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 terminal-side determination unit, a non-presence time 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,

the terminal side determination unit determines whether or not the unknown moving object is present in a predetermined monitoring area,

when the terminal-side determination unit determines that the unknown moving object is not in the monitored area, the absence time information generation unit generates absence time information on the unknown moving object, the absence time information on the unknown moving object being information obtained by adding time information at a time point when the determination of absence in the monitored area is made to the absence information on the unknown moving object in the monitored area,

the terminal-side communication section transmits the generated absent time information,

the monitoring device has an integrated-side communication unit and an integrated-side determination unit, wherein,

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

the integrated-side determination unit makes a determination that an unknown moving object related to the monitoring area is absent in a time zone based on the time information, based on the absence time information received,

with respect to the received absent time information, the integrated-side determination section sets the accuracy of the absent time information according to the number of absent time information overlapping time periods based on the time information.

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 includes an information acquisition unit, a terminal-side determination unit, a non-presence time 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,

the terminal side determination unit determines whether or not the unknown moving object is present in a predetermined monitoring area,

when the terminal-side determination unit determines that the unknown moving object is not in the monitored area, the absence time information generation unit generates absence time information on the unknown moving object, the absence time information on the unknown moving object being information obtained by adding time information at a time point when the determination of absence in the monitored area is made to the absence information on the unknown moving object in the monitored area,

the terminal-side communication section transmits the generated absent time information,

the monitoring device has an integrated-side communication unit and an integrated-side determination unit, wherein,

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

the integrated-side determination unit makes a determination that an unknown moving object related to the monitoring area is absent in a time zone based on the time information, based on the plurality of pieces of absent time information received,

with respect to the plurality of pieces of absent time information received, the integrated-side determination section sets the accuracy of the absent information according to the number of pieces of absent time information whose time periods based on the time information overlap.

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

the plurality of terminal devices are respectively provided to a plurality of mobile bodies, and the monitoring device is provided to a mobile body,

the integrated-side communication unit of the monitoring device installed in the mobile unit receives the plurality of pieces of out-of-time 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 units, respectively.

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

the integrated communication unit of the monitoring device transmits information on a dead angle area of a monitoring moving body on which the monitoring device is mounted,

a terminal-side communication unit provided in each of the plurality of terminal devices receives information on a blind spot area of the monitoring mobile unit,

the terminal-side determination unit included in each of the plurality of terminal devices sets a dead angle area regarding the monitored moving object received as the predetermined monitoring area, and determines the presence or absence of an unknown moving object regarding the set predetermined monitoring area.

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

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 4,

with regard to the plurality of pieces of the absent time information received, the integrated side determination unit included in the monitoring apparatus sets the accuracy of the absent information based on a total number obtained by adding the number of pieces of absent time information, in which the time periods based on the time information do not overlap, to the number of pieces of absent time information, in which the time periods based on the time information do not overlap.

7. A mobile body monitoring method used in a mobile body monitoring system having a plurality of terminal devices provided to 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 the presence or absence of the unknown moving body;

determining whether the unknown moving object exists in a predetermined monitoring area;

generating absence time information on an unknown moving body, which is obtained by adding time information at a time point at which the determination that the unknown moving body is absent in the monitored area to absence information on the unknown moving body in the monitored area, when the determination that the unknown moving body is absent in the monitored area is made by the determination of the presence or absence, the absence time information on the unknown moving body; and

transmitting the generated out-of-time information,

the monitoring device performs the steps of:

