Communication Device, Method and Application for Vehicle's External Information Interaction and Communication

Abstract

The present invention relates to a communication device for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication. The communication device includes: a first vehicle-to-everything (V2X) interface for transmitting and / or receiving V2X messages by means of a first wireless communication technology, and a second vehicle-to-everything (V2X) interface for transmitting and / or receiving V2X messages by means of a second wireless communication technology. Wherein, the device is configured to transmit the information received by means of the first interface in a V2X message by means of the second interface. Here, the received or to-be-transmitted information can be conveniently included in at least one corresponding received or to-be-transmitted V2X message. In addition, the present invention also relates to a corresponding method and the application of the device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a communication device for vehicle-to-external information interaction communication, a corresponding method and an application of the device. Background Art

[0002] Currently, relevant standards for vehicle-to-external information interaction (V2X) communication include, for example, IEEE802.11(p), IEEE1609, SAE 2735, SAE 2945, and ETSI ITS-G5. In addition, new 3GPP standards are currently being developed for Cellular-V2X (C-V2X). In addition to mobile radio communication in the cellular mobile radio network (Uu), the new standards can also support direct communication without a cellular mobile radio network (PC5 or "sidelink"). ETSI is currently researching technologies that use ITS-G5 and C-V2X PC5 in the same frequency band. ITS-G5 or DSRC is based on IEEE802.11, while C-V2X is based on LTE mobile radio technology. Therefore, these communication systems are fundamentally different, i.e., incompatible, and vehicles configured with only one communication technology cannot receive messages from other vehicles. This results in the inability to fully utilize the potential of vehicle-to-external information interaction communication technology. In particular, it has a negative impact on the potential to improve the safety of traffic participants through vehicle-to-external information interaction communication. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The object of the present invention is to provide a communication device that can communicate by means of vehicle-to-external information interaction communication technologies that are not compatible with each other, in particular ITS-G5 and C-V2X.

[0004] This object is achieved by the subject matter of the independent claims. Advantageous design solutions are set forth, for example, in the dependent claims. The content of the claims constitutes the content of the description by express reference.

[0005] The present invention describes a communication device for vehicle-to-external information interaction communication (V2X communication), the communication device comprising:

[0006] - a first vehicle-to-external information interaction (V2X) interface for sending and / or receiving vehicle-to-external information interaction messages by means of a first wireless communication technology,

[0007] - a second vehicle-to-external information interaction (V2X) interface for sending and / or receiving vehicle-to-external information interaction messages by means of a second wireless communication technology, wherein the device is arranged to send out the information received by means of the first interface in a vehicle-to-external information interaction message by means of the second interface. Here, the information received or to be sent can be conveniently included in at least one corresponding received or to-be-sent vehicle-to-external information interaction message.

[0008] The idea underlying the present invention is to construct an intelligent converter between different vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication technologies by means of a vehicle-to-everything communication device comprising a respective first vehicle-to-everything (V2X) interface and a respective second vehicle-to-everything (V2X) interface, which converts the signals of the first vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication technology into the signals of the second vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication technology in order to enable as comprehensive as possible cross-standard and cross-manufacturer communication of traffic participants.

[0009] It should be understood that, according to the present invention, the first communication technology and the second communication technology are considered different communication technologies if data cannot be directly exchanged between a transmitter using the first communication technology and a receiver using the second communication technology. In other words, the first and second communication technologies are vehicle-to-everything communication technologies that are not compatible with each other.

[0010] Thus, the present invention can be advantageously implemented such that communication is carried out using vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication technologies that are otherwise not compatible while making more efficient use of the available bandwidth. Thus, different communication technologies or standards developed for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication can continue to be used. This also means that, when a communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention is present in a relevant area with potential recipients who are otherwise only equipped with communication devices for communicating using the second communication technology, the messages transmitted using the first communication technology and received by the communication device can be received by all other potential recipients in the relevant area by being converted into the second communication technology. In principle, the device is arranged to filter the received messages or information about messages to be sent, or this results from the preferred embodiments of the present invention described below. Thus, more efficient use can be made of the available bandwidth of the communication technology compared to unfiltered transmission.

[0011] Furthermore, according to an improvement, the communication device comprises a computing device, such as a processor, for processing vehicle-to-everything messages received and / or to be sent, in particular by means of the first vehicle-to-everything (V2X) interface and / or the second vehicle-to-everything (V2X) interface.

[0012] According to an improvement, the communication device at least comprises a first communication stack memory (communication stack, "Kommunikationsstack") for implementing vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication using a first wireless communication technology and a second communication stack memory (communication stack) for implementing vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication using a second wireless communication technology.

