Information processing device, mobile object, computer-readable storage medium, and information processing method

Abstract

The present invention relates to an information processing device, a mobile device, a computer-readable storage medium, and an information processing method. The information processing device includes: a communication unit that performs data communication with an external device via wireless communication and transmits transmission data whose destination is specified by an IP address; a proxy processing unit that converts the destination of transmission data whose destination is specified by a URL into an IP address and causes the communication unit to transmit the data; a communication volume acquisition unit that acquires communication volume for each IP address, obtains a correspondence between URLs and IP addresses from the proxy processing unit, and, based on the communication volume for each IP address and the correspondence, acquires, as per-service communication volume, a sum of the communication volumes for each IP address for each URL for data communication having the correspondence; and a communication volume control unit that uses at least the communication volume for each service to control the throughput of data communication with the external device for each service.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing device, a mobile object, a computer-readable storage medium, and an information processing method. Background Art

[0002] Patent Documents 1 and 2 describe technologies for predicting future time-series data on communication throughput based on time-series data on communication throughput. Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2 describe adaptive control technologies for distributing video by controlling the compression rate and frame rate based on predictions of communication throughput, thereby avoiding image quality degradation caused by over-compression.

[0003] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 6337881

[0004] Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent No. 6390167

[0005] Non-Patent Document 1: "Video Distribution Technology for Supporting Security, Rescue, and Disaster Prevention (Suitable Video Distribution Control Technology)" [online], NEC Corporation, [retrieved September 24, 2020], Internet<URL:https: / / jpn.nec.com / rd / tg / smc / research / adaptive_video_feed_control.html>

[0006] Non-patent document 2: Yushi Yoshida and three others, "Flower Image Distribution Technology", NEC Technical Journal, September 2017, Volume 70, Issue 1, Pages 52-55 Summary of the Invention

[0007] In a first aspect of the present invention, an information processing device is provided. The information processing device includes a communication unit that performs data communication with an external device via wireless communication and transmits data whose destination is specified by an IP address, using the IP address as the destination. The information processing device includes a proxy processing unit that converts the destination of data whose destination is specified by a URL into an IP address and causes the communication unit to transmit the data. The information processing device includes a traffic acquisition unit that acquires traffic for each IP address performed by the communication unit, acquires the correspondence between the URL and IP address converted by the proxy processing unit from the proxy processing unit, and, based on the correspondence between each IP address and traffic, acquires traffic obtained by summing the traffic for each IP address for each URL as traffic for each service for data communications having a URL-IP address correspondence. The information processing device includes a traffic control unit that uses at least the traffic for each service acquired by the traffic acquisition unit to control the throughput of data communications with the external device for each service.

[0008] Regarding the communication volume of data communication for which there is no correspondence between a URL and an IP address, the communication volume acquisition unit may further acquire the communication volume acquired for each IP address as the communication volume for each service.

[0009] The information processing device may include a priority setting unit that sets a priority for each service. The information processing device may include a throughput prediction unit that uses at least the communication volume acquired by the communication volume acquisition unit to predict future communication throughput. When the future communication throughput falls below a predetermined threshold, the data communication throughput of the service with a lower priority set by the priority setting unit is limited compared to the data communication throughput of the service with a higher priority set by the priority setting unit.

[0010] The throughput prediction unit may predict future communication throughput for each service using at least the communication volume of each service acquired by the communication volume acquisition unit. The communication volume control unit may control the throughput of data communication with the external device for each service based on the future communication throughput predicted by the throughput prediction unit.

[0011] The information processing device may be mounted on a vehicle. The priority setting unit may set a higher priority for data communication of a service related to vehicle control than for data communication of other services.

[0012] The information processing device may include a communication determination unit that determines whether data communication is for a service related to vehicle control or data communication is for a multimedia service. The priority setting unit may set a higher priority for data communication for the service related to vehicle control than for data communication for the multimedia service.

[0013] The communication traffic control unit may limit the communication throughput of the data communication of the low-priority service to a predetermined value required to continue providing the service based on the low-priority data communication.

[0014] The information processing device may be mounted on a vehicle. The information processing device may include a communication determination unit that determines whether data communication performed by the communication unit is data communication for a service related to vehicle control. When the communication throughput of data communication for a service related to vehicle control cannot maintain a predetermined value required to continue providing the service based on data communication related to vehicle control, the communication traffic control unit may stop data communication for other predetermined services.

[0015] The information processing device may include a throughput prediction unit that uses at least the communication volume of each service acquired by the communication volume acquisition unit to predict the future communication throughput for each service. The communication volume control unit may control the throughput of data communication with the external device for each service based on the future communication throughput predicted by the throughput prediction unit.

[0016] The communication volume acquisition unit may acquire the communication volume for each IP address performed through the communication unit using a function of an operating system installed in the information processing device.

[0017] According to a second aspect of the present invention, a vehicle is provided. The vehicle includes the above-mentioned information processing device.

[0018] In a third embodiment of the present invention, an information processing method is provided. The information processing method is an information processing method in an information processing device, the information processing device having a communication unit that wirelessly communicates with an external device and transmits data whose destination is specified by an IP address to the IP address as the destination. The information processing method includes the step of converting the destination of the data whose destination is specified by a URL into an IP address and causing the communication unit to transmit the data. The information processing method includes the step of obtaining the communication volume for each IP address performed by the communication unit. The information processing method includes the step of obtaining the correspondence between the converted URL and the IP address from the proxy processing unit. The information processing method includes the step of: based on the communication volume and correspondence of each IP address, for data communication having a correspondence between a URL and an IP address, obtaining the communication volume obtained by summing the communication volume of each IP address for each URL as the communication volume for each service. The information processing method includes the step of using at least the obtained communication volume for each service to control the throughput of data communication with the external device for each service.

[0019] In a fourth aspect of the present invention, a program is provided. The program causes a computer equipped with a communication unit that wirelessly communicates with an external device and transmits data having a destination specified by an IP address to the IP address as a destination to execute a step of converting the destination of data having a destination specified by a URL into an IP address and causing the communication unit to transmit the data. The program causes the computer to execute a step of acquiring the communication volume for each IP address performed by the communication unit. The program causes the computer to execute a step of acquiring the correspondence between the converted URL and the IP address. The program causes the computer to execute a step of acquiring, based on the communication volume and correspondence for each IP address, the communication volume obtained by summing the communication volume for each IP address for each URL for data communication having a correspondence between the URL and the IP address as the communication volume for each service. The program causes the computer to execute a step of controlling the throughput of data communication with the external device for each service using at least the acquired communication volume for each service.

