Route search system, route search terminal and route search method

1. A route search system for receiving a provision request from a route search terminal installed on a first vehicle, to transmit route search information related to a route including at least one link, comprising:

an information provision subsystem for acquiring information in response to the provision request from the route search terminal;

an environmental load calculation unit for calculating, based on the information acquired by the information provision subsystem, a first environmental load generated by the first vehicle which has the route search terminal installed thereon and which runs along each link related to the information acquired by the information provision subsystem, and a second environmental load which is generated by at least one second vehicle running along each link and which is varied to account for the first vehicle traveling along each link,

wherein,

the environment load calculation unit sums up the first environmental load and the second environment load at each link over the route to obtain a summed up value and select the route with the smallest summed up value.

2. The route search system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first environmental load and the second environmental load are calculated by using an amount of discharged greenhouse gas.

3. The route search system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first environmental load and the second environmental load are calculated by using an amount of traffic congestion.

4. The route search system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the route search terminal is a navigation terminal installed on the first vehicle.

5. The route search system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the provision request received from the route search terminal contains information on at least one of a type of the first vehicle or greenhouse gas discharge by the first vehicle.

6. The route search system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first environmental load includes carbon dioxide gas (CO 2 ) discharged by the first vehicle.

7. The route search system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the calculation of the environmental load is performed by using information accumulated for each link at different times of day, and adding up the first environmental load generated by the first vehicle with the second environmental load generated by a variation in velocities of the at least one second vehicles running along the same link.

8. The route search system according to claim 1 , further comprising a control unit which receives the first environmental load and the second environmental load, wherein the control unit finds a navigation route using the first and second environmental loads.

9. The route search system as claimed in claim 1 ,

wherein, the environment load calculation unit generates information related to the route with the smallest summed up value.

10. The route search system as claimed in claim 9 , further comprising:

a transmitting unit which transmits, as the route search information to the route search terminal, the information related to the route with the smallest summed up value.

11. A route search method performed by a route search system to transmit route search information related to a route including at least one link in response to a provision request from a route search terminal installed on a vehicle, comprising:

acquiring information, by using a processor, in response to the provision request from the route search terminal; and

calculating, by using the processor and based on the information acquired by the information provision subsystem, a first environmental load generated by the first vehicle which has the route search terminal installed thereon and which runs along each link related to the information acquired by the information provision subsystem, and a second environmental load which is generated by the at least one second vehicle running along each link and which is varied to account for the first vehicle traveling along each link; and

summing, by using the processor, the first environment load and the second environment load at each link over the route to obtain a summed up value used to select a route with the smallest summed value.

12. The route search method as claimed in claim 11 , comprising:

searching for a route based on the first environmental load and the second environmental load, in response to the information provision request from the route search terminal; and

transmitting route information found by the search to the route search terminal as the route search information.

13. The route search method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the first environmental load and the second environment load are calculated using an amount of discharged greenhouse gas.

14. The route search method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide.

15. The route search method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the first environmental load and the second environmental load are calculated using an amount of traffic congestion.

16. The route search method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the route search terminal is a navigation terminal installed on the first vehicle.

17. The route search method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the calculation of the environmental load generated by the first vehicle designated by the route search terminal is conducted by using information accumulated for each link at different times of day, and adding up each of the first environmental loads generated by the first vehicle running along the link and the second environmental load generated by a variation in velocities of the at least one second vehicle running along the same link.