent elements of a non-driving operation system. The limits thereof are not clear, and a configuration may be adopted in which the constituent members of the driving operation system have the functions of the non-driving operation system (or vice versa).

The HMI49 includes, for example, an accelerator pedal, an accelerator opening degree sensor and an accelerator pedal reaction force output device, a brake pedal and a brake pedal depression amount sensor, a shift lever and a shift lever position sensor, a steering wheel steering angle sensor, and a steering torque sensor as constituent members of a driving operation system.

The HMI49 includes, for example, a multifunction display, a speaker, various operation switches, a seat and a seat driving device, a window glass and a window glass driving device, and a vehicle interior camera provided in a console, as components of a non-driving operation system.

[ Structure of vehicle control device 35 ]

Next, the internal configuration of the vehicle control device 35 mounted on the host vehicle 15 will be described with reference to fig. 2 and 3.

Fig. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a communication frame 39 transmitted from the terminal device 17 to the monitoring device 19 in the mobile monitoring system 11 according to the present invention.

The vehicle control device 35 is realized by, for example, one or more processors or hardware having equivalent functions. The vehicle Control device 35 may be configured by a combination of a processor such as a cpu (central Processing Unit), a storage device, and an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) or an MPU (Micro-Processing Unit) having a communication interface connected via an internal bus.

Specifically, the vehicle control device 35 has a function of generating detection information on an unknown mobile body 13 around the host vehicle 15 by the external sensor 41 mounted on the host vehicle 15, a function of broadcasting the generated detection information, and a function of performing driving assistance of the host vehicle 15 including acceleration/deceleration/steering of the host vehicle 15.

In order to realize the above function, as shown in fig. 2, the vehicle control device 35 has the terminal device 17 and the driving assistance device 34.

[ Structure of terminal device 17 ]

Next, the terminal device 17 included in the vehicle control device 35 will be described with reference to fig. 2.

As shown in fig. 2, the terminal device 17 included in the vehicle control device 35 includes an information acquisition unit 61, a detection information generation unit 63, and a terminal-side communication unit 65.

The information acquiring unit 61 has a function of acquiring unknown moving object information including information on the presence or absence of an unknown moving object 13 around the host vehicle 15 and position information. However, the position information of the unknown moving object 13 is acquired in the presence of the unknown moving object 13. In the following description, the unknown moving object information may be referred to as information on the unknown moving object 13. This is because the unknown moving object information is a synthetic word corresponding to a lower concept of the information on the unknown moving object 13.

The information on the presence or absence of the unknown moving object 13 is information on whether or not the unknown moving object 13 is present around the host vehicle 15. The positional information of the unknown moving object 13 is positional information (for example, three-dimensional coordinates) of the unknown moving object 13 at a time point when the external sensor 41 acquires information on the unknown moving object 13.

When there are a plurality of unknown moving objects 13, the information on the presence or absence of an unknown moving object 13 and the position information are acquired in correspondence with each of the unknown moving objects 13 different from each other.

As shown in fig. 3, unknown moving object information including information on the presence or absence of an unknown moving object 13 and position information is used as information of the communication frame 39.

As shown in fig. 3, the detection information generating unit 63 has a function of generating detection information on the unknown moving object 13, which is obtained by adding time information at the time point when the unknown moving object information is acquired and identification information on the unknown moving object 13 to the unknown moving object information acquired by the information acquiring unit 61.

The time information at the time point when the unknown moving object information is acquired is the time information at the time point when the position information of the unknown moving object 13 is acquired by the external sensor 41. The identification information on the unknown moving object 13 is information unique to the unknown moving object 13 and capable of identifying the unknown moving object 13. Specifically, for example, the license plate number attached to the unknown mobile object 13 corresponds to the identification information on the unknown mobile object 13. The type of the unknown moving object 13 (whether it is a vehicle, a motorcycle, a bicycle, a pedestrian, or the like) is included in the concept of the identification information about the unknown moving object 13.

The time information is expressed in terms of absolute time. The absolute time is a time that can be shared with high accuracy, such as a time expressed as a formal number of elapsed seconds from a predetermined time in coordinated Universal Time (UTC) (a number of seconds obtained by subtracting a leap second inserted therebetween from a substantial number of elapsed seconds and adding a deleted leap second).

As shown in fig. 3, detection information including time information at the time when the position information of the unknown moving object 13 is acquired and identification information on the unknown moving object 13 is used as the information of the communication frame 39. The information loaded on the communication frame 39 includes vehicle information including vehicle identification information, vehicle position information, and transmission time information, and destination information (not shown) in addition to the detection information.

The own vehicle identification information is information unique to the own vehicle 15, which can uniquely identify the own vehicle 15. Specifically, for example, the license plate number attached to the host vehicle 15 corresponds to the host vehicle identification information.

The own vehicle position information is position information (for example, three-dimensional coordinates) of the own vehicle 15 at the time when the external sensor 41 acquires information on the unknown moving object 13.

The transmission time information is the time (time stamp) at which the terminal device 17 transmits the communication frame 39 to the monitoring device 19.

The destination information is information on the destination of the communication frame 39. In the embodiment according to the present invention, the destination information of the communication frame 39 is set to "broadcast". This is based on the following reasons: in the present invention, at an intersection where a plurality of vehicles 15, for which destination information is unknown, pass, it is necessary to transmit a communication frame 39 including necessary information to the plurality of vehicles 15.

The terminal-side communication unit 65 has a function of transmitting the communication frame 39 including the detection information on the unknown moving object 13 generated by the detection information generation unit 63 to a predetermined destination based on the destination information (broadcast).