[0020] In addition, the above summary of the invention does not list all the necessary features of the present invention. In addition, sub-combinations of these feature groups may also constitute inventions. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] Figure 1 A usage mode of a vehicle 50 according to one embodiment is schematically shown.

[0022] Figure 2 The functional configuration of vehicle 50 is schematically shown.

[0023] Figure 3 This is a table showing the priority of data communication.

[0024] Figure 4 An example of the data structure of service information stored in the information processing device 200 is shown.

[0025] Figure 5 The communication volume information indicating the communication volume for each IP address acquired by the communication volume acquisition unit 210 is shown.

[0026] Figure 6 The correspondence between the IP address converted from the URL by the proxy processing unit 280 and the URL is shown.

[0027] Figure 7 The communication volume of each service acquired by the communication volume acquisition unit 210 is shown.

[0028] Figure 8 The control of the communication throughput performed by the communication volume control unit 230 based on the priority is schematically shown.

[0029] Figure 9 The data flow between the functional blocks of the information processing device 200 is schematically shown.

[0030] Figure 10 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure executed by the information processing apparatus 200 .

[0031] Figure 11 This is a diagram for explaining a process of determining the upper limit value of communication throughput.

[0032] Figure 12 An implementation of a control system for a vehicle 50 is shown.

[0033] Figure 13 An example of a computer 2000 is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] The present invention will be described below by way of its embodiments, but the following embodiments do not limit the claimed invention. Furthermore, not all combinations of features described in the embodiments are essential to the solution of the present invention.

[0035] Figure 1 The following schematically illustrates a usage mode of a vehicle 50 according to one embodiment. The vehicle 50 is, for example, a car. The vehicle 50 may be a car with an internal combustion engine, an electric vehicle, a fuel cell vehicle (FCV), or the like. The vehicle 50 is an example of transportation equipment.

[0036] The vehicle 50 includes an information processing device 200. The information processing device 200 performs data communication with an external device 30a and an external device 30b. In this embodiment, the external device 30a and the external device 30b may be collectively referred to as "external device 30".

[0037] Information processing device 200 communicates with external device 30 via communication network 90 and wireless communication system 92. Communication network 90 includes IP networks such as the Internet, peer-to-peer networks, dedicated lines including VPNs, and virtual networks. In this embodiment, wireless communication system 92 is a mobile communication network connected to communication network 90. ​​For example, wireless communication system 92 includes a radio access network and a core network.

[0038] The external device 30a includes, for example, a server for providing services to the occupants of the vehicle 50. For example, the external device 30a includes a server storing content data such as animations, a server providing an SNS (social networking service), and the like. The information processing device 200 receives video data from the external device 30a in response to instructions from the occupants of the vehicle 50. Furthermore, the information processing device 200 receives text information, voice information, image information, video information, and the like as SNS messages from the external device 30a in response to instructions from the occupants of the vehicle 50. Furthermore, the information processing device 200 transmits text information, voice information, image information, video information, and the like as SNS messages from the occupants of the vehicle 50 to the external device 30a in response to instructions from the occupants of the vehicle 50.

[0039] The external device 30b is, for example, a server that provides services related to the control of the vehicle 50. The external device 30b may include, for example, a server that collects control-related information for the vehicle 50. The control-related information collected by the external device 30 may include, for example, LIDAR data used for autonomous driving of the vehicle 50. The external device 30b may include, for example, a server that provides control-related information to the vehicle 50. The control-related information provided by the external device 30b may include map data used for autonomous driving of the vehicle 50. The information processing device 200 transmits the LIDAR data, etc., acquired for automatic operation control, to the external device 30b. The information processing device 200 receives the map data from the external device 30b regardless of instructions from the vehicle 50 occupants.

[0040] For vehicle 50, data communications related to vehicle control are sometimes more important than data communications related to SNS or multimedia. Therefore, information processing device 200 sometimes limits data communications related to SNS and multimedia in order to reliably perform data communications related to vehicle control. To this end, information processing device 200 obtains the communication volume for each service currently used in information processing device 200, such as control-related services, SNS-related services, and multimedia-related services. Based on the obtained communication volume for each service, information processing device 200 controls the communication throughput of each service.

[0041] Sometimes, a server providing a specific service, such as a service related to vehicle 50 control, is assigned a fixed, specific IP address. When accessing such a server, information processing device 200 can perform data communications by specifying a specific IP address pre-stored in information processing device 200 as the communication destination. On the other hand, when accessing a server providing general services such as social networking services (SNS) or multimedia, communication is sometimes performed by specifying a URL. In such cases, access is performed by determining the IP address from the URL, but the actual communication destination server IP address may differ for each access, or there may be multiple communication destination server IP addresses. Therefore, to accurately determine the communication volume for each service, information processing device 200 calculates the communication volume for each service by summing the communication volume for each URL based on information obtained when converting the URL to an IP address during data communication and the communication volume for each IP address. On the other hand, for data communications performed using a specific IP address, the communication volume for each service is calculated by summing the communication volume for each IP address. This allows information processing device 200 to appropriately estimate the communication volume for each service, thereby enabling appropriate control of communication throughput for each service.

[0042] Figure 2 The functional configuration of the vehicle 50 is schematically shown. The vehicle 50 includes an information processing device 200, a control device 24a, a control device 24b, a device 25a, a device 25b, and an in-vehicle network 29. The information processing device 200 includes a communication unit 202, a communication volume control unit 230, a communication volume acquisition unit 210, a throughput prediction unit 220, a communication determination unit 240, a priority setting unit 250, a quality calculation unit 260, a proxy processing unit 280, and an upper limit setting unit 290. In addition, Figure 2 The vehicle 50 and the information processing device 200 may include a function block related to the present embodiment. Figure 2 Functional blocks other than those shown.

[0043] The information processing device 200, the control device 24a, and the control device 24b are connected to each other via an in-vehicle network 29. The in-vehicle network 29 may include a communication network conforming to Ethernet (registered trademark). The in-vehicle network 29 may include a CAN (Controller Area Network) communication network.

[0044] The control device 24a and the control device 24b control the device 25a and the device 25b respectively. The control device 24a and the control device 24b can be an ECU (Electronic Control Unit). The device 25a and the device 25b include, for example, a drive device such as an engine, an information communication device, etc. For an embodiment of the control device 24 and the device 25, reference will be made to Figure 9 Specific examples will be described below. Furthermore, the control device 24a and the control device 24b may be collectively referred to as "control device 24." Furthermore, the device 25a and the device 25b may be collectively referred to as "device 25."