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

making a determination that an unidentified moving object related to the monitoring area is absent in a time period based on the time information, based on the received plurality of absence time information,

in the step of making a determination that an unknown mobile body related to the monitoring area is absent in a period based on the time information, accuracy of the absent information is set in accordance with the number of absent time information overlapping in a period based on the time information with respect to the received plurality of the absent time 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 problem that it is difficult to accurately and completely 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 body monitoring system according to (1) of the present invention is a mobile body monitoring system including a terminal device and a monitoring device, wherein the monitoring device monitors an unknown mobile body by collecting information on the unknown mobile body around the terminal device, and is characterized in that the terminal device includes an information acquisition unit that acquires unknown mobile body information including information on whether the unknown mobile body exists, a terminal side determination unit that determines whether the unknown mobile body exists in a predetermined monitoring area, and a terminal side communication unit that generates absence time information on the unknown mobile body when the terminal side determination unit determines that the unknown mobile body is absent from the monitoring area, the absence time information on the unknown moving object is information obtained by adding time information at a time point when the absence determination is made to the absence information on the unknown moving object in the monitoring area, the terminal side communication unit transmits the generated dead time information, and the monitoring device includes an integrated side communication unit and an integrated side determination unit, wherein the integrated-side communication unit receives the dead time information transmitted from the terminal-side communication unit, the integrated-side determination section makes a determination, based on the received absence time information, that an unidentified moving object related to the monitoring area is absent in a time period based on the time information, regarding the received absence time information, the integrated-side determination section sets the accuracy of the absence information according to the number of absence information pieces overlapping in time period based on the time information.

[ Effect of the invention ]

According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the accuracy of the missing information on an unknown mobile object in the blind spot region of an observation point.

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 provided with 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; 62: a terminal side determination unit; 63: a time information generation unit; 65: a terminal-side communication unit; 91: an integrated side communication unit; 93: an integrated side judgment 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 body monitoring system 11 according to the embodiment of the present invention has a monitoring function of monitoring an unknown moving body 13 by integrating information on the unknown moving body 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 have a plurality of vehiclesA plurality of terminal devices respectively provided withAnd a monitoring device 19.

Without specially distinguishing multiple vehiclesIn this case, these vehicles will be collectively referred to as the vehicle 15 only. Also, there is no need to particularly distinguish a plurality of terminal apparatusesIn the case of (2), these devices will be collectively referred to as only the terminal device 17. Multiple vehiclesEach corresponds to a "mobile body" according to the present invention. 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 plurality of terminal devicesCooperate to monitor multiple vehiclesThe function of the unknown mobile bodies 13 around each.

Here, the unknown moving body 13 is a moving body that enters a dead angle region 18 of a certain observation point (in the example of fig. 1, a vehicle 15g) locally or entirely, and is, for example, another vehicle, a motorcycle, a bicycle, a pedestrian, or the like, present 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 moving object 13 and a plurality of vehicles passing near a T-shaped intersection 5At 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 toward the traveling direction, respectively. Each of these vehiclesEach having a terminal device as a responderTerminal device as responderRefers to a provider of information that is not at the time.

In short, 3 terminal devices 17b, 17d, and 17f provided in 3 vehicles 15b, 15d, and 15f present on the right lane 7a and 3 terminal devices 17a, 17c, and 17e provided in 3 vehicles 15a, 15c, and 15e present on the left lane 7b are respectively 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 terminal device that requests the provision of the absence time 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 space 16 between the vehicle 15b and the vehicle 15d on the right lane 7a in the arterial 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 problem that the movement of all obstacles including the unknown moving object 13 and the 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 blind spot region 18 exists behind the vehicle 15c from the view of the driver of the vehicle 15g that is in a parking waiting state at the stop line 10 in the travel lane 9a of the branch road 9. The entire vehicle 15f, and also the rear of the vehicle 15d, enters the dead-angle region 18. The unknown moving body 13 does not enter the dead angle region 18.

It is assumed that the entire unknown mobile object 13 enters a blind spot 18 of a driver of the vehicle 15g, and the unknown mobile object 13 intends to enter the T-intersection 5 at a speed higher than that of the vehicle 15 from a gap between a plurality of the vehicles 15 constituting the vehicle group.

In such a case, when the driver of the vehicle 15g enters the T-intersection 5 by paying attention to the movement of the vehicle 15d and intends to enter the inter-vehicle gap 16 between the vehicle 15b and the vehicle 15d that merge into the right lane 7a in the arterial road 7, 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, the blind spot area 18 of the vehicle 15g is monitored by integrating the missing time information (described in detail later) on the unknown moving body 13 at each detection point acquired by the inter-vehicle communication or the road-vehicle communication, and thereby the accuracy of the missing information on the unknown moving body 13 existing in the blind spot area 18 can be remarkably improved.