The functions of the information acquiring unit 61, the detection information generating unit 63, and the terminal-side communication unit 65 of the terminal device 17 are realized by a processor executing a program (software). Some or all of these functions may be realized by hardware such as LSI (Large Scale Integration) or asic (application Specific Integrated circuit), or may be realized by a combination of software and hardware.

[ Structure of the driving assistance device 34 ]

As shown in fig. 2, the driving assistance device 34 included in the vehicle control device 35 includes an external information acquisition unit 71, a recognition unit 73, a driving assistance control unit 75, and a travel display control unit 77.

The external information acquisition unit 71 has a function of acquiring external information on an object including an object or a logo around the host vehicle 15. The external information acquired by the external information acquisition unit 71 is sent to the recognition unit 73.

The recognition unit 73 has a vehicle position recognition function, an external recognition function, an action plan generation function, a trajectory generation function, and the like.

In the own vehicle position recognition function, the traveling lane of the own vehicle 15 and the relative position of the own vehicle 15 with respect to the traveling lane are recognized.

The external environment recognition function recognizes an external environment state including the position, the vehicle speed, and the acceleration of the nearby vehicle 15.

In the action plan generating function, a start point and a destination of the automated driving are set.

The trajectory generation function generates a trajectory on which the host vehicle 15 should travel, based on the action plan generated by the action plan generation function.

The vehicle position information and the external information recognized by the recognition unit 73 are sent to the driving support control unit 75. The information on the start point of the automated driving and/or the destination of the automated driving set by the recognition unit 73 is transmitted to the driving assistance control unit 75. The information on the trajectory on which the host vehicle 15 is to travel, which is generated by the recognition unit 73, is transmitted to the driving support control unit 75.

The driving assistance control unit 75 has a function of determining the guideline of the driving assistance control including the driving force control, the steering control, and the braking force control, based on the operation of the driver, the start point and the destination of the automatic driving set by the action plan generating function, the trajectory to be traveled by the host vehicle 15 generated by the trajectory generating function, and the like. The guideline of the driving assistance control determined by the driving assistance control portion 75 is sent to the travel display control portion 77.

The travel display control unit 77 performs travel control of the host vehicle 15 including driving force control, steering control, and braking force control in accordance with the control policy of the driving assistance determined by the driving assistance control unit 75. The travel display control unit 77 performs display control of a display device included in the vehicle 15.

The functions of the external information acquisition unit 71, the recognition unit 73, the driving support control unit 75, and the travel display control unit 77 of the driving support device 34 are realized by a processor executing a program (software). Some or all of these functions may be realized by hardware such as an LSI (Large Scale Integration) or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or may be realized by a combination of software and hardware.

[ Structure of steering device 37 ]

As shown in fig. 2, the steering device 37 is configured to include a driving device 81, a steering device 83, and a braking device 85.

The driving device 81 outputs driving force (torque) for running the host vehicle 15 to the driving wheels in accordance with a control command of the driving support device 34 included in the vehicle control device 35.

In the case where the subject vehicle 15 is, for example, an automobile using an internal combustion engine as a power source, the drive device 81 includes the internal combustion engine, a transmission, and an engine ECU (Electronic Control Unit) (not shown) that controls the internal combustion engine.

In the case where the vehicle 15 is an electric vehicle using an electric motor as a power source, the driving device 81 includes a traction motor and a motor ECU (both not shown) that controls the traction motor.

When the host vehicle 15 is a hybrid vehicle, the drive device 81 includes an internal combustion engine, a transmission, an engine ECU, a traction motor, and a motor ECU (none of which are shown).

The steering device 83 includes, for example, a steering ECU and an electric motor (both not shown). The electric motor changes the orientation of the steering wheel by applying a force to the rack and pinion mechanism, for example. The steering ECU drives the electric motor in accordance with a control command from the driving assistance device 34 provided in the vehicle control device 35 or information on a steering angle and a steering torque based on a steering wheel operation by the driver, thereby changing the direction of the steered wheels.

The brake device 85 is, for example, an electric servo brake device (not shown) including a brake caliper (brake caliper), a cylinder that transmits hydraulic pressure to the brake caliper, an electric motor that generates hydraulic pressure in the cylinder, and a brake control unit. The brake control unit of the electric servo brake device controls the electric motor in accordance with a control command of the driving assistance device 34 included in the vehicle control device 35, and operates to output a brake torque corresponding to a brake operation to each wheel.

[ Structure of monitoring device 19 ]

Next, the monitoring device 19 included in the roadside apparatus 21 will be described with reference to fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a functional block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the monitoring device 19.

The monitoring device 19 included in the roadside apparatus 21 is realized by, for example, one or more processors or hardware having equivalent functions. The monitoring device 19 may be configured by a combination of a processor such as a cpu (central Processing Unit), a storage device, and an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) or an MPU (Micro-Processing Unit) having a communication interface connected via an internal bus.

The roadside apparatus 21 includes a GPS receiving unit 99 and an external sensor 41 in addition to the monitoring device 19. Therefore, before describing the monitoring device 19, the GPS receiving unit 99 and the external sensor 41 will be described.

The GPS receiver 99 has a function of receiving positioning signals from a plurality of GPS satellites and measuring the absolute position (latitude, longitude, and altitude) of the roadside apparatus 21 based on the positioning signals.

The environment sensor 41 has a function of detecting and acquiring environment information on an object including an object and a logo existing around the roadside apparatus 21.

As shown in fig. 4, the monitoring device 19 includes an integrated-side communication unit 91 and a determination unit 93.