[0013] According to an embodiment of the present invention, one of the two communication technologies is ITS-G5, and the other communication technology is C-V2X. In this sense, C-V2X includes a cellular mobile radio interface, such as the so-called cellular mobile radio network (Uu) and / or the C-V2X technology enabling direct communication, such as PC5 or "sidelink". Correspondingly, one of the two vehicle-to-everything (V2X) interfaces is set as the ITS-G5 interface, and the other vehicle-to-everything (V2X) interface is set as the C-V2X interface. Depending on the application scenario, the first combined technology is correspondingly ITS-G5, and the second communication technology is C-V2X, or the first combined technology is C-V2X, and the second communication technology is ITS-G5. Thereby, it is possible to convert the messages received via ITS-G5 / C-V2X into the corresponding other communication technology, i.e., C-V2X / ITS-G5. According to an improvement, the C-V2X interface is an interface without a cellular mobile radio network for direct communication of the communication device. For example, this is the C-V2X PC5 interface. According to an improvement, the communication device is designed to correspondingly implement the corresponding communication stack memories for IST-G5 and C-V2X, such as 4G or 5G or subsequent releases of the mobile radio technology.

[0014] According to an embodiment, the device is configured to convert the message type of the received message containing information into another message type for transmission via the second interface. In particular, it can also be specified that the conversion is carried out according to the message type of the received message containing information. This enables the selective implementation of the message type conversion according to the message type of the received message.

[0015] According to an embodiment, the device is configured to perform a conversion into a Collective Perception Message (CPM) according to the message type of the received message for transmission via the second interface. An embodiment of the Collective Perception Message is currently being standardized by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) (TR 103 562 and TS103 324), which is particularly based on the results of the KoPER research project.

[0016] According to one embodiment, the device is configured to insert the information contained in the received cooperative / collaborative awareness message (CAM, "Cooperative Awareness Message") (in particular according to ETSI TS 102 637-2) and / or basic safety message (BSM, "Basic Safety Message") (in particular according to SAE J2735) into the collective perception message. The basic idea here is to convert the cooperative awareness message (CAM) received via the first interface or the information contained therein into the collective perception message (CPM) target and send them out via the second interface. Multiple identified targets are aggregated in a single message via the collective perception message (CPM). According to the invention, in principle, the cooperative awareness message (CAM) / basic safety message (BSM) can also be converted to a second communication technology, but inserting the information received from the cooperative awareness message (CAM) / basic safety message (BSM) into the collective perception message (CPM) results in more beneficial and bandwidth-efficient data compression. Here, conveniently, the targets that have been known from other transmitters, i.e., the targets that have been received via the communication device, are not included in the collective perception message (CPM) to be sent, because it can be assumed that all other potential recipients in the vicinity have also received the collective perception message (CPM). When selecting the targets to be sent, the targets determined to be irrelevant can also be filtered out to further reduce bandwidth consumption.

[0017] According to one embodiment, the device is configured to perform the transmission of the received information according to the message type of the received message containing information. Thus, it can be stipulated that only specific message types of the received messages can be used for transmission. Thereby, in particular, relatively unimportant message types can be suppressed during further dissemination via the second communication technology. According to an improvement, the device is configured to perform the transmission of the received information only when the message containing information is an event-based message type. The device can be correspondingly configured such that, for example, the corresponding transmission is performed only when the received message is a decentralized environmental notification message (DENM, "Decentralized Environmental Notification Message") and / or a basic safety message (BSM, "Basic Safety Message") with an event flag.

[0018] According to one embodiment, the device is configured to send the information received via the first interface via the second interface only after a predetermined or random duration after the information has been received via the first interface. Here, the random duration can be generated, for example, using a random number generator.

[0019] According to one embodiment, the device is configured such that if information received via the second interface is consistent / corresponding to the information received via the first interface, the information received via the first interface is not transmitted via the second interface. If the original transmitter of the information and / or another transmitter that may have performed a conversion to the second communication technology has already transmitted the information via the second communication technology, there is no need to transmit the information received via the first interface via the second interface again.

[0020] According to one embodiment, the device is configured to detect, by means of a detection device it includes, such as a computing device of the device, whether the received information can be confirmed by at least another information source. For example, at least one sensor for ambient environment detection can be used as another information source. Conveniently, the detection is performed before retransmitting the information. This can especially improve the credibility of the information. According to an improvement, it can thus be provided that the device is configured to add trust information indicating whether the information has been confirmed by at least another information source and / or reflecting the credibility of the information to a message containing the information to be transmitted.

[0021] According to one embodiment, the device is configured to detect whether the accuracy of the received information can be improved. Conveniently, the accuracy of the received information is detected before transmission and improved if possible. According to one embodiment, the device is configured to change the information to improve the accuracy if the information accuracy can be improved. In addition, the device can be configured to use information obtained by sensors to improve the accuracy of the information.