[0045] The communication unit 202 communicates data with the external device 30 by wireless communication. For example, the communication unit 202 communicates with the external device 30 via a mobile communication network. The communication unit 202 transmits transmission data whose destination is specified by an IP address to the IP address.

[0046] Proxy processing unit 280 converts the destination of transmission data, whose destination is specified by a URL, into an IP address and causes communication unit 202 to transmit the data. Traffic acquisition unit 210 acquires the traffic volume for each IP address carried out by communication unit 202. Traffic acquisition unit 210 may utilize the functions of the operating system installed in the information processing device to acquire the traffic volume for each IP address carried out by communication unit 202. Traffic acquisition unit 210 acquires the correspondence between the URLs and IP addresses converted by proxy processing unit 280 from proxy processing unit 280. Based on the traffic volume and correspondence for each IP address, traffic acquisition unit 210 acquires the traffic volume for each IP address for each URL as the traffic volume for each service, for data communications with corresponding URLs and IP addresses. Furthermore, for data communications without corresponding URLs and IP addresses, traffic acquisition unit 210 acquires the traffic volume for each IP address as the traffic volume for each service. Traffic control unit 230 uses at least the traffic volume for each service acquired by traffic acquisition unit 210 to control the throughput of data communications with external device 30 for each service.

[0047] Priority setting unit 250 sets a priority for each service. Throughput prediction unit 220 uses at least the traffic volume acquired by traffic acquisition unit 210 to predict future traffic throughput. Traffic control unit 230 limits the data communication throughput of services with a lower priority, as determined by the priority setting unit, compared to the data communication throughput of services with a higher priority, as determined by the priority setting unit, when the future traffic throughput falls below a predetermined threshold.

[0048] Throughput prediction unit 220 predicts future communication throughput for each service using at least the communication volume for each service acquired by communication volume acquisition unit 210. Communication volume control unit 230 controls the throughput of data communication with external device 30 for each service based on the future communication throughput predicted by throughput prediction unit 220.

[0049] The priority setting unit may set the priority of data communication for services related to the control of the vehicle 50 higher than the priority of data communication for other services. The communication determination unit 240 determines whether the data communication is for services related to the control of the vehicle 50 or for multimedia services. The priority setting unit 250 may set the priority of data communication for services related to the control of the vehicle 50 higher than the priority of data communication for multimedia services.

[0050] The upper limit setting unit 290 can set an upper limit value for the communication throughput for data communication with the external device 30. The upper limit setting unit 290 can set the communication throughput for each service based on the priority set by the priority setting unit 250. The communication volume control unit 230 can control data communication with the external device 30 for each service within the range of the upper limit value for the communication throughput set by the upper limit setting unit 290. For example, the communication volume control unit 230 can determine the amount of input data per unit time for each control device 24 so that the communication throughput is equal to or less than the upper limit value set by the upper limit setting unit 290, and control data communication with the external device 30 for each service by instructing each control device 24 of the determined input data amount via the in-vehicle network 29.

[0051] Traffic control unit 230 can limit the communication throughput of data communications for low-priority services to a predetermined value required to continue providing services based on low-priority data communications. This reduces the likelihood of complete data communication interruption, even for low-priority data communications. Communication determination unit 240 can determine whether data communications performed by communication unit 202 are data communications for services related to vehicle 50 control. If the communication throughput of data communications for services related to vehicle 50 control cannot maintain the predetermined value required to continue providing services based on data communications related to vehicle 50 control, traffic control unit 230 can stop data communications for other predetermined services.

[0052] The throughput prediction unit 220 can predict the future communication throughput for each service using at least the communication volume of each service acquired by the communication volume acquisition unit 210. The communication volume control unit 230 can control the throughput of data communication with the external device 30 for each service based on the future communication throughput predicted by the throughput prediction unit 220.

[0053] The quality calculation unit 260 calculates the quality of data communication based on the communication throughput predicted by the throughput prediction unit 220. The priority setting unit 250 can set the communication priority of multiple data communications based on the data communication quality of each service determined by the communication determination unit 240. For example, the quality calculation unit 260 can calculate multimedia quality (MMq) (for example, MMq specified in ITU-T Recommendation G.1070). The priority setting unit 250 can set the data communication priority for each service based on the type and multimedia quality determined by the communication determination unit 240. In addition to multimedia quality, the quality calculation unit 260 can also calculate any indicator representing service quality as the quality of data communication.

[0054] Figure 3 It is a table showing the priority of data communication. Figure 3 In the table, "Category" indicates whether the vehicle 50 is a control type or a non-control type. "Nature" indicates whether the data communication is stable or unstable. "Service Content" indicates the service content provided by the data communication. Figure 3 As shown, data communication related to control services of the vehicle 50 has a higher priority than data communication related to non-control services. In addition, stable data communication has a higher priority than unstable data communication.

[0055] Figure 4 This figure shows an example of the data structure of service information stored in information processing device 200. Service information is information that associates a communication destination, a priority, and a minimum quality. The "communication destination" is the IP address or URL of the external device 30 serving as the communication destination. Furthermore, data communications with the external device 30 stored in the "communication destination" are subject to communication throughput control.

[0056] "Priority" indicates the priority of data communication assigned to a service. In addition, in this embodiment, it is predetermined what type of service the external device 30 provides. Therefore, the service and priority are determined for each external device 30.

[0057] "Minimum quality" indicates the minimum quality of service required to maintain the provision of services based on data communication. For example, MMq can be used as an indicator of minimum quality.

[0058] Figure 5 This section shows the communication volume information indicating the communication volume for each IP address acquired by the communication volume acquisition unit 210. "IP address" is the IP address of the communication destination. "Communication volume" is the communication volume per hour. The communication volume acquisition unit 210 can acquire the communication volume by monitoring the TCP or UDP packet information input to the communication unit 202 using a function provided by the operating system installed in the information processing device 100.

[0059] Figure 6 The corresponding relationship between the IP address converted from the URL by the proxy processing unit 280 and the URL is shown. The proxy processing unit 280 stores information indicating the corresponding relationship between the URL and the converted IP address when converting the URL to the IP address. Figure 6 In the example, it is shown that when "○○○.xxxxxx.com" is specified as the communication destination, the IP address "xxx.xxx.xxx.yyy" is acquired through DNS, and when the same "○○○.xxxxxx.com" is specified as the communication destination at another timing, the IP address "xxx.xxx.xxx.zzz" is acquired through DNS.