[ Structure of the in-vehicle apparatus 31 provided with the terminal device 17 ]

Next, the configuration of the in-vehicle device 31 provided with 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 provided with 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) the absent time information (see fig. 3) generated by the absent time information generating unit 63 (described later in detail) to the nearby vehicle 15 and the roadside device 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 the out-of-time information on the unknown moving objects 13 around the host vehicle 15 by the external sensor 41 mounted on the host vehicle 15, a function of broadcasting the generated out-of-time information, and a function of performing driving assistance of the host vehicle 15 including acceleration/deceleration and 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 terminal-side determination unit 62, an absence time 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.

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.

The terminal side determination unit 62 has a function of determining the presence or absence of the unknown moving object 13 in the predetermined monitoring area. In the embodiment according to the present invention, the predetermined monitoring area is synonymous with the blind spot area 18 of a certain (arbitrary) observation point.

In an embodiment according to the present invention, the following structure is adopted: information indicating that the blind spot region 18 of a certain observation point as a predetermined monitoring region is to be set is transmitted from the monitoring device 19 to the terminal device 17, and the terminal device 17 sets the blind spot region 18 of a certain observation point as a predetermined monitoring region. The determination of the presence or absence of the unknown moving object 13 in the predetermined monitoring area is performed by determining the presence or absence of the unknown moving object 13 in the dead-angle area 18 of a certain observation point. These details will be described later.

As shown in fig. 3, the time information generator 63 has the following functions: when the terminal-side determination unit 62 determines that the unknown moving object 13 is not in the monitored area (the dead angle area 18 at the certain observation point), the terminal-side determination unit generates the absence time information on the unknown moving object, which is obtained by adding the time information at the time point when the absence determination is made to the absence information on the unknown moving object 13 in the monitored area (the dead angle area 18).

The time information at the time point when the terminal-side determination unit 62 determines that the unknown moving object 13 is not in the monitored area (the dead zone 18) is time information. The time information may also be a certain period of time. Therefore, in the embodiment according to the present invention, time information is defined as time information which is a concept of its upper level.

The absence time information on the unknown moving body mainly means information indicating that the unknown moving body 13 is not in the monitoring area (dead angle area 18) for a certain period of time.

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, the absence time information on the unknown moving body 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 time 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 absent time information on the unknown moving object 13 generated by the absent time information generation unit 63 to a predetermined destination based on the destination information (broadcast).

The functions of the information acquiring unit 61, the terminal-side determining unit 62, the absence time information generating unit 63, and the terminal-side communication unit 65 of the terminal device 17 are realized by executing a program (software) by a processor. Some or all of these functions may be realized by hardware such as a Large Scale Integration (LS I) or an application Specific Integrated circuit (asic), 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 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/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 vehicle 15 is an automobile using an internal combustion engine as a power source, for example, 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 an integrated-side determination unit 93.

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

The comprehensive side judgment unit 93 basically has the following functions: the presence/absence determination of the unknown moving object 13 is performed based on the absence time information on the plurality of unknown moving objects 13 received by the integrated communication unit 91. Specifically, the integrated-side determination unit 93 determines that the unknown moving object 13 related to the monitoring area (the visual field area 18) is absent in a time zone based on the time information (the time information) at the time point of absence determination, based on the plurality of absence time information received by the integrated-side communication unit 91.

In order to realize the above function, as shown in fig. 4, the integrated side judgment unit 93 includes a dead angle region judgment 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 dead angle region described in this publication is part of the items described in the present invention (a technique for determining whether or not an unknown moving object 13 is present in the dead angle region 18 at a certain observation point) by this reference.

The accuracy setting section 97 has the following functions: the accuracy of the absence information of the unknown moving object 13 is set based on the number of the absence time information pieces overlapping each other based on the time period of the time information (time information) not at the determination time among the plurality of pieces of absence time information received by the integrated communication unit 91.