[0022] According to at least one embodiment of the present invention, the communication device is in particular provided for use in a vehicle, a roadside unit (RSU), or by a portable device or a personal mobile device, such as a smart phone, etc. The vehicle can be a motor vehicle, in particular a car, a truck, a motorcycle, an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle, a watercraft or an aircraft. Therefore, the computing device of the communication device or another computing device of the communication device can in principle also be configured to process the received and / or to-be-transmitted information beyond the above scope.

[0023] Furthermore, the present invention also relates to a method for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, the method comprising the following steps:

[0024] - Receiving information via a first vehicle-to-everything (V2X) interface for transmitting and / or receiving V2X messages by means of a first wireless communication technology,

[0025] - Transmitting the received information via a second vehicle-to-everything (V2X) interface for transmitting and / or receiving V2X messages by means of a second wireless communication technology

[0026] In principle, the transmission of the received information can also be referred to as retransmission.

[0027] Other embodiments of the method according to the present invention can be derived from the embodiments of the communication device according to the present invention.

[0028] In an improved version of the proposed communication device, the device has a memory and a processor. Here, the proposed method is stored in the memory in the form of a computer program, and the processor is arranged to execute the method when the computer program is loaded from the memory into the processor.

[0029] According to another aspect of the present invention, the computer program includes program code means for performing all steps of one of the proposed methods when the computer program runs on a computer or one of the proposed devices.

[0030] According to another aspect of the present invention, the computer program product includes program code stored on a computer-readable data carrier, and the program code performs one of the proposed methods when running on a data processing device.

[0031] Some particularly advantageous design solutions of the present invention are given in the dependent claims. Other preferred embodiments can also be derived from the following description of the embodiments with reference to the drawings. Description of the Drawings

[0032] It is shown in the schematic diagram:

[0033] Figure 1 Showing an embodiment of the communication device according to the present invention, and

[0034] Figure 2 Showing a flowchart of an embodiment of the method according to the present invention. Detailed Embodiments

[0035] Figure 1Fig. 0 shows an embodiment of a communication device 10 for vehicle-to-everything communication (V2X communication) according to the present invention. The device includes a first vehicle-to-everything (V2X) interface 10-1 for transmitting and / or receiving vehicle-to-everything (V2X) messages using a first antenna 10-3 by means of a first wireless communication technology. The device further includes a second vehicle-to-everything (V2X) interface 10-2 for transmitting and / or receiving vehicle-to-everything (V2X) messages using a second antenna 10-4 by means of a second wireless communication technology. In addition, according to an embodiment, the communication device 10 includes a computing device 10-5, such as a processor, for processing vehicle-to-everything (V2X) messages received and / or to be transmitted, in particular by means of the first vehicle-to-everything (V2X) interface and / or the second vehicle-to-everything (V2X) interface. The device is configured to transmit the information received in a vehicle-to-everything message by means of the first interface 10-1 by means of the second interface 10-2, wherein the information to be transmitted is expediently included in at least one corresponding vehicle-to-everything message to be transmitted. Here, the first communication technology and the second communication technology do not allow direct data exchange between a transmitter using the first communication technology and a receiver using the second communication technology. In other words, the first and second communication technologies are vehicle-to-everything communication technologies that are not compatible with each other. Thus, the communication device 10 can convert the signal of the first vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication technology into the signal of the second vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication technology, thereby enabling as comprehensive as possible cross-standard and cross-manufacturer communication among traffic participants. The received and / or to-be-transmitted vehicle-to-everything messages or information can be processed by means of the computing device 10-5 of the communication device, and at the same time, communication with other electronic systems of a vehicle, such as a vehicle including the communication device, can be achieved by means of a data transmission device 10-6, such as a data bus.

[0036] Figure 2 Fig. 4 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of a method for vehicle-to-everything communication according to the present invention. In step 1, information is received by means of a first vehicle-to-everything (V2X) interface for transmitting and / or receiving vehicle-to-everything messages by means of a first wireless communication technology. In step 2, the received information is transmitted by means of a second vehicle-to-everything (V2X) interface for transmitting and / or receiving vehicle-to-everything messages by means of a second wireless communication technology.

[0037] If it is proven during the prosecution of the application that a certain feature or group of features is not absolutely necessary, the applicant has here strived to formulate at least one independent claim in such a way that it no longer contains that feature or group of features. Here, this may for example involve a sub-combination of claims existing at the filing date or a sub-combination of claims existing at the filing date defined by other features. Such newly formulated claims or combinations of features shall be considered to be covered by the disclosure of this patent application.

[0038] Furthermore, it should be noted that the design solutions, features and variants described in different design solutions or embodiments of the present invention and / or shown in the drawings should be combinable with each other arbitrarily. Single or multiple features can be replaced with each other arbitrarily. The combinations of features thus constituted shall be considered to be covered by the disclosure of this patent application.