[0060] Figure 7 The traffic volume of each service acquired by the traffic acquisition unit 210 is shown. The traffic acquisition unit 210 acquires the IP address associated with the URL "○○○.xxxxxxx.com" based on the correspondence relationship acquired by the proxy processing unit 280. Then, the traffic acquisition unit 210 refers to Figure 5 The traffic information shown in is summed up by summing up the traffic associated with the acquired IP address, thereby summing up the traffic for each URL. Thus, the traffic associated with "○○○.XXXXXX.com" is calculated.

[0061] Furthermore, the traffic acquisition unit 210 determines the IP address "xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" that is not associated with the URL from the IP addresses in the traffic information based on the correspondence relationship acquired by the proxy processing unit 280, and acquires the traffic that is associated with the determined IP address "xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx". Figure 7 As shown, the traffic volume of each service is obtained.

[0062] Figure 8 The control of the communication throughput based on the priority level by the communication volume control unit 230 is schematically shown. Here, the control when a sudden decrease in the overall communication throughput is predicted will be described.

[0063] Assume that at time tx, data communications for the control service, interactive communication service, and web browsing service of vehicle 50 are being performed. Here, data communications for the control service have a higher priority than data communications for non-control services (interactive communication and web browsing). Furthermore, among data communications for non-control services, data communications for the interactive communication service have a higher priority than data communications for the web browsing service.

[0064] The total communication throughput at time tx is Thr1. Assume that the throughput prediction unit 220 predicts that the communication throughput will rapidly decrease to Thr2 after Δt from time tx. If the total communication throughput required to provide the minimum quality of service required for data communication of each currently executed service exceeds Thr2, the communication traffic control unit 230 controls the data communication throughput of the control service and the interactive service to communication throughput values ​​that ensure the minimum quality of service. Furthermore, the communication traffic control unit 230 temporarily suspends data communication for the web browsing service. This allows data communication of the control service of the vehicle 50 to be maintained while ensuring that the total communication throughput does not exceed the predicted throughput.

[0065] Figure 9 The following diagram schematically illustrates the data flow between the functional blocks of information processing device 200. Control device 24 communicates by specifying an IP address or URL as the destination. Communications specifying an IP address are transmitted to external device 30 via communication unit 202. Data communications specifying a URL are processed by proxy processing unit 280, which converts the URL into an IP address and transmits it to external device 30 via communication unit 202. Proxy processing unit 280 maintains a correspondence between the URL and the IP address of the conversion destination.

[0066] The communication volume acquisition unit 210 acquires the communication volume of data communications performed by the communication unit 202. For example, using a function of the operating system, the communication volume acquisition unit 210 monitors information on TCP or UDP packets input to the communication unit 202 within a predetermined period and acquires the communication volume of communications performed by the communication unit 202 for each destination IP address. Based on the correspondence between the URLs acquired from the proxy processing unit 280 and the IP addresses of the conversion destinations and the communication volume per IP address performed by the communication unit 202, the communication volume acquisition unit 210 acquires the communication volume per URL as the communication volume per service, by aggregating the communication volume per URL, for communications that specify a URL. On the other hand, for communications that do not specify a URL as a destination, the communication volume acquisition unit 210 acquires the communication volume per IP address as the communication volume per service.

[0067] The communication determination unit 240 obtains the identification information of the service that performs data communication from the traffic acquisition unit 210. The service identification information is a list of IP addresses and URLs whose traffic is obtained by the traffic acquisition unit 210. The communication determination unit 240 determines the service based on the service identification information obtained from the traffic acquisition unit 210 and the service information of the service. Figure 4The "communication destination" information in the service information shown is used to identify the service to be controlled for communication throughput. Communication determination unit 240 notifies priority setting unit 250 and communication volume acquisition unit 210 of the identification information of the service to be controlled. Based on the acquired communication volume of each service, communication volume acquisition unit 210 calculates the current communication throughput of data communication of the service to be controlled, as notified by communication determination unit 240, for each service to be controlled, and notifies throughput prediction unit 220 of the current communication throughput.

[0068] The throughput prediction unit 220 predicts future communication throughput based on the current communication throughput notified by the communication volume acquisition unit 210. For example, the throughput prediction unit 220 identifies a prediction model for the time series data based on the time series data of the communication throughput. The identified prediction model can be any model that can predict future time series data based on past time series data. For example, examples of the identified prediction model include time series models such as the AR model (AutoRegressive Model) and probability differential equation models such as the Vasicek model. As an example, when using the Vasicek model, the model parameters of the general solution of the Vasicek model's probability differential equation can be identified using a method such as maximum likelihood estimation by using the general solution of the Vasicek model's probability differential equation and time series data. The throughput prediction unit 220 calculates the probability distribution of the future communication throughput time series data based on the identified prediction model. The throughput prediction unit 220 can predict the future communication throughput based on the probability distribution of the future communication throughput time series data. Furthermore, the throughput prediction unit 220 can calculate the probability distribution of time-series data of future communication throughput using the methods described in Patent Documents 1 and 2. As described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, the time-series data can be corrected to remove the influence of transient characteristics using a correction factor calculated based on a communication model that models the transient characteristics of a communication protocol such as TCP communication after the start of communication, and a prediction model for the time-series data can be identified based on the corrected time-series data.

[0069] The throughput prediction unit 220 can predict the communication throughput based on the communication status fed back from the external device 30. Examples of the communication status fed back from the external device 30 include network transmission delay and packet loss rate. The throughput prediction unit 220 predicts the future communication throughput of each service subject to communication throughput control. Furthermore, the throughput prediction unit 220 predicts the total communication throughput of the services subject to communication throughput control. The throughput prediction unit 220 notifies the priority setting unit 250 of the predicted future communication throughput.

[0070] The priority setting unit 250 determines the communication throughput for each service. The priority setting unit 250 may determine the communication throughput for each service based on the communication throughput predicted for each service. In addition, when the predicted total communication throughput in the future is lower than a predetermined threshold, the priority setting unit 250 may determine the communication throughput for each service based on the predicted total communication throughput. Figure 4 The data communication priority for each service is set based on the "priority" of the service information shown, and the communication throughput for each service is determined based on the set priority. Priority setting unit 250 can determine the communication throughput for each service subject to control according to the priority set for each service, based on the identification information of the service subject to control notified by communication determination unit 240 and the predicted communication throughput for each service notified by throughput prediction unit 220. Priority setting unit 250 notifies upper limit setting unit 290 of information indicating the communication throughput determined for each service.