As shown in fig. 4, the integrated-side communication unit 91 has the following functions: the detection information on the plurality of unknown moving objects 13 transmitted from the terminal-side communication units 65 of the terminal devices 17 of the plurality of terminal devices 17 mounted on the vehicles 15 of the plurality of vehicles 15, respectively, is received. The detection information on the plurality of unknown moving objects 13 received by the integrated communication unit 91 is sent to the determination unit 93.

The judgment section 93 basically has the following functions: the presence/absence of the unknown moving object 13 is determined based on the plurality of pieces of detection information on the unknown moving object 13 received by the integrated communication unit 91.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 4, the determination unit 93 includes a dead-space region determination unit 95 and an accuracy setting unit 97.

The dead angle region determination unit 95 has a function of determining whether or not the unknown moving object 13 is present in the dead angle region 18 of a certain observation point (in the example of fig. 1, the vehicle 15 g).

As described above, the blind spot region 18 of a certain observation point is a region that is not directly visible from the observation point, and is a region that extends behind an object including objects and markers present around the observation point.

In determining whether or not the unknown moving object 13 is present in the blind spot region 18 at the observation point, for example, a technique related to blind spot region determination described in patent application publication (international publication No. WO2018/216194) filed by the present applicant can be appropriately employed. The technique related to the determination of the blind spot area described in this publication is part of the items described in the present invention (determination of whether or not an unknown moving object 13 is present in the blind spot area 18 at a certain observation point) by this reference.

The accuracy setting section 97 has the following functions: the accuracy of the detection information is set based on the number of pieces of detection information of the unknown moving object 13, which means that the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position, among the plurality of pieces of detection information received by the integrated communication unit 91.

The accuracy of the detection information is an index for measuring the accuracy of information on an unknown moving body included in the detection information, including the presence/absence information and the position information of the unknown moving body 13.

There are various algorithms for setting the accuracy of the detected information. This will be described in detail later.

The functions of the integrated-side communication unit 91 and the determination unit 93 included in the monitoring device 19 are realized by a processor executing a program (software). Some or all of these functions may be realized by hardware such as an LSI (Large Scale Integration) or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or may be realized by a combination of software and hardware.

[ operation of Mobile object monitoring System 11 ]

Next, the operation of the mobile object monitoring system 11 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 5.

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing information processing procedures performed in sequence by the terminal device 17 (responder) and the monitoring device 19 (requester) in the mobile monitoring system 11 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

As a premise, in the mobile object monitoring system 11, under a traffic environment at the T-intersection 5 as shown in fig. 1, necessary information processing related to the unknown mobile object 13 is performed in each of a vehicle-mounted device (in the example shown in fig. 1, the terminal device 17g of the vehicle 15g) as a requester that requests provision of detection information related to the unknown mobile object 13, a vehicle-mounted device (in the example shown in fig. 1, each of the terminal devices 17a to 17f of each of the plurality of vehicles 15a to 15 f) as a responder that acquires and responds to the detection information related to the unknown mobile object 13, and a monitoring device 19 (provided in the roadside device 21) that coordinates information exchange between these devices.

In step S11 shown in fig. 5, the terminal device 17g (installed in the in-vehicle device 31) as the requester of the vehicle 15g broadcasts (transmits by broadcasting) an information provision request signal for requesting provision of information on the unknown mobile object 13 via the terminal-side communication unit 65 and the V2X communication device 45.

The vehicle 15g equipped with the terminal device 17g as the requester stops temporarily in front of the stop line 10 of the branch road 9. In the example shown in fig. 1, the driver of the vehicle 15g is waiting for a chance to merge into the inter-vehicle gap 16 between the vehicle 15b and the vehicle 15d on the right lane 7a in the arterial road 7.

However, the transmission of the information provision request signal by the terminal apparatus 17g as the requester of step S11 may be omitted.

In step S12, the monitoring device 19 that has received the information provision request signal from the requesting terminal device 17g broadcasts (transmits by broadcasting) an information response request signal for requesting a response (reply) to the detection information on the unknown mobile object 13 via the integrated-side communication unit 91. The information response request signal includes information of a specified time at which the unknown mobile object information should be acquired by the terminal devices 17a to 17f as the respondents.

If 1 unknown moving object 13 is present at the designated time when the unknown moving object information is to be acquired and if the time when the unknown moving object information is to be acquired is not designated, the unknown moving object 13 is present at a different position corresponding to each time among the unknown moving object information acquired at different times. As a result, it is difficult to recognize the unknown moving object 13 by integrating the detection information of the unknown moving object 13 including the concept of the unknown moving object information.

The predetermined time is set to have a predetermined delay time with respect to the transmission time of the information response request signal. This is because the terminal devices 17a to 17f as the respondents need a predetermined delay time (preparation period) in order to reliably acquire unknown moving object information at a predetermined timing.

However, when the transmission of the information provision request signal by the terminal device 17g as the requester in step S11 is omitted, the monitoring device 19 may broadcast (broadcast-transmit) an information response request signal requesting a response to the detection information on the unknown mobile object 13, for example, for a predetermined time or based on the traffic environment of the T-intersection 5 (in particular, whether or not there is a vehicle 15 in a temporarily stopped state in the vicinity of the stop line 10 of the branch road 9) grasped by the external sensor 41 provided in the roadside apparatus 21 via the integrated-side communication unit 91.