The accuracy of the absence information is an index for measuring the accuracy of the absence information which is not included in the time information and which means that the unknown mobile object 13 is not in the monitoring area (the dead angle area 18) for a predetermined period of time.

There are a number of algorithms for setting the accuracy of the missing information. This will be described in detail later.

The functions of the integrated-side communication unit 91 and the integrated-side 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 moving object monitoring system 11, under a traffic environment at the T-intersection 5 as shown in fig. 1, an in-vehicle device (in the example shown in fig. 1, a terminal device 17g of a vehicle 15g) as a requester that requests the provision of time-out information on the unknown moving object 13 and an in-vehicle device (in the example shown in fig. 1, a plurality of vehicles) as a responder that acquires time-out information on the unknown moving object 13 and responds thereto are providedEach terminal device of each vehicle) And a monitoring device 19 (provided in the roadside apparatus 21) that coordinates information exchange between these devices, each performs necessary information processing regarding the unknown mobile body 13.

In step S11 shown in fig. 5, the terminal device 17g (provided in the in-vehicle apparatus 31) as the requester possessed by the vehicle 15g plays (broadcasts) a provision request signal requesting provision of information relating to the unknown mobile body 13 via the terminal-side communication unit 65 and the V2X communication apparatus 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 information provision from the terminal device 17g as the requester is receivedThe request signal monitoring device 19 broadcasts (transmits by broadcast) an information response request signal requesting a response (reply) to the unknown mobile unit 13 for the absence of time information via the integrated communication unit 91. The information response request signal is included in the terminal device as the responderThe information of the specified time of the unknown moving object information is acquired.

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 specify the unknown moving object 13 by integrating the absence time information about the unknown moving object 13 including the concept of the unknown moving object information.

Further, when the unknown moving object 13 is not specified at the specified time when the unknown moving object information is to be acquired, the monitoring device 19 receives a response concerning the absence time information of the unknown moving object 13 acquired at different times.

Then, the monitoring device 19 collects a plurality of pieces of non-existent time information in which time periods based on the time information (time information) at the non-existent time do not overlap with each other. In this case, even if it is intended to set the accuracy of the absent information of the unknown moving body 13 from the result of comprehensively analyzing the absent time information on the unknown moving body 13, the number of absent time information in which time periods based on the time information (time information) at which the absent determination is made overlap with each other is not complete. As a result, it is difficult for the result of the integrated analysis to contribute to the determination of the accuracy of the absent information of the unknown moving body 13.

Further, the specified time is set to have a prescribed delay time with respect to the transmission time of the information reply request signal. This is because the terminal device as the responder is provided with a communication interface In order to reliably acquire unknown moving object information at a predetermined timing, a predetermined delay time (preparation period) is required.

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 unknown mobile object 13 for time information other than the time information, for example, for a predetermined time or based on the traffic environment at the T-intersection 5 (in particular, whether or not the vehicle 15 in the temporarily stopped state is present in the vicinity of the stop line 10 on 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 terminal device as the responderAt a predetermined time included in the information response request signal, unknown moving object information including information on the presence or absence of the unknown moving object 13 and position information is acquired. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the unknown mobile object 13 is not present. Then, each terminal device as the responderThe absence time information on the unknown moving object 13 is generated by adding time information at the time point when the absence determination is made to the acquired absence information on the unknown moving object 13.

In step S14, each terminal device as the responderThe broadcast (broadcast transmission) response is broadcast (broadcast transmission) with respect to the unknown via the terminal-side communication section 65 and the V2X communication device 45An information response signal (see the communication frame 39 shown in fig. 3) indicating that the mobile unit 13 is not present in the time information.

In step S15, the information is received from each terminal device as the responder The monitoring device 19 of the information response signal (2) comprehensively analyzes the absence time information on the unknown moving object 13. In the integrated analysis of the absent time information on the unknown moving body 13, the number of replies of a plurality of absent time information in which time periods based on the time information (time information) at the time point at which the absent determination is made overlap each other is counted. Meanwhile, the number of replies based on the non-existent time information whose time periods do not overlap with each other (time information) at the time point at which the non-existent determination is made is also counted.