[0071] Furthermore, when setting the communication throughput for each service based on priority, the quality calculation unit 260 can calculate a service quality index value based on future communication throughput. The communication quality index value can be MMq. The priority setting unit 250 can calculate the communication throughput based on the service quality calculated by the quality calculation unit 260. For example, the priority setting unit 250 can refer to association information that associates communication throughput with predetermined communication quality index values ​​and select the communication throughput corresponding to an index value below the communication quality calculated by the quality calculation unit 260 as the upper limit. For data communications of services with a priority higher than the predetermined value, the priority setting unit 250 sets the communication throughput corresponding to a service quality higher than the minimum quality. For data communications of services with a priority lower than the predetermined value, the priority setting unit 250 sets the communication throughput corresponding to the minimum quality of service. This allows for adapting to future communication throughput.

[0072] The upper limit setting unit 290 sets the upper limit value of the communication throughput based on the communication throughput notified from the priority setting unit 250. Regarding the method of setting the upper limit value based on the future communication throughput, please refer to Figure 11 The following will be explained.

[0073] The traffic control unit 230 sets an upper limit value for the amount of input data per unit time corresponding to the communication throughput of each service for each service based on the upper limit value set by the upper limit setting unit 290, and notifies the control device 24 of the upper limit value. The traffic control unit 230 can set an upper limit value for the amount of input data for each service based on the upper limit value set by the upper limit setting unit 290, and notify the control device 24 of the upper limit value.

[0074] The control device 24 limits the transmission of transmission data for each service based on the upper limit value of the input data amount notified from the communication volume control unit 230. For example, the control device 24 limits the data communication volume for each service so that the amount of data to be transmitted to the external device 30 does not exceed the upper limit value of the input data amount notified from the communication volume control unit 230. In this way, the communication throughput can be appropriately limited according to the priority of the data communication.

[0075] Figure 10 10 is a flow chart showing the processing procedure performed by the information processing device 200. In S1002, the traffic acquisition unit 210 determines whether the URL is designated as the destination during the communication being executed. When the URL is not designated as the destination, the traffic acquisition unit 210 measures the traffic of each IP address, and sets the traffic of each IP address measured as the traffic of each service (S1004). When the URL is designated as the destination, the traffic acquisition unit 210 obtains the IP address corresponding to the URL through the proxy processing unit 280 (S1006). The traffic acquisition unit 210 measures the total traffic of the IP address corresponding to each URL by each URL, and defines the traffic of each URL measured as the traffic of each service.

[0076] Following S1004 and S1008, in S1010, the throughput prediction unit 220 obtains the communication status (e.g., transmission delay time and packet loss rate) from the external device 30 at the communication destination. In S1012, the throughput prediction unit 220 predicts the future communication throughput based on the communication volume measured in S1004 or S10008 and the communication status obtained from the external device 30. In S1014, the priority setting unit 250 sets a priority for each service in communication. In S1016, based on the communication volume of each service and the priority determined in S1014, an upper limit value for the communication throughput of each service is set. In S1018, the communication volume control unit 230 instructs each control device 24 performing communication on the input data volume.

[0077] Figure 11 This is a diagram for explaining a process of determining the upper limit value of communication throughput. Figure 11 The horizontal axis of the graph represents time, and the vertical axis represents communication throughput. Line 1100 represents the time variation of the predicted communication throughput for a particular service. Line 1000 represents the upper limit of the communication throughput. Priority setting component 250 determines the upper limit of the communication throughput based on the predicted communication throughput.

[0078] At time t0, the maximum permissible upper limit Th_1 is set as the upper limit of the communication throughput. If the predicted communication throughput falls below threshold Th1_down at time t1, priority setting unit 250 lowers the upper limit of the communication throughput from Th_1 to Th_2. If the predicted communication throughput falls below threshold Th2_down at time t2, priority setting unit 250 lowers the upper limit of the communication throughput from Th_2 to Th_3. Threshold Th2_down is lower than threshold Th1_down.

[0079] At time t3, if the predicted communication throughput exceeds threshold Th2_up, the priority setting unit 250 raises the upper limit of the communication throughput from Th_3 to Th_2. Furthermore, threshold Th2_up is a value higher than threshold Th2_down. At time t4, if the predicted communication throughput exceeds threshold Th1_up, the priority setting unit 250 raises the upper limit of the communication throughput from Th_2 to Th_1. Furthermore, threshold Th1_up is a value higher than threshold Th1_down.

[0080] Upper limit Th_2 is higher than threshold Th1_up. Furthermore, upper limit Th_3 is higher than threshold Th2_up. Therefore, for example, at time t3, before the predicted throughput exceeds upper limit Th_3, the upper limit can be raised to Th_2. When upper limit Th_3 of the communication throughput is set, control device 24 controls the amount of data input to communication unit 202 so as not to exceed upper limit Th_3. Therefore, if the upper limit of the communication throughput is set to Th_3 and remains unchanged, even if the communication environment improves and the communication throughput can be increased, there are cases where the actual communication throughput does not exceed upper limit Th_3 and the predicted communication throughput does not increase. As a result, there are cases where the actual communication throughput remains constant near Th_3. On the other hand, by setting upper limit Th_3 higher than threshold Th2_up, the actual communication throughput can be prevented from remaining constant near Th_3. Similarly, by setting upper limit Th_2 higher than threshold Th1_up, the actual communication throughput can be prevented from remaining constant near Th_2.

[0081] Furthermore, Th1_down is set to a value lower than Th1_up. Therefore, if the predicted communication throughput decreases, the upper limit can be reduced to Th_2 when the predicted communication throughput becomes sufficiently low. This prevents the upper limit from decreasing prematurely. Therefore, if the communication environment improves, the communication throughput can be immediately increased, leaving room for maintaining communication speed. Similarly, since Th2_down is set to a value lower than Th2_up, the upper limit can be prevented from decreasing prematurely when the predicted communication throughput decreases.

[0082] As described above, the information processing device 200 can appropriately evaluate the communication volume of each service. This allows for appropriate control of communication throughput based on the communication volume of each service. Furthermore, in this embodiment, services are identified by the URL or IP address of the communication destination. However, a service can also be identified by a combination of the URL or IP address of the communication destination and the IP address and port number of the control device 24 at the transmission source.

[0083] Figure 12 1000 shows an implementation of a control system for vehicle 50. Control system 1000 includes a core ECU 1010, a TCU 1020, an AD / ADAS ECU 1021, an information ECU 1022, a zone ECU 1023, a zone ECU 1024, sensor devices 1040, an information device 1041, drive devices 1030, comfort devices 1031, alarm devices 1032, vision devices 1033, advanced safety devices 1034, anti-theft devices 1035, lamp devices 1036, door devices 1037, driving position devices 1038, opening and closing devices 1039, communication networks 1080, 1081, 1082, 1084, and 1085. The AD / ADAS ECU 1021 is an ECU that performs controls related to automated driving (AD) and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).