In step S13, each of the terminal devices 17a to 17f as the respondents acquires the unknown moving object information including the presence or absence information and the position information of the unknown moving object 13 at the specified time included in the information response request signal. Next, the terminal devices 17a to 17f as the responding parties generate detection information on the unknown moving object 13, which is obtained by adding time information at the time point when the unknown moving object information is acquired and identification information on the unknown moving object 13 to the acquired unknown moving object information.

In step S14, the respective terminal devices 17a to 17f as the respondents broadcast (broadcast-transmit) an information response signal (see the communication frame 39 shown in fig. 3) to respond to the detection information on the unknown moving object 13 via the terminal-side communication unit 65 and the V2X communication device 45.

In step S15, the monitoring device 19 that has received the information response signals from the respective terminal devices 17a to 17f as the respondents comprehensively analyzes the detection information on the unidentified moving object 13. In the integrated analysis of the detection information on the unknown moving object 13, the number of responses to the detection information on the unknown moving object 13, which means that a predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position, is counted. At the same time, the number of responses including the detection information indicating that the mobile object 13 is unknown is also counted.

In step S16, the monitoring device 19 recognizes the presence or absence and the position of the unknown moving body 13 from the analysis result of the detection information in step S15.

In step S17, the monitoring device 19 sets the accuracy of the detection information about the unknown moving object 13 based on the analysis result of the detection information in step S15 (the number of responses to the detection information about the unknown moving object 13 indicating that the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position).

Specifically, for example, when the number of responses to the detection information on the unknown moving body 13, which means that the predetermined unknown moving body 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position, exceeds a predetermined number of responses threshold, the accuracy of the detection information on the unknown moving body 13 is high, in other words, it is set that the predetermined unknown moving body 13 exists at the detection point.

The monitoring device 19 may have the following configuration: the accuracy of the detection information on the unknown moving object 13 is set based on the identification information on the unknown moving object 13 (including the type information on whether the unknown moving object 13 is a large-sized vehicle, a normal vehicle, a motorcycle, a bicycle, a pedestrian, or the like).

Specifically, even if the number of answers to the detection information on the unknown moving object 13 indicating that the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position is the same, for example, when the type of the unknown moving object 13 based on the identification information on the unknown moving object 13 is identified as a traffic weak person such as a motorcycle, a bicycle, or a pedestrian, the accuracy of the detection information indicating that the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is present at the detection point is set to be improved (for example, an event in which the unknown moving object 13, which is a traffic weak person, is present at the detection point is strongly determined by lowering the above answer number threshold value) as compared to a case in which the type of the unknown moving object 13 based on the identification information on the unknown moving object 13 is identified as a traffic strong person such as a large-sized vehicle or a normal vehicle.

Here, the setting of the accuracy of the detection information to the effect that the predetermined unknown moving object 13 exists at the detection point is assumed to be both a case where the reliability of the detection information is determined to be high for the first time and a case where the already set reliability of the detection information is changed to a higher level for the second time.

In this way, the presence of the traffic-impaired person as the unknown moving object 13 is made more conspicuous than the presence of the traffic-enhanced person, and an effect of giving priority to the protection of the traffic-impaired person can be expected.

The weak traffic and the strong traffic are relative concepts. For example, when comparing a large-sized vehicle with a normal vehicle, the former is a strong traffic person, and the latter is a weak traffic person. In addition, when comparing motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians, the tendency of the traffic weak is stronger in the order of motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians.

The monitoring device 19 may set the accuracy of the detection information on the unknown moving object 13 based on the analysis result of the detection information in step S15 (the number of answers to the detection information on the unknown moving object 13 indicating that the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position, and the number of answers including the detection information indicating that the unknown moving object 13 is not present).

In this case, the accuracy of the detection information on the unknown moving body 13 is set such that, for example, the greater the number of responses to the detection information on the unknown moving body 13 in which the meaning of the predetermined unknown moving body 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position, the greater the total number of responses to the detection information in which the meaning of the predetermined unknown moving body 13 is detected and the number of responses including the detection information in which the meaning of the predetermined unknown moving body 13 is not present, the higher the accuracy of the detection information (the higher the probability that the predetermined unknown moving body 13 is present at the detection point).

In step S18, the monitoring device 19 broadcasts (transmits by broadcast) an information provision signal that provides information on the unknown moving object 13 including the accuracy of the detection information on the unknown moving object 13 via the integrated-side communication unit 91.

The terminal device 17g as the requester that receives the information provision signal from the roadside apparatus 21 performs driving assistance of the own vehicle 15g based on the information about the unknown mobile body 13, for example, displays the information about the unknown mobile body 13 on a multifunction display, and the like.

[ Effect of the Mobile object monitoring System 11 and Mobile object monitoring method according to the embodiment of the present invention ]

Next, the operational effects of the mobile object monitoring system 11 and the mobile object monitoring method according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

The mobile body monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint (1) is premised on the mobile body monitoring system 11 having the terminal device 17 and the monitoring device 19, in which the monitoring device 19 monitors the unknown mobile body 13 by collecting information on the unknown mobile body 13 around the terminal device 17.

The terminal device 17 includes an information acquisition unit 61, a detection information generation unit 63, and a terminal-side communication unit 65, wherein the information acquisition unit 61 acquires unknown moving object information including position information of an unknown moving object 13, the detection information generation unit 63 generates detection information on the unknown moving object 13, the detection information on the unknown moving object 13 being obtained by adding time information at the time point when the unknown moving object information was acquired and identification information on the unknown moving object 13 to the acquired unknown moving object information, and the terminal-side communication unit 65 transmits the generated detection information.