In step S16, the monitoring device 19 determines the absence of the unknown moving object 13 based on the result of the comprehensive analysis of the absence time information in step S15.

In step S17, the monitoring device 19 sets the accuracy of the absence information of the unknown moving body 13 according to the analysis result of the absence time information of step S15 (the number of answers to a plurality of absence time information in which time periods based on the time information (time information) at the time point at which the absence determination is made overlap with each other).

In this case, for example, the accuracy of the absent information of the unknown moving body 13 is determined by determining the accuracy of the absent information based on the fact that the more the number of responses of the absent time information in which the time periods of the time information at the time point of making the absent determination overlap each other, the higher the accuracy of the absent information (the higher the probability that the predetermined unknown moving body 13 is absent from the dead angle region 18 for the predetermined time period).

Further, the monitoring device 19 may set the accuracy of the absent information regarding the unknown moving body 13 based on the integrated analysis result of the absent time information in step S15 (the number of answers to the absent time information in which the time periods based on the time information at the time point at which the absent determination is made overlap with each other among the plurality of absent time information, and the number of answers to the absent time information in which the time periods based on the time information at the time point at which the absent determination is made do not overlap with each other).

In this case, for example, the accuracy of the absent information of the unknown moving body 13 is determined by increasing the number of responses to the absent time information based on the time periods of the time information at which the absent determination is made overlap with each other, and increasing the total number of responses to the absent time information based on the time periods of the time information at which the absent determination is made overlap with each other and the absent time information whose time periods do not overlap with each other (the higher the probability that the specified unknown moving body 13 is absent from the dead angle region 18 for the specified time period).

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 absence information of 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 provided with 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 terminal side determination unit 62, a dead time information generation unit 63, and a terminal side communication unit 65, wherein the information acquisition unit 61 acquires unknown moving body information including information on the presence or absence of an unknown moving body 13, the terminal side determination unit 62 determines the presence or absence of the unknown moving body 13 with respect to a predetermined monitoring area (dead angle area 18), and when the terminal side determination unit 62 determines that the unknown moving body 13 is not present in the monitoring area (dead angle area 18), the dead time information generation unit 63 generates dead time information on the unknown moving body 13, the dead time information on the unknown moving body 13 being information obtained after adding time information at a time point at which the determination of the dead time is made to the dead time information of the unknown moving body 13 with respect to the monitoring area (dead angle area 18), the terminal-side communication unit 65 transmits the generated absence time information.

On the other hand, the monitoring device 19 includes an integrated-side communication unit 91 and an integrated-side determination unit 93, wherein the integrated-side communication unit 91 receives the absence time information transmitted from the terminal-side communication unit 65, and the integrated-side determination unit 93 determines, based on the received absence time information, that the unknown moving object 13 related to the monitoring area (the dead angle area 18) is absent in a time zone based on the time information (at the time point when the absence determination is made). The comprehensive side judgment unit 93 has the following structure: setting the accuracy of the absence information according to the number of the received absence time information in which time periods based on the time information overlap.

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 information on the presence or absence of the unknown moving object 13. The terminal side determination unit 62 determines whether or not the unknown moving object 13 is present in a predetermined monitoring area (dead angle area 18). When the terminal side determination unit 62 determines that the unknown moving object 13 is not in the monitored area (the dead angle area 18), the absence time information generation unit 63 generates absence time information on the unknown moving object 13, which is obtained after adding time information at the time point when the absence determination is made to the absence information on the unknown moving object 13 in the monitored area (the dead angle area 18). The terminal-side communication unit 65 transmits the generated absence time information.

On the other hand, in the monitoring device 19, the integrated-side communication unit 91 receives the dead time information transmitted from the terminal-side communication unit 65. The integrated-side determination unit 93 makes a determination that the unknown moving object 13 related to the monitored area (the dead angle area 18) is absent in a time zone based on the time information (at the time point at which the absence determination is made), based on the received absence time information.