[0084] The TCU 1020 is a telematics control unit. It is an implementation example of the aforementioned information processing device 200. The TCU 1020 and the core ECU 1010 can also collaborate to function as the aforementioned information processing device 200. The AD / ADAS ECU 1021, information ECU 1022, regional ECU 1023, and regional ECU 1024 are each implementation examples of the control device 24.

[0085] Communication network 1080, communication network 1081, communication network 1082, communication network 1084, and communication network 1085 are one implementation example of the in-vehicle network 29. Communication network 1080, communication network 1081, communication network 1082, communication network 1084, and communication network 1085 may include Ethernet. The TCU 1020, core ECU 1010, AD / ADAS ECU 1021, information ECU 1022, regional ECU 1023, and regional ECU 1024 may communicate via IP via communication network 1080, communication network 1081, communication network 1082, communication network 1084, and communication network 1085. Furthermore, communication network 1084 and communication network 1085 may include CAN.

[0086] The sensor device 1040 includes sensors such as a camera, radar, and LIDAR. The AD / ADAS ECU 1021 is connected to each sensor included in the sensor device 1040 via a bus, controls each sensor included in the sensor device 1040, and acquires information detected by each sensor.

[0087] Information devices 1041 include an instrument, display, tuner, player, DSRC (Dual-Speed ​​Radio Control) system, wireless charger, and USB port. Information ECU 1022 is connected to each device in information devices 1041 via a bus and controls each device. Information devices 1041 include information communication devices, multimedia-related devices, and user interface devices.

[0088] Drive system 1030 includes devices such as an electric parking brake (EPB), an electric power steering system (EPS), a vehicle stability control system (VSA), a shifter (SHIFTER), a power drive unit (PDU), an intelligent power unit (IPU), and a fuel injection device (FI). Drive system 1030 is connected to each device in drive system 1030 via a bus and controls each device in drive system 1030.

[0089] The regional ECU 1024 is connected to the comfort type equipment 1031, the alarm type equipment 1032, the vision type equipment 1033, the advanced safety type equipment 1034, the anti-theft type equipment 1035, the light type equipment 1036, the door type equipment 1037, the driving position type equipment 1038 and the opening and closing type equipment 1039 through the bus, and controls the devices of the comfort type equipment 1031, the alarm type equipment 1032, the vision type equipment 1033, the advanced safety type equipment 1034, the anti-theft type equipment 1035, the light type equipment 1036, the door type equipment 1037, the driving position type equipment 1038 and the opening and closing type equipment 1039. The device is connected to the comfort device 1031, the alarm device 1032, the vision device 1033, the advanced safety device 1034, the anti-theft device 1035, the light device 1036, the door device 1037, the driving position device 1038, and the opening and closing device 1039. The comfort device 1031, the alarm device 1032, the vision device 1033, the advanced safety device 1034, the anti-theft device 1035, the light device 1036, the door device 1037, the driving position device 1038, and the opening and closing device 1039 mainly include auxiliary devices of the vehicle 50.

[0090] Driving devices 1030, sensor devices 1040, comfort devices 1031, alarm devices 1032, vision devices 1033, advanced safety devices 1034, anti-theft devices 1035, lighting devices 1036, door devices 1037, driving position devices 1038, and opening and closing devices 1039 are control devices of vehicle 50. Information devices 1041 are non-control devices.

[0091] Data communications associated with devices included in sensor devices 1040, drive devices 1030, comfort devices 1031, alarm devices 1032, vision devices 1033, advanced security devices 1034, anti-theft devices 1035, lamp devices 1036, door devices 1037, driving position devices 1038, and opening and closing devices 1039 may have a lower priority than data communications associated with devices included in information devices 1041.

[0092] Vehicle 50 is an example of a mobile object. Examples of mobile objects include automobiles such as passenger cars and buses, saddle-type vehicles, aircraft, and ships. The mobile object is not limited to transportation equipment and may be any movable device. Information processing device 200 may not be mounted on transportation equipment such as vehicle 50, but may be a portable terminal, personal computer, or the like.

[0093] As described above, according to the information processing device 200 and an implementation method of the information processing device 200, by limiting low-priority data communications, the possibility of being able to continue high-priority data communications can be increased. Generally, when multiple data communications are performed in a device installed on a mobile body, it is necessary to communicate within a communication speed (also called a communication frequency band). However, it is not always possible to obtain an appropriate communication speed in all multiple data communications. For example, in a case where the communication speed decreases due to deterioration of the communication environment, there is a problem that high-priority data communications are restricted. In contrast, according to the above-mentioned information processing device 200, such problems can be reduced.

[0094] Figure 13 This figure illustrates an example of a computer 2000 that can fully or partially embody various embodiments of the present invention. Programs installed on computer 2000 can cause computer 2000 to function as an information processing device or other device or its respective units according to the embodiments, perform operations associated with the device or its respective units, and / or execute processes or steps according to the embodiments. Such programs can be executed by CPU 2012 to cause computer 2000 to perform the processing flow described in this specification and specific operations associated with some or all of the functional blocks in the block diagrams.

[0095] The computer 2000 according to this embodiment includes a CPU 2012 and a RAM 2014, which are interconnected via a main controller 2010. The computer 2000 further includes a ROM 2026, a flash memory 2024, a communication interface 2022, and an input / output chip 2040. The ROM 2026, the flash memory 2024, the communication interface 2022, and the input / output chip 2040 are connected to the main controller 2010 via the input / output controller 2020.

[0096] The CPU 2012 operates according to the programs stored in the ROM 2026 and the RAM 2014 , thereby controlling each unit.

[0097] The communication interface 2022 communicates with other electronic devices via a network. The flash memory 2024 stores programs and data used by the CPU 2012 in the computer 2000. The ROM 2026 stores startup programs and the like executed by the computer 2000 when activated, and / or programs dependent on the hardware of the computer 2000. The input / output chip 2040 can also connect various input / output units such as a keyboard, mouse, and monitor to the input / output controller 2020 via input / output ports such as a serial port, a parallel port, a keyboard port, a mouse port, a monitor port, a USB port, and an HDMI (registered trademark) port.

[0098] The program is provided via a computer-readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or USB flash drive, or via a network. RAM 2014, ROM 2026, or flash memory 2024 are examples of computer-readable storage media. The program is installed into flash memory 2024, RAM 2014, or ROM 2026 and executed by CPU 2012. The information processing described in these programs is read by computer 2000, enabling collaboration between the program and the various types of hardware resources described above. A device or method can be constructed by implementing information manipulation or processing in accordance with the use of computer 2000.

