IP Library Granted Patent US 8,362,889
Granted Patent B2
US 8,362,889 · App. 12/449,762 · Granted Jan 29, 2013

Road condition detecting system

Inventor: Terumoto Komori (Suntoh-gun, JP)
Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,362,889
App. No.
12/449,762
Granted
Jan 29, 2013
Kind
B2
Abstract

In a road condition detecting system consisting of a transmitter provided in a sending-side object on a road and adapted to transmit information about road conditions and a receiver provided in a receiving-side object on the road and adapted to receive information about road conditions, the transmitter includes sending-side vicinity information obtaining means for obtaining information about the vicinity of the sending-side object, transmitted information determining means for determining information to be transmitted, from the obtained vicinity information, and transmitting means for transmitting the determined vicinity information, and the receiver includes receiving means for receiving the vicinity information transmitted from the transmitting means of the transmitter.

Claims (64)

1. A road condition detecting system comprising:

a transmitter provided in a sending-side object on a road and adapted to transmit information about road conditions; and

a receiver provided in a receiving-side object on the road and adapted to receive information about the road conditions, wherein:

the transmitter includes a sending-side vicinity information obtaining unit that obtains information about the vicinity of the sending-side object, a transmitted information determining unit that determines information to be transmitted, from the vicinity information obtained by the sending-side vicinity information obtaining unit, and a transmitting unit that transmits the vicinity information determined by the transmitted information determining unit,

the receiver includes:

a receiving unit that receives the vicinity information transmitted from the transmitting unit of the transmitter,

a receiving-side vicinity information obtaining unit that obtains information about the vicinity of the receiving-side object,

a reliability obtaining unit that respectively obtains the reliability of the information about the vicinity of the receiving-side object which is obtained by the receiving-side vicinity information obtaining unit and the reliability of information about the vicinity of the sending-side object which the receiving unit receives, and

a received information determining unit that determines whether the information about the vicinity of the sending-side object which the receiving unit receives is to be employed, wherein the received information determining unit compares the reliability of the information about the vicinity of the receiving-side object, which is obtained by the reliability obtaining unit, with the reliability of the information about the vicinity of the sending-side object, which is obtained by the reliability obtaining unit, and employs the vicinity information having the higher reliability,

the transmitted information determining unit includes a receiving-side information obtaining unit that obtains information about the receiving-side object, and determines the information to be transmitted, based on the information about the receiving-side object, and

the receiving-side information obtaining unit obtains the information about the receiving-side object which is calculated based on the vicinity information obtained by the sending-side vicinity information obtaining unit.

2. The road condition detecting system according to claim 1 , wherein the transmitted information determining unit calculates the relative positions between the sending-side object and the receiving-side object, based on the vicinity information obtained by the sending-side vicinity information obtaining unit and the position of the receiving-side object which is specified by the receiving-side information obtaining unit.

3. The road condition detecting system according to claim 1 , wherein:

the receiver includes a region request transmitting unit that transmits a region request that designates a region on which information is needed; and

the receiving-side information obtaining unit obtains the information about the receiving-side object from the region request transmitted from the region request transmitting unit.

4. The road condition detecting system according to claim 3 , wherein the region request transmitting unit designates the region on which information is needed, based on the position of the receiving-side object derived from the relative positions calculated by the transmitted information determining unit.

5. The road condition detecting system according to claim 3 , wherein the transmitted information determining unit determines the information to be transmitted, based on the designated region on which information is needed.

6. The road condition detecting system according to claim 1 , wherein:

the transmitter includes a first region obtaining unit that obtains a first region on which information can be obtained by the transmitter, and a second region obtaining unit that obtains a second region on which information can be obtained by the receiver; and

the transmitted information determining unit determines vicinity information on a region that is included in the first region on which information can be obtained by the transmitter but not included in the second region on which information can be obtained by the receiver, as the information to be transmitted.

7. The road condition detecting system according to claim 1 , wherein:

the receiver includes a receiving-side vicinity information obtaining unit that obtains information about the vicinity of the receiving-side object, and a received information determining unit that determines whether information about the vicinity of the sending-side object which the receiver receives is employed; and

if a degree of discrepancy between given information included in the information about the vicinity of the receiving-side object which is obtained by the receiving-side vicinity information obtaining unit and given information included in the information about the vicinity of the sending-side object which the receiving unit receives is equal to or larger than a threshold value, the received information determining unit abandons the given information received by the receiving unit.

8. The road condition detecting system according to claim 1 , wherein the information about the receiving-side object comprises a region request that designates a region on which information is needed by the receiving-side object.

9. The road condition detecting system according to claim 1 , wherein both of the sending-side object and the receiving-side object are vehicles.