[0039] The back-reference in the dependent claims should not be understood as a waiver of the independent and objective protection of the features of the dependent claims with back-reference. These features can also be combined arbitrarily with other features.

[0040] Features disclosed only in the description, or features disclosed only in the description or in the claims in combination with other features, may in principle have an independent and significant meaning for the present invention. Therefore, they can also be included separately in the claims to distinguish them from the prior art.

[0041] Generally speaking, it should be noted that vehicle-to-outside information interaction communication in particular refers to direct communication or mobile radio-mediated communication between vehicles and / or between a vehicle and infrastructure. This can for example be vehicle-to-vehicle communication, or vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. If vehicle-to-vehicle communication is mentioned within the framework of this patent application, then this can in principle be achieved within the scope of vehicle-to-vehicle communication. For example, vehicle-to-outside information interaction communication can be implemented using the IEEE 802.11p standard or the IEEE 1609.4 standard or 4G or 5G or subsequent mobile radio versions. Vehicle-to-outside information interaction communication can also be referred to as C2X (vehicle-to-outside information interaction) communication or V2X (vehicle-to-outside information interaction) communication. Sub-ranges can be referred to as C2C (vehicle-to-vehicle) communication, V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle) communication or C2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure) communication, V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure) communication. The present invention includes vehicle-to-outside information interaction communication using an intermediary, for example via a mobile radio network, namely the so-called V2N (vehicle-to-network).

Claims

1. A communication device for vehicle-to-external information interaction communication, the communication device comprising: - A first vehicle-to-external information interaction-based interface for sending and / or receiving vehicle-to-external information interaction messages by means of a first wireless communication technology, and - A second vehicle-to-external information interaction-based interface for sending and / or receiving vehicle-to-external information interaction messages by means of a second wireless communication technology, wherein the device is configured to: - Send out the information received by means of the first interface as a vehicle-to-external information interaction message by means of the second interface; and - Detect, by means of a detection device, whether the received information can be confirmed by means of at least another information source, and if it can be confirmed, add trust information indicating whether the information has been confirmed by means of at least another information source and / or reflecting the credibility of the information to the message containing the information to be sent.

2. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein, One of the two vehicle-to-external information interaction-based interfaces is set as an ITS-G5 interface, and the other interface is set as a C-V2X interface.

3. The communication device according to claim 1 or 2, the communication device being configured to convert the message type of the received message containing information into another message type for sending by means of the second interface.

4. The communication device according to claim 3, the communication device being configured to perform the conversion according to the message type of the received message containing information.

5. The communication device according to claim 1 or 2, the communication device being configured to perform the conversion into a collective perception message according to the message type of the received message for sending by means of the second interface.

6. The communication device according to claim 5, the communication device being configured to insert the information contained in the received cooperative perception message and / or basic safety message into the collective perception message for sending by means of the second interface.

7. The communication device according to claim 1 or 2, the communication device being configured to send the received information according to the message type of the received message containing information.

8. The communication device according to claim 1 or 2, the communication device being configured to perform the sending of the received information only when the message containing information is of an event-based message type.

9. The communication device according to claim 1 or 2, the communication device being configured to perform the sending only when the received message is a decentralized environment notification message and / or a basic safety message with an event flag.

10. The communication device according to claim 1 or 2, the communication device being configured to send the information received by means of the first interface via the second interface only after a predetermined or random duration.

11. The communication device according to claim 1 or 2, the communication device being configured to not send the information received by means of the first interface via the second interface if information consistent with the information received by means of the first interface has been received by means of the second interface.

12. The communication device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the communication device is configured to detect whether the accuracy of the received information can be improved, and if the accuracy of the received information can be improved, the accuracy of the received information is improved.

13. The communication device according to claim 12, wherein the communication device is configured to use the information obtained by means of a sensor to improve the accuracy of the information.

14. A method for vehicle-to-everything communication, the method comprising the steps of: - receiving information by means of a first vehicle-to-everything-based interface for sending and / or receiving vehicle-to-everything messages by means of a first wireless communication technology, and - sending the received information by means of a second vehicle-to-everything-based interface for sending and / or receiving vehicle-to-everything messages by means of a second wireless communication technology, wherein the information received by means of the first interface in a vehicle-to-everything message is sent out by means of the second interface, and wherein it is detected by means of a detection device whether the received information can be confirmed by means of at least one other information source, and if it can be confirmed, trust information indicating whether the information has been confirmed by means of at least one other information source and / or reflecting the credibility of the information is added to the message containing the information to be sent.

15. Use of a communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 13 in a vehicle, a roadside unit or a personal mobile device.

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