[0099] For example, when communication is performed between the computer 2000 and an external device, the CPU 2012 can execute a communication program loaded into the RAM 2014 and, based on the processing described in the communication program, instruct the communication interface 2022 to perform communication processing. Under the control of the CPU 2012, the communication interface 2022 reads transmission data stored in a transmission buffer area provided in the RAM 2014 and a recording medium such as the flash memory 2024, transmits the read transmission data to the network, and writes reception data received from the network to a reception buffer area provided on the recording medium.

[0100] Furthermore, the CPU 2012 can read all or a required portion of a file or database stored in a recording medium such as the flash memory 2024 into the RAM 2014 and perform various processes on the data in the RAM 2014. The CPU 2012 then writes the processed data back to the recording medium.

[0101] Various types of programs, data, tables, and various information such as databases can be saved to a recording medium and applied to information processing. CPU2012 can perform various processing described in this specification, including various operations specified by the instruction sequence of the program, information processing, conditional judgment, conditional branching, unconditional branching, information retrieval / replacement, etc., on the data read from RAM2014, and write the results back to RAM2014. In addition, CPU2012 can retrieve information in files, databases, etc. in the recording medium. For example, when a plurality of items each having an attribute value of a first attribute associated with an attribute value of a second attribute are stored in a recording medium, CPU2012 can retrieve an item that specifies an attribute value of the first attribute and is consistent with the condition from the plurality of items, read the attribute value of the second attribute stored in the item, and thereby obtain the attribute value of the second attribute associated with the first attribute that meets the pre-set condition.

[0102] The programs or software modules described above can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium on or near the computer 2000. A recording medium such as a hard disk or RAM provided in a server system connected to a dedicated communication network or the Internet can be used as the computer-readable storage medium. The program stored in the computer-readable storage medium can be provided to the computer 2000 via the network.

[0103] Programs installed in computer 2000 and causing computer 2000 to function as information processing device 200 can be run on CPU 2012 and other devices, causing computer 2000 to function as each unit of information processing device 200. The information processing described in these programs is read into computer 2000, whereupon the software and the various hardware resources described above work together to form specific units, i.e., the units of information processing device 200. Furthermore, by utilizing these specific units to perform calculations or processing of information corresponding to the intended use of computer 2000 in this embodiment, a unique information processing device 200 corresponding to the intended use is constructed.

[0104] Various embodiments are described with reference to block diagrams, etc. In the block diagrams, each functional block may represent (1) a step of a process for performing an operation or (2) each unit of a device having the function of performing an operation. Specific steps and each unit may be implemented by a dedicated circuit, a programmable circuit supplied together with computer-readable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium, and / or a processor supplied together with computer-readable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium. The dedicated circuit may include digital and / or analog hardware circuits, and may also include integrated circuits (ICs) and / or discrete circuits. The programmable circuit may include logical AND, logical OR, logical XOR, logical NAND, logical NOR, and other logical operations, flip-flops, registers, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic arrays (PLAs), and other reconfigurable hardware circuits including memory elements.

[0105] A computer-readable storage medium may include any tangible device capable of storing instructions for execution by an appropriate device. Consequently, a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein constitutes at least a portion of a product containing instructions that can be executed to implement a unit for performing the operations specified in the process flow or block diagram. Examples of computer-readable storage media include electrical storage media, magnetic storage media, optical storage media, electromagnetic storage media, semiconductor storage media, and the like. More specific examples of computer-readable storage media include floppy disks (registered trademark), flexible magnetic disks, hard disks, random access memories (RAM), read-only memories (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROM or flash memory), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROM), static random access memories (SRAM), compact disk read-only memories (CD-ROMs), digital versatile disks (DVDs), Blu-ray discs (registered trademark), memory sticks, integrated circuit cards, and the like.

[0106] Computer-readable instructions may include assembly instructions, instruction set architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine delegate instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state setting data, or any source code or object code described in any combination of one or more programming languages ​​including object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Smalltalk (registered trademark), JAVA (registered trademark), C++, and conventional procedural programming languages ​​such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages.

[0107] Computer-readable instructions are provided to a processor or programmable circuit of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device via a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet. The computer-readable instructions can be executed to implement a unit for performing the operations specified in the processing flow or block diagram. Examples of processors include computer processors, processing units, microprocessors, digital signal processors, controllers, microcontrollers, etc.

[0108] While the present invention has been described above using embodiments, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the above embodiments. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications or improvements can be made to the above embodiments. It will be apparent from the claims that such modifications or improvements are also within the technical scope of the present invention.

[0109] Regarding the order in which actions, processes, steps, and processes, etc., in the apparatus, system, program, and method described in the claims, specifications, and drawings, it should be noted that unless specifically indicated by "before," "preceding," or the like, these processes may be performed in any order, as long as the output of a previous process is not used in a subsequent process. Even if the process flow in the claims, specifications, and drawings is described using "first," "next," or the like for convenience, this does not necessarily mean that the process must be performed in that order.

[0110] [Description of Reference Numerals]

[0111] 24 Control Devices

[0112] 25 devices

[0113] 29 In-vehicle Network

[0114] 30 External devices

[0115] 50 vehicles

[0116] 90 Communication Network

[0117] 92 Wireless Communication Systems

[0118] 200 Information Processing Device

[0119] 202 Ministry of Communications

[0120] 210 Traffic Acquisition Department

[0121] 220 Throughput Forecasting Department

[0122] 230 Traffic Control Unit

[0123] 240 Communication Identification Unit

[0124] 250 Priority Setting Unit

[0125] 260 Mass Calculation Department

[0126] 280 Agent Processing Department

[0127] 290 Upper limit setting unit

[0128] 1010 Core ECU

[0129] 1020 TCU

[0130] 1021 AD / ADAS ECU

[0131] 1022 Information ECU

[0132] 1023 Regional ECU

[0133] 1024 regional ECUs

[0134] 1030 Driver devices

[0135] 1031 Comfort Equipment

[0136] 1032 Alarm equipment

[0137] 1033 Vision Equipment

[0138] 1034 Advanced Security Equipment

[0139] 1035 Anti-theft equipment

[0140] 1036 Lighting equipment

[0141] 1037 Door Equipment

[0142] 1038 Driving position equipment

[0143] 1039 Opening and closing equipment

[0144] 1040 Sensor Equipment

[0145] 1041 Information Equipment

[0146] 1080 Communication Network

[0147] 1081 Communication Network

[0148] 1082 Communication Network

[0149] 1084 Communication Network

[0150] 1085 Communication Network

[0151] 2000 Computer

[0152] 2010 Main Controller

[0153] 2012 CPU

[0154] 2014 RAM

[0155] 2020 Input / Output Controller

[0156] 2022 Communication Interface

[0157] 2024 Flash Memory

[0158] 2026 ROM

[0159] 2040 Input / Output Chip.