In particular, the integrated-side determination section 93 sets the accuracy of the absence information according to the number of the absence time information pieces overlapping in time period based on the time information (at the time point at which the absence determination is made) among the received absence time 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 that the unknown moving object 13 does not need to be directly monitored 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 absence information" is to take a value based on the number of absence time information pieces whose time periods do not overlap each other as the accuracy of the absence 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 absent 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 absent 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 unidentified mobile body 13 by collecting information on the unidentified mobile bodies 13 around each of the plurality of mobile bodies (vehicles 15).

The plurality of terminal devices 17 each include an information acquisition unit 61, a terminal side determination unit 62, a dead time information generation unit 63, and a terminal side communication unit 65, wherein the information acquisition unit 61 acquires unknown moving body information including information on the presence or absence of an unknown moving body 13, the terminal side determination unit 62 determines the presence or absence of the unknown moving body 13 with respect to a predetermined monitoring area (dead angle area 18), and when the terminal side determination unit 62 determines that the unknown moving body 13 is not in the monitoring area (dead angle area 18), the dead time information generation unit 63 generates dead time information on the unknown moving body 13, the dead time information on the unknown moving body 13 being information obtained after adding time information at the time point at which the determination is made to the dead time information on the unknown moving body 13 with respect to the monitoring area (dead angle area 18), the terminal-side communication unit 65 transmits the generated absence time information.

On the other hand, the monitoring device 19 includes an integrated-side communication unit 91 that receives a plurality of pieces of absence time information transmitted from the plurality of terminal-side communication units 65, and an integrated-side determination unit 93 that determines, based on the plurality of pieces of absence time information received, that an unknown moving body 13 related to the monitoring area (the dead zone 18) is absent in a time zone based on the time information (at the time point at which the absence determination is made).

The comprehensive side judgment unit 93 has the following structure: the accuracy of the absent information is set according to the number of the absent time information overlapping the time period based on the time information (at the time point at which the absent determination is made) among the plurality of the received absent time information.

The moving object monitoring system 11 from the viewpoint of (1) is different from the moving object monitoring system 11 from the viewpoint of (2) in that in the latter (2), one monitoring device 19 is associated with a plurality of terminal devices 17 that a plurality of moving objects (vehicles 15) respectively have.

In the moving object monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (2), the information acquisition unit 61 acquires unknown moving object information including information on the presence or absence of the unknown moving object 13 in the plurality of terminal devices 17 included in each of the plurality of moving objects (vehicles 15). The terminal side determination unit 62 determines whether or not the unknown moving object 13 is present in a predetermined monitoring area (dead angle area 18). When the terminal side determination unit 62 determines that the unknown moving object 13 is not in the monitored area (the dead angle area 18), the absence time information generation unit 63 generates absence time information on the unknown moving object 13, which is obtained by adding time information at the time point when the absence determination is made to the absence information on the unknown moving object 13 in the monitored area (the dead angle area 18). The terminal-side communication unit 65 transmits the generated absence time information.

On the other hand, in the monitoring device 19, the integrated communication unit 91 receives the plurality of pieces of absence time information transmitted from the plurality of terminal-side communication units 65, respectively. The integrated-side determination unit 93 determines, based on the plurality of pieces of absence time information received, that the unknown moving object 13 related to the monitored area (the dead angle area 18) is absent in a time zone based on the time information (at the time point at which the absence determination is made).

In particular, the integrated-side determination unit 93 sets the accuracy of the absent information according to the number of absent time information pieces overlapping the time period based on the time information (at the time point at which the absent determination is made) among the plurality of the received absent time information pieces.