On the other hand, the monitoring device 19 includes an integrated-side communication unit 91 and a determination unit 93, wherein the integrated-side communication unit 91 receives the detection information transmitted from the terminal-side communication unit 65, and the determination unit 93 determines the presence or absence of the unknown moving object 13 based on the received detection information. The determination unit 93 has the following structure: the accuracy of the detection information is set based on the number of pieces of detection information to the effect that a predetermined unknown moving body 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position among the received pieces of detection information.

In the moving object monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint (1), the information acquisition unit 61 of the terminal device 17 acquires unknown moving object information including position information of the unknown moving object 13. The detection information generating unit 63 generates detection information on the unknown moving object 13, which is obtained by adding time information at the time when the unknown moving object information is acquired and identification information on the unknown moving object 13 to the acquired unknown moving object information. The terminal-side communication unit 65 transmits the generated detection information.

On the other hand, in the monitoring device 19, the integrated-side communication unit 91 receives the detection information transmitted from the terminal-side communication unit 65. The judgment unit 93 judges the presence or absence of the unknown moving object 13 based on the received detection information.

In particular, the determination unit 93 is configured to set the accuracy of the detection information based on the number of pieces of detection information, which means that a predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position, among the received pieces of detection information.

Here, the expression "the monitoring device 19 that monitors the unknown moving object 13 by collecting information on the unknown moving object 13" is intended to clarify the gist of not requiring direct monitoring of the unknown moving object 13 as a function of the "monitoring device 19". However, as the function of the "monitoring device 19", a function of directly monitoring the unknown moving object 13 may be provided.

The gist of "setting the accuracy of the detection information" is to take a value based on the number of detection information as the accuracy of the detection information.

The terminal device 17 may be installed in, for example, a mobile body (such as a vehicle 15) having a communication function, or may be installed in a roadside apparatus 21 having a communication function.

The monitoring device 19 may be installed in, for example, a mobile unit (vehicle 15) having a communication function, or may be installed in a roadside apparatus 21 having a communication function, as in the terminal device 17.

According to the moving body monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (1), the accuracy of the information on the unknown moving body 13 in the dead-angle region 18 of a certain observation point can be remarkably improved by monitoring the unknown moving body 13 by integrating the information on the unknown moving body 13 at the detection point acquired through communication.

The mobile body monitoring system 11 based on the point of (2) is premised on a mobile body monitoring system 11 having a plurality of terminal devices 17 and one monitoring device 19, wherein the plurality of terminal devices 17 are provided on each of a plurality of mobile bodies (vehicles 15), and the one monitoring device 19 monitors an unknown mobile body 13 by collecting information on the unknown mobile body 13 around each of the plurality of mobile bodies (vehicles 15).

Each of the plurality of terminal devices 17 includes an information acquiring unit 61, a detection information generating unit 63, and a terminal-side communication unit 65, wherein the information acquiring unit 61 acquires unknown moving body information including information on whether an unknown moving body 13 is present or not and information on a position of the unknown moving body 13 when the unknown moving body 13 is present, the detection information generating unit 63 generates detection information on the unknown moving body 13, the detection information on the unknown moving body 13 being obtained by adding time information at a time point when the unknown moving body information is acquired and identification information on the unknown moving body 13 to the acquired unknown moving body information, and the terminal-side communication unit 65 transmits the generated detection information.

On the other hand, the monitoring device 19 includes an integrated-side communication unit 91 and a determination unit 93, wherein the integrated-side communication unit 91 receives a plurality of pieces of detection information transmitted from the plurality of terminal-side communication units 65, respectively, and the determination unit 93 determines the presence or absence of the unknown moving object 13 based on the plurality of pieces of detection information received. The determination unit 93 has the following structure: the accuracy of the detection information is set based on the number of pieces of detection information, which means that a predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position, among the plurality of pieces of detection information received.

The first difference between the mobile object monitoring system 11 based on the point of view (1) and the mobile object monitoring system 11 based on the point of view (2) is that in the latter (2), the information acquisition unit also acquires information on the presence or absence of an unknown mobile object 13, and when an unknown mobile object 13 is present, acquires unknown mobile object information including position information of the unknown mobile object 13. A second difference is that in the latter (2), one monitoring device 19 is associated with a plurality of terminal devices 17 that each of a plurality of mobile bodies (vehicles 15) has.

In the moving body monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (2), the information acquisition unit 61 acquires unknown moving body information including information on the presence or absence of the unknown moving body 13 and information on the position of the unknown moving body 13 when the unknown moving body 13 is present, in the plurality of terminal devices 17 which the plurality of moving bodies (vehicles 15) respectively have. The detection information generating unit 63 generates detection information on the unknown moving object 13, which is obtained by adding time information at the time when the unknown moving object information is acquired and identification information on the unknown moving object 13 to the acquired unknown moving object information. The terminal-side communication unit 65 transmits the generated detection information.

On the other hand, in the monitoring device 19, the integrated-side communication unit 91 receives the plurality of pieces of detection information transmitted from the plurality of terminal-side communication units 65, respectively. The judgment unit 93 judges the presence or absence of the unknown moving object 13 based on the plurality of pieces of detection information received.

In particular, the determination unit 93 is configured to set the accuracy of the detection information based on the number of pieces of detection information, which means that a predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position, among the plurality of pieces of detection information received.

As in the example of the mobile object monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (1), the terminal device 17 may be provided on, for example, a mobile object (vehicle 15) having a communication function, or may be provided on a roadside apparatus 21 having a communication function.

Similarly to the example of the mobile body monitoring system 11 according to the viewpoint of (1), the monitoring device 19 may be provided on, for example, the vehicle 15 having a communication function or may be provided on the roadside apparatus 21 having a communication function.