Claims

1. An information processing device mounted on a vehicle, wherein: have: a communication unit that communicates data with an external device via wireless communication and transmits transmission data having a destination specified by an IP address to the IP address as a destination, wherein the destination of the transmission data having a destination specified by the IP address that has no correspondence with a URL is a system that provides a service related to control of the vehicle; a proxy processing unit that converts a destination of transmission data specified by a URL into an IP address and causes the communication unit to transmit the transmission data, wherein the destination of the transmission data specified by the URL is a system that provides services other than services related to control of the vehicle; a communication volume acquisition unit that acquires communication volume for each IP address executed by the communication unit, acquires a correspondence relationship between the URL converted by the proxy processing unit and the IP address from the proxy processing unit, and, based on the communication volume for each IP address and the correspondence relationship, acquires, for data communications having the correspondence relationship between the URL and the IP address, a communication volume obtained by aggregating the communication volume for each IP address for each URL, the communication volume being distinguished from at least a communication volume of a service related to control of the vehicle and a communication volume of the other services, as a communication volume for each service; a throughput prediction unit that predicts a future communication throughput for each service using at least the communication volume for each service acquired by the communication volume acquisition unit; a priority setting unit that sets a priority for each of the services and sets a priority for data communication of a service related to control of the vehicle higher than a priority for data communication of other services; as well as a communication traffic control unit configured to control the throughput of data communication with the external device for each service based on the future communication throughput predicted for each service by the throughput prediction unit, The communication volume control unit limits the data communication throughput of the low-priority service set by the priority setting unit compared to the data communication throughput of the high-priority service set by the priority setting unit when the total value of the future communication throughput of each service predicted by the throughput prediction unit is lower than a predetermined threshold.

2. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein The throughput prediction unit performs the following processing: identifying a prediction model for the time series data of each service based on the time series data of the communication volume of each service acquired by the communication volume acquisition unit; Based on the identified prediction model for each service, a probability distribution of time series data of future communication throughput is calculated for each service. The future communication throughput of each service is predicted based on the calculated probability distribution of each service.

3. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein Regarding the communication volume of data communication for which there is no correspondence between a URL and an IP address, the communication volume acquisition unit further acquires the communication volume acquired for each IP address as the communication volume for each service.

4. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein: The system further comprises a communication determination unit for determining whether the communication is data communication for a service related to control of the vehicle or data communication for a service related to multimedia. The priority setting unit sets a priority for data communication of a service related to control of the vehicle higher than a priority for data communication of a service related to multimedia. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein: The communication volume control section limits the communication throughput of the data communication of the low-priority service to a predetermined value required to continue providing the service based on the low-priority data communication. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein: The information processing device further includes a communication determination unit configured to determine whether data communication performed by the communication unit is data communication for a service related to control of the vehicle. The communication volume control unit stops data communication of other predetermined services when the communication throughput of data communication as a service related to vehicle control cannot ensure a predetermined value required to continue providing the service based on data communication related to vehicle control.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: The communication volume acquisition unit acquires the communication volume for each IP address performed by the communication unit using a function of an operating system installed in the information processing device.

8. A vehicle, wherein: An information processing device comprising the information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. An information processing method, comprising: an information processing device mounted on a vehicle; the information processing device comprising a communication unit for wirelessly communicating with an external device and transmitting data having a destination specified by an IP address to the IP address; wherein the destination of the data having a destination specified by the IP address not corresponding to a URL is a system providing a service related to control of the vehicle; The information processing method has the following features: a step of converting a destination of transmission data specified by a URL into an IP address and causing the communication unit to transmit the data, wherein the destination of the transmission data specified by the URL is a system providing services other than services related to control of the vehicle; a step of acquiring the communication volume for each IP address performed by the communication unit; The step of obtaining the correspondence between the converted URL and the IP address; Based on the communication volume of each IP address and the correspondence, for data communications having a correspondence between a URL and an IP address, acquiring, as the communication volume of each service, a communication volume obtained by aggregating the communication volume of each IP address for each URL, the communication volume being distinguished from at least the communication volume of a service related to control of the vehicle and the communication volume of the other services; The step of predicting future communication throughput per each of said services using at least the communication volume of each of said services; a step of setting a priority for each of the services, and setting a priority for data communication of a service related to control of the vehicle higher than a priority for data communication of other services; as well as a step of controlling the throughput of data communication with the external device for each service based on the future communication throughput predicted for each service, Wherein, in the step of controlling the throughput of data communication with the external device according to each service based on the future communication throughput predicted according to each service, when the total value of the future communication throughput of each service predicted by the throughput prediction unit is lower than a predetermined threshold value, the throughput of data communication of the low-priority service set by the priority setting unit is limited compared to the throughput of data communication of the high-priority service set by the priority setting unit.

10. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program, the program causing a computer mounted on a vehicle to execute the following steps: a step of converting a destination of transmission data specified by a URL into an IP address and causing the communication unit to transmit the data, wherein the destination of the transmission data specified by the URL is a system providing services other than services related to control of the vehicle; a step of acquiring the communication volume for each IP address performed by the communication unit; The step of obtaining the correspondence between the converted URL and the IP address; Based on the communication volume of each IP address and the correspondence, for data communications having a correspondence between a URL and an IP address, acquiring, as the communication volume of each service, a communication volume obtained by aggregating the communication volume of each IP address for each URL, the communication volume being distinguished from at least the communication volume of a service related to control of the vehicle and the communication volume of the other services; The step of predicting future communication throughput per each of said services using at least the communication volume of each of said services; a step of setting a priority for each of the services, and setting a priority for data communication of a service related to control of the vehicle higher than a priority for data communication of other services; as well as a step of controlling the throughput of data communication with the external device for each service based on the future communication throughput predicted for each service, Wherein, in the step of controlling the throughput of data communication with the external device according to each service based on the future communication throughput predicted according to each service, when the total value of the future communication throughput of each service predicted by the throughput prediction unit is lower than a predetermined threshold value, the throughput of data communication of the low-priority service set by the priority setting unit is limited compared to the throughput of data communication of the high-priority service set by the priority setting unit.

Images