Auxiliary control device, auxiliary control method and computer readable storage medium

Abstract

The invention provides an assist control apparatus, an assist control method, and a computer readable storage medium. The assist control device is provided with: an acquisition unit that acquires position information of a plurality of user terminals; a specifying unit that specifies, from among the plurality of user terminals, a first user terminal and a second user terminal that move at an interval of a predetermined value or less, on the basis of a history of location information of the plurality of user terminals; and an assistance control unit that performs control relating to assistance for a traffic participant when it is detected that one of the first user terminal and the second user terminal has moved to the opposite side of the road with respect to the position of the other user terminal.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to an auxiliary control device, an auxiliary control method and a computer-readable storage medium. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, efforts to provide access to sustainable transportation systems for people in vulnerable situations among traffic participants have become increasingly active. To achieve this goal, research and development efforts have been made to further improve the safety and convenience of traffic through research and development related to preventive safety technologies. Patent Documents 1 to 3 describe technologies related to pedestrians crossing the road and running off the road.

[0003] Patent Document 1: International Publication No. 2008 / 126389

[0004] Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-252022

[0005] Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-310376 Summary of the invention

[0006] However, in terms of preventive safety technology, pedestrians and the like unexpectedly cross the road, which is a problem. In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present application aims to appropriately predict the crossing of the road. Moreover, it also contributes to the development of a sustainable transportation system.

[0007] In a first aspect of the present invention, an auxiliary control device is provided. The auxiliary control device includes an acquisition unit that acquires location information of a plurality of user terminals. The auxiliary control device includes a determination unit that determines, among the plurality of user terminals, a first user terminal and a second user terminal that move at intervals less than a predetermined value based on a history of the location information of the plurality of user terminals. The auxiliary control device includes an auxiliary control unit that performs control related to assistance for traffic participants when it is detected that one of the first user terminal and the second user terminal moves to the opposite side of a road relative to the position of the other user terminal.

[0008] In the above-mentioned assistance control device, the assistance control unit may perform control for outputting an alarm to a moving object approaching a position of the second user terminal.

[0009] In any of the auxiliary control devices described above, the acquisition unit may also acquire information indicating whether a user associated with the plurality of user terminals is speaking. The determination unit may determine, based on the history of the position information of the plurality of user terminals, a first user terminal and a second user terminal at which users who move at intervals less than a predetermined value and are associated with each user terminal are alternately speaking among the plurality of user terminals.

[0010] Any of the above-mentioned auxiliary control devices may further include a judgment unit, which judges whether the current positions of the first user terminal and the second user terminal are the positions where the first user terminal and the second user terminal start to move in different directions based on the history of the position information of the first user terminal and the second user terminal. If the judgment unit determines that the current positions of the first user terminal and the second user terminal are the positions where the first user terminal and the second user terminal start to move in different directions, the auxiliary control unit may suppress assistance for the traffic participant.

[0011] In any of the above-mentioned auxiliary control devices, a human relationship information acquisition unit may be further provided, which acquires human relationship information indicating the degree of friendship between the plurality of users associated with the plurality of user terminals. The higher the degree of friendship between the user associated with the first user terminal and the user associated with the second user terminal, the more the auxiliary control