According to the moving body monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (2), the accuracy of the information on the unknown moving body 13 in the blind spot region 18 of a certain observation spot can be remarkably improved by monitoring the unknown moving body 13 by integrating the information on the unknown moving bodies 13 at a plurality of detection spots acquired through communication.

In the mobile monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (2), the monitoring device 19 is configured in a generic concept, and may be provided in the vehicle 15 having a communication function or in the roadside apparatus 21 having a communication function.

In contrast, the mobile object monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint (3) is configured such that, as shown in fig. 6, in the mobile object monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint (2): the plurality of terminal devices 17 are provided on a moving body such as the plurality of vehicles 15, respectively, while the monitoring device 19 is provided on a moving body such as the vehicle 15, and the integrated-side communication unit 91 of the monitoring device 19 provided on the moving body receives the plurality of pieces of detection information transmitted from the plurality of terminal-side communication units 65, respectively, by communicating with the plurality of terminal devices 17 provided on the plurality of moving bodies, respectively.

The monitoring device 19 provided in the mobile body (vehicle 15) may be configured as shown in fig. 4. However, in the case of the monitoring device 19 having the configuration shown in fig. 4, the external sensor 41 may be used as the external sensor mounted on the mobile body (vehicle 15), and the GPS receiving unit 99 may be used as the GPS receiving unit of the navigation device 43 mounted on the mobile body (vehicle 15).

The moving body monitoring system 11 according to the viewpoint (2) is different from the moving body monitoring system 11 according to the viewpoint (3) in that the monitoring device 19 is provided in the moving body (vehicle 15) in the latter (3).

That is, in the mobile body monitoring system 11 based on the point of (3), the integrated-side communication unit 91 of the monitoring device 19 provided in the mobile body (vehicle 15) receives the plurality of pieces of detection information transmitted from the plurality of terminal-side communication units 65 by communicating with the plurality of terminal devices 17 provided in the plurality of mobile bodies (vehicles 15), respectively.

According to the moving body monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (3), the accuracy of the information on the unknown moving body 13 in the blind spot region 18 of a certain observation spot can be remarkably improved by monitoring the unknown moving body 13 by integrating the information on the unknown moving bodies 13 at a plurality of detection spots acquired through communication with a plurality of moving bodies (vehicles 15).

The mobile object monitoring system 11 based on the point (4) is such that, in the mobile object monitoring system 11 based on any one of the points (1) to (3), as shown in fig. 3, the identification information added to the detection information concerning the unknown mobile object 13 includes category information indicating the category of the unknown mobile object 13.

The determination unit 93 included in the monitoring device 19 may have the following configuration: the accuracy of the detected information is set based on the type information of the predetermined unknown moving object 13, which is included in the identification information among the detected information indicating that the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position among the plurality of received detected information.

In the moving object monitoring system 11 according to the viewpoint of (4), the determination unit 93 included in the monitoring device 19 is configured to set the accuracy of the detection information based on the type information of the predetermined unknown moving object 13, which is included in the identification information of the detection information indicating that the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position among the plurality of pieces of detection information received.

The type information of the unknown moving object 13 is information indicating the type of the unknown moving object 13, such as whether the unknown moving object 13 is a large-sized vehicle, a normal vehicle, a motorcycle, a bicycle, or a pedestrian.

Specifically, even if the number of answers to the detection information on the unknown moving object 13 indicating that the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position is the same, for example, when the type of the unknown moving object 13 based on the identification information on the unknown moving object 13 is identified as a traffic weak person such as a motorcycle, a bicycle, or a pedestrian, the accuracy of the detection information indicating that the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is present at the detection point is set to be higher than when the type of the unknown moving object 13 based on the identification information on the unknown moving object 13 is identified as a traffic strong person such as a large-sized vehicle or a normal vehicle.

Here, the setting to improve the accuracy of the detection information means, for example, setting to lower a predetermined response number threshold value, which is a criterion for determining whether or not the accuracy of the detection information on the unknown moving object 13 is high (based on the response number of the detection information on the unknown moving object 13 at the same time and at the same position as the case where the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected), so as to more strongly confirm that the unknown moving object 13, which is a traffic weak, is present at the detection point.

According to the mobile body monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint (4), the effect of giving priority to the protection of the traffic weak person can be expected by making the presence of the traffic weak person as the unknown mobile body 13 more conspicuous than the presence of the traffic strong person, as compared with the mobile body monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint (2) or (3).

The mobile object monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (5) has the following configuration: in the mobile object monitoring system 11 according to any one of the viewpoints (1) to (4), the integrated communication unit 91 included in the monitoring device 19 transmits a request for acquiring unknown mobile object information at a predetermined time, and the information acquisition unit 61 included in each of the plurality of terminal devices 17 acquires the unknown mobile object information at the predetermined time.

In the mobile object monitoring system 11 based on the point of view (5), the integrated communication unit 91 included in the monitoring device 19 transmits a request for acquiring unknown mobile object information at a predetermined time, and the information acquiring unit 61 included in each of the plurality of terminal devices 17 acquires the unknown mobile object information at the predetermined time.

According to the moving body monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint (5), since the integrated communication unit 91 included in the monitoring device 19 transmits a request to acquire unknown moving body information at a predetermined time and the information acquisition unit 61 included in each of the plurality of terminal devices 17 acquires the unknown moving body information at the predetermined time, it is possible to easily and accurately perform processing of integrating detection information on the unknown moving body 13 including the concept of the unknown moving body information to recognize the unknown moving body 13 (recognizing the unknown moving body 13 detected at the same time and at the same position as the predetermined unknown moving body 13) as compared with the moving body monitoring system 11 based on any of the viewpoints (2) to (4).