10. A road condition detecting system comprising:

a transmitter provided in a sending-side object on a road and adapted to transmit information about road conditions; and

a receiver provided in a receiving-side object on the road and adapted to receive information about the road conditions, wherein:

the transmitter includes:

a sending-side vicinity information obtaining unit that obtains information about the vicinity of the sending-side object,

a transmitted information determining unit that determines information to be transmitted, from the vicinity information obtained by the sending-side vicinity information obtaining unit, and

a transmitting unit that transmits the vicinity information determined by the transmitted information determining unit;

the receiver includes:

a receiving unit that receives the vicinity information transmitted from the transmitting unit of the transmitter, and

a receiving-side vicinity information obtaining unit that obtains information about the vicinity of the receiving-side object, and a received information determining unit that determines whether information about the vicinity of the sending-side object which the receiver receives is employed, wherein if a degree of discrepancy between given information included in the information about the vicinity of the receiving-side object which is obtained by the receiving-side vicinity information obtaining unit and given information included in the information about the vicinity of the sending-side object which the receiving unit receives is equal to or larger than a threshold value, the received information determining unit abandons the given information received by the receiving unit,

the transmitted information determining unit includes a receiving-side information obtaining unit that obtains information about the receiving-side object, and determines the information to be transmitted, based on the information about the receiving-side object; and

the receiving-side information obtaining unit obtains the information about the receiving-side object which is calculated based on the vicinity information obtained by the sending-side vicinity information obtaining unit.

11. The road condition detecting system according to claim 10 , wherein the transmitted information determining unit calculates the relative positions between the sending-side object and the receiving-side object, based on the vicinity information obtained by the sending-side vicinity information obtaining unit and the position of the receiving-side object which is specified by the receiving-side information obtaining unit.

12. The road condition detecting system according to claim 10 , wherein:

the receiver includes a region request transmitting unit that transmits a region request that designates a region on which information is needed; and

the receiving-side information obtaining unit obtains the information about the receiving-side object from the region request transmitted from the region request transmitting unit.

13. The road condition detecting system according to claim 12 , wherein the region request transmitting unit designates the region on which information is needed, based on the position of the receiving-side object derived from the relative positions calculated by the transmitted information determining unit.

14. The road condition detecting system according to claim 12 , wherein the transmitted information determining unit determines the information to be transmitted, based on the designated region on which information is needed.

15. The road condition detecting system according to claim 10 , wherein:

the transmitter includes a first region obtaining unit that obtains a first region on which information can be obtained by the transmitter, and a second region obtaining unit that obtains a second region on which information can be obtained by the receiver; and

the transmitted information determining unit determines vicinity information on a region that is included in the first region on which information can be obtained by the transmitter but not included in the second region on which information can be obtained by the receiver, as the information to be transmitted.

16. A road condition detecting system comprising:

a transmitter provided in a sending-side object on a road and adapted to transmit information about road conditions; and

a receiver provided in a receiving-side object on the road and adapted to receive information about the road conditions, wherein:

the transmitter includes:

a sending-side vicinity information obtaining unit that obtains information about the vicinity of the sending-side object,

a transmitted information determining unit that determines information to be transmitted, from the vicinity information obtained by the sending-side vicinity information obtaining unit,

a transmitting unit that transmits the vicinity information determined by the transmitted information determining unit,

a first region obtaining unit that obtains a first region on which information can be obtained by the transmitter, and

a second region obtaining unit that obtains a second region on which information can be obtained by the receiver;

the receiver includes a receiving unit that receives the vicinity information transmitted from the transmitting unit of the transmitter;

the transmitted information determining unit includes a receiving-side information obtaining unit that obtains information about the receiving-side object, and determines: (1) the information to be transmitted, based on the information about the receiving-side object, and (2) vicinity information on a region that is included in the first region on which information can be obtained by the transmitter but not included in the second region on which information can be obtained by the receiver, as the information to be transmitted; and

the receiving-side information obtaining unit obtains the information about the receiving-side object which is calculated based on the vicinity information obtained by the sending-side vicinity information obtaining unit.

17. The road condition detecting system according to claim 16 , wherein the transmitted information determining unit calculates the relative positions between the sending-side object and the receiving-side object, based on the vicinity information obtained by the sending-side vicinity information obtaining unit and the position of the receiving-side object which is specified by the receiving-side information obtaining unit.

18. The road condition detecting system according to claim 16 , wherein:

the receiver includes a region request transmitting unit that transmits a region request that designates a region on which information is needed; and

the receiving-side information obtaining unit obtains the information about the receiving-side object from the region request transmitted from the region request transmitting unit.

19. The road condition detecting system according to claim 18 , wherein the region request transmitting unit designates the region on which information is needed, based on the position of the receiving-side object derived from the relative positions calculated by the transmitted information determining unit.

20. The road condition detecting system according to claim 18 , wherein the transmitted information determining unit determines the information to be transmitted, based on the designated region on which information is needed.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 25, 2009
From: KOMORI, TERUMOTO
To: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Reel/Frame 023152/0829 →
Priority Claims (1)
JP 2007-062485 · Mar 12, 2007 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20100099353A1 · Apr 22, 2010