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

As in the case of the mobile body monitoring system 11 based on the point of view (1), the monitoring device 19 may be provided, for example, in a mobile body (vehicle 15) having a communication function or in a 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 absent 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 absent information on the unknown moving body 13 at the detection point 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 in a plurality of moving bodies such as vehicles 15, respectively, while the monitoring device 19 is provided in a moving body such as a vehicle 15, and the integrated-side communication unit 91 of the monitoring device 19 provided in the moving body receives the plurality of pieces of out-of-time information transmitted from the plurality of terminal-side communication units 65, respectively, by performing communication with the plurality of terminal devices 17 provided in 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) communicates with the plurality of terminal devices 17 provided in the plurality of mobile bodies (vehicles 15), respectively, to receive the plurality of pieces of absence-time information transmitted from the plurality of terminal-side communication units 65, respectively.

According to the moving body monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (3), the accuracy of the absent 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 absent information on the unknown moving body 13 at a plurality of detection points acquired through communication with a plurality of moving bodies (vehicles 15).

The moving body monitoring system 11 according to the viewpoint of (4) is the moving body monitoring system 11 according to the viewpoint of (3), in which the integrated-side communication unit 91 included in the monitoring device 19 transmits information on the dead angle area 18 of the monitoring moving body (vehicle 15) mounted with the monitoring device 19, and the terminal-side communication units 65 included in the plurality of terminal devices 17 receive the information on the dead angle area of the monitoring moving body (vehicle 15).

The terminal side determination unit 62 included in each of the plurality of terminal devices 17 has the following configuration: the received dead angle region 18 concerning the monitoring mobile object (vehicle 15) is set as a predetermined monitoring region, and the presence or absence of the unknown mobile object 13 concerning the set predetermined monitoring region (dead angle region 18) is determined.

In the moving body monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (4), the integrated-side communication unit 91 included in the monitoring device 19 transmits information on the dead-angle area 18 of the monitoring moving body (vehicle 15) on which the monitoring device 19 is mounted, and the terminal-side communication units 65 included in the respective terminal devices 17 receive information on the dead-angle area 18 of the monitoring moving body (vehicle 15).

The terminal side determination unit 62 included in each of the plurality of terminal devices 17 sets the received dead zone 18 regarding the monitored moving object (vehicle 15) as a predetermined monitoring zone, and determines the presence or absence of the unknown moving object 13 regarding the set predetermined monitoring zone (dead zone 18).

According to the mobile body monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (4), since the integrated-side communication unit 91 of the monitoring device 19 transmits the information for monitoring the dead angle region 18 of the mobile body (the vehicle 15), and the terminal-side determination unit 62 of each of the plurality of terminal devices 17 sets the dead angle region 18 of the monitoring mobile body (the vehicle 15) transmitted from the integrated-side communication unit 91 of the monitoring device 19 as a predetermined monitoring region, and determines the presence or absence of the unknown mobile body 13 with respect to the predetermined monitoring region (the dead angle region 18) set, in comparison with the monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (3) (in which the monitoring device 19 is provided in the mobile body (the vehicle 15)), even when the width of the dead angle region 18 changes with the travel of the monitoring mobile body (the vehicle 15), it is also possible to determine the presence or absence of the unknown moving object 13 corresponding to the change in the width of the dead angle region 18.

As a result, even when the width of the dead angle region 18 changes at a time, it is possible to appropriately acquire the absence information of the unknown moving object 13 in the dead angle region 18 in time.

The mobile object monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (5) The mobile body monitoring system 11 according to any one of the above aspects has the following configuration: the integrated-side communication unit 91 included in the monitoring device 19 transmits a request to acquire unknown moving 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 moving object information at the predetermined time.

In the mobile object monitoring system 11 based on the point (5), the integrated communication unit 91 included in the monitoring device 19 transmits a request to acquire 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.

According to the mobile object monitoring system 11 based on the point (5), the integrated communication unit 91 included in the monitoring device 19 transmits a request to acquire unknown mobile object information at a predetermined time pointThe information acquiring unit 61 of each of the plurality of terminal devices 17 acquires the unknown moving object information at the specified time, and therefore, the information acquiring unit is based on the unknown moving object informationThe moving object monitoring system 11 from either viewpoint can perform processing for acquiring and generating the absence time information about the unknown moving object 13, which is a lower concept than the unknown moving object information, simply and accurately.