The moving object monitoring system 11 according to the viewpoint (6) is such that, in the moving object monitoring system 11 according to the viewpoint (5), the determination unit 93 included in the monitoring device 19 sets the accuracy of the detection information based on the total number of pieces of detection information obtained by adding the number of pieces of detection information to the effect that the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position among the plurality of pieces of detection information received, to the number of pieces of detection information to the effect that the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is not present.

In the moving object monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (6), the determination unit 93 included in the monitoring device 19 sets the accuracy of the detection information based on the total number of pieces of detection information obtained by adding the number of pieces of detection information to the effect that the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position among the plurality of pieces of detection information received, to the number of pieces of detection information to the effect that the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is not present.

Here, the total number obtained by adding the number of pieces of detection information, which means that the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is not present, to the number of pieces of detection information, which means that the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected, is information (total parameter) of the number of moving objects (vehicles 15) having the terminal device 17 capable of providing information on the unknown moving object 13 to the monitoring device 19.

In addition, the accuracy of the detected information is a subject to be statistically processed. In this regard, in the mobile body monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (6), in setting the accuracy of the detection information, information (overall parameters) of the number of mobile bodies (vehicles 15) having the terminal device 17 can be referred to, wherein the terminal device 17 can provide the monitoring device 19 with information about the unknown mobile body 13.

According to the mobile body monitoring system 11 in the viewpoint of (6), when setting the accuracy of the detection information, it is possible to refer to the information (overall parameters) of the number of mobile bodies (vehicles 15) having the terminal device 17 capable of providing the monitoring device 19 with the information on the unknown mobile body 13, and therefore, it is possible to expect to improve the accuracy when setting the accuracy of the detection information, compared with the mobile body monitoring system 11 in the viewpoint of (5).

The moving object monitoring system 11 according to the viewpoint of (7) is such that in the moving object monitoring system 11 according to the viewpoint of (5), the information acquisition unit 61 included in the plurality of terminal devices 17 is configured to include the external sensor 41 that detects external information including the presence or absence and the position of an object existing around each of the plurality of moving objects (vehicles 15). The unknown moving body information includes information of detection accuracy of the external information related to the external sensor 41.

The determination unit 93 included in the monitoring device 19 has the following configuration: when the plurality of pieces of received detection information include first detection information obtained based on the information on the unknown moving object detected by the external sensor 41 with the first detection accuracy and second detection information obtained based on the information on the unknown moving object detected by the external sensor 41 with the second detection accuracy lower than the first detection accuracy, the determination as to whether the unknown moving object exists is preferentially performed using the first detection information.

In the moving object monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (7), the determination unit 93 included in the monitoring device 19 is configured to preferentially determine whether or not an unknown moving object exists using first detection information obtained based on the unknown moving object information detected by the external sensor 41 with the first detection accuracy and second detection information obtained based on the unknown moving object information detected by the external sensor 41 with the second detection accuracy lower than the first detection accuracy, when the received plurality of pieces of detection information include the first detection information and the second detection information.

In short, when the plurality of pieces of detection information received have pieces of detection information (the first detection information and the second detection information) having different accuracies, the determination unit 93 included in the monitoring device 19 preferentially determines whether or not the unknown moving object is present using the first detection information having the higher accuracy.

According to the moving body monitoring system 11 based on the point of (7), when the plurality of pieces of detection information received include pieces of detection information (the first detection information and the second detection information) having different accuracies from each other, the determination unit 93 included in the monitoring device 19 preferentially uses the first detection information having the higher accuracy to determine whether or not the unknown moving body is present, and therefore, it is possible to expect that the accuracy of determining whether or not the unknown moving body is present is improved and the accuracy in setting the accuracy of the pieces of detection information is improved as compared with the moving body monitoring system 11 based on the point of (5).

The mobile body monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (8) has the following configuration: in the mobile body monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (3), the determination unit 93 provided in the monitoring device 19 provided in the mobile body (vehicle 15) determines the dead angle region of the mobile body (vehicle 15), and a determination is made as to whether or not the current position of the unknown moving body 13 enters the dead angle region 18 of the own moving body (vehicle 15), in the case where the received plurality of pieces of detection information include third detection information and fourth detection information, the determination as to the presence or absence of the unidentified moving body 13 is made using the third detection information with priority, wherein the third detection information is information obtained based on unknown moving object information indicating that the third detection information has entered the dead angle region 18, the fourth detection information is information obtained based on unknown moving object information indicating that the information does not enter the dead angle region 18.

In the moving body monitoring system 11 according to the viewpoint of (8), the determination unit 93 of the monitoring device 19 provided in the moving body (vehicle 15) as the requesting side, which requests the provision of the information on the unknown moving body 13 entering the dead zone 18 of the own moving body (vehicle 15), determines the presence or absence of the unknown moving body 13 by preferentially using the third detection information obtained based on the unknown moving body information indicating that the vehicle has entered the dead zone 18, and the fourth detection information obtained based on the unknown moving body information indicating that the vehicle has not entered the dead zone 18, when the received plurality of detection information includes the third detection information and the fourth detection information.

In short, when there is both the third detection information obtained based on the unknown moving body 13 entering the dead angle area 18 of the host vehicle 15 and the fourth detection information obtained based on the unknown moving body 13 not entering the dead angle area 18 among the plurality of pieces of received detection information, the determination unit 93 provided in the monitoring device 19 provided in the moving body (vehicle 15) preferentially uses the third detection information more useful in ensuring safe traveling of the host moving body (vehicle 15) (in terms of the detection information on the unknown moving body 13 entering the dead angle area 18 of the host moving body) to determine whether or not the unknown moving body is present.

According to the moving body monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (8), when there is both the third detection information obtained based on the unknown moving body 13 entering the dead angle region 18 of the own moving body (vehicle 15) and the fourth detection information obtained based on the unknown moving body 13 not entering the dead angle region 18 among the plurality of pieces of detection information received, the determination unit 93 included in the monitoring device 19 preferentially uses the third detection information more useful in ensuring safe traveling of the own moving body (vehicle 15) to perform determination as to whether the unknown moving body is present, and therefore, an effect of ensuring safe traveling of the own moving body (vehicle 15) can be expected as compared with the moving body monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (5).

The moving body monitoring method according to the point (9) is based on the moving body monitoring method used in the moving body monitoring system 11, in which the moving body monitoring system 11 includes a plurality of terminal devices 17 and one monitoring device 19, the plurality of terminal devices 17 are provided in each of a plurality of moving bodies (vehicles 15), and the one monitoring device 19 monitors the unknown moving body 13 by collecting information on the unknown moving body 13 around each of the plurality of moving bodies (vehicles 15).

Each of the plurality of terminal apparatuses 17 executes the following steps: a step of acquiring unknown moving body information including information on the presence or absence of an unknown moving body 13 and position information of the unknown moving body 13 when the unknown moving body 13 is present; generating detection information on the unknown moving object 13, the detection information on the unknown moving object 13 being obtained by adding time information at the time point when the unknown moving object information is acquired and identification information on the unknown moving object 13 to the acquired unknown moving object information; and transmitting the generated detection information.

On the other hand, the monitoring device 19 performs the following steps: a step of receiving a plurality of pieces of detection information transmitted from the plurality of terminal devices 17, respectively; and a step of determining whether or not the unknown moving object 13 is present based on the plurality of pieces of the received detection information.

The following structure is adopted: in the step of determining the presence or absence of the unknown moving object 13, the accuracy of the detection information is set based on the number of pieces of detection information, which means that a predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position, among the plurality of pieces of detection information received.

The mobile object monitoring method based on the viewpoint (9) is obtained by rewriting the configuration of the mobile object monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint (2) as a method solution.

According to the moving body monitoring method based on the viewpoint (9), similarly to the moving body monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint (2), since the monitoring of the unknown moving body 13 is performed by integrating the information on the unknown moving body 13 at the plurality of detection points acquired by the vehicle-to-vehicle communication or the road-to-vehicle communication, the accuracy of the information on the unknown moving body 13 in the dead angle region 18 at a certain observation point can be remarkably improved.

Further, the moving object monitoring method according to the viewpoint of (10) may be configured to: in the moving object monitoring method based on the viewpoint (9), as shown in fig. 3, the identification information added to the detection information on the unknown moving object 13 includes category information indicating the category of the unknown moving object 13.

In the step of determining the presence or absence of the unknown moving object 13, the accuracy of the detection information is set based on the type information of the predetermined unknown moving object 13, which is included in the identification information of the detection information indicating that the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position among the plurality of pieces of detection information received.

The mobile object monitoring method based on the viewpoint of (10) is obtained by modifying the configuration of the mobile object monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (4) as a technical means of the method.

According to the mobile body monitoring method based on the viewpoint (10), the effect of giving priority to the protection of the traffic weak person can be expected by making the presence of the traffic weak person as the unknown mobile body 13 more conspicuous than the presence of the traffic strong person, as compared with the mobile body monitoring method based on the viewpoint (9).

[ other embodiments ]

The embodiments described above show specific examples of the present invention. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited by these embodiments. This is because the present invention can be implemented in various ways without departing from the gist or main features thereof.

For example, in the explanation of the moving body monitoring system 11 according to the embodiment of the present invention, as an algorithm for setting the accuracy of the detection information, an example has been given in which the accuracy setting unit 97 sets the accuracy of the detection information based on the number of pieces of detection information on the unknown moving body 13, which means that the predetermined unknown moving body 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position, among the plurality of pieces of detection information received by the integrated communication unit 91.

That is, the accuracy setting unit 97 may set the accuracy of the detection information (for example, in the case where the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is a motorcycle, the accuracy is improved from the viewpoint of high collision risk) based on the type of the unknown moving object 13 (vehicle, motorcycle, bicycle, pedestrian, or the like) to which the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position, among the plurality of detection information received by the integrated communication unit 91.

Further, the following method may be adopted: the accuracy setting unit 97 sets the accuracy of the detection information (for example, the higher the moving speed of the predetermined unknown moving object 13, the higher the accuracy) based on the moving speed of the unknown moving object 13 at which the predetermined unknown moving object 13 is detected at the same time and at the same position among the plurality of pieces of detection information received by the integrated-side communication unit 91.

Finally, the invention can also be implemented in the following way: the program for realizing one or more functions according to the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or an apparatus via a network or a storage medium, and is read and executed by one or more processors in a computer of the system or the apparatus. The present invention may be realized by a hardware circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes 1 or more functions. Information including programs that realize the respective functions can be stored in a memory, a recording device such as a hard disk, a memory card, an optical disk, or the like.

The present invention has been described by taking the case of left-side traveling as an example, but the present invention is also applicable to the case of right-side traveling.