In the mobile object monitoring system 11 according to the viewpoint (6), the integrated-side determining unit 93 included in the monitoring device 19 in the mobile object monitoring system 11 according to the viewpoint (4) has the following configuration: regarding a plurality of the absent time information received, the accuracy of the absent information is set according to a total number obtained by adding the number of absent time information whose time periods do not overlap based on the time information to the number of absent time information whose time periods do not overlap based on the time information (at the time point at which the absent determination is made).

In the mobile body monitoring system 11 based on the point of view of (6), regarding the plurality of pieces of the absent time information received, the integrated-side determination unit 93 included in the monitoring device 19 sets the accuracy of the absent information based on the total number obtained by adding the number of pieces of the absent time information, in which the time periods based on the time information (at the time point at which the absent determination is made) do not overlap, to the number of pieces of the absent time information, in which the time periods based on the time information do not overlap.

Here, the total of the number of absent time information pieces in which the time periods based on the time information (at the time point when the absence determination is made) overlap and the number of absent time information pieces in which the time periods based on the time information do not overlap is information (overall parameter) of the number of mobile bodies (vehicles 15) having the terminal device 17 capable of providing the monitoring device 19 with the absent information about the unknown mobile body 13.

In addition, the accuracy of the missing information is the subject of statistical processing. In this regard, in the mobile object monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint of (6), when the accuracy of the unknown information is set, the information (overall parameters) of the number of mobile objects (vehicles 15) having the terminal device 17 capable of providing the monitoring device 19 with the information on the unknown mobile object 13 may be referred to.

According to the mobile body monitoring system 11 based on the point of (6), when the accuracy of the absent information is set, the 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 supply the monitoring device 19 with the information on the unknown mobile body 13, and therefore, it is expected that the accuracy in setting the accuracy of the absent information can be improved as compared with the mobile body monitoring system 11 based on the point of (4).

The moving body monitoring method according to the point (7) 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 bodies 13 around the respective moving bodies (vehicles 15).

The plurality of terminal apparatuses 17 each perform the following steps: acquiring unknown moving body information including information on the presence or absence of an unknown moving body 13; determining whether or not an unknown moving object 13 is present in a predetermined monitoring area (dead angle area 18); when the presence or absence of the unknown moving body 13 is determined so that the unknown moving body 13 is not in the monitored area (the dead angle area 18), generating the absence time information on the unknown moving body 13, the absence time information on the unknown moving body 13 being obtained by adding the time information at the time point when the absence determination is made to the absence information on the unknown moving body 13 in the monitored area (the dead angle area 18); and transmitting the generated absence time information.

On the other hand, the monitoring device 19 performs the following steps: receiving a plurality of pieces of absence time information transmitted from the plurality of terminal-side communication units 65, respectively; on the basis of the plurality of pieces of the absent time information received, a determination is made that the unknown moving body 13 related to the monitoring area (the dead angle area 18) is absent in a prescribed time period based on the time information (at the time point at which the absent determination is made).

The step of making a determination that the unknown moving body 13 related to the monitoring area (the dead angle area 18) is absent for a prescribed period of time employs the following structure: the integrated-side determination section 93 sets the accuracy of the absence information according to the number of the absence time information pieces overlapping in time period based on the time information (at the time point at which the absence determination is made) among the plurality of the received absence time information pieces.

The mobile object monitoring method based on the viewpoint (7) 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 (7), similarly to the moving body monitoring system 11 based on the viewpoint (2), the accuracy of the absent 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 absent information on the unknown moving body 13 at the detection spot acquired through communication.

[ 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 mobile body monitoring system 11 according to the embodiment of the present invention, as an algorithm for setting the accuracy of the absent information, an example has been given in which the accuracy setting unit 97 sets the accuracy of the absent information based on the number of pieces of absent time information overlapping each other in a time period based on the time information (at the time point when the absent determination is made) among the plurality of pieces of absent time information received by the integrated communication unit 91, but other algorithms may be adopted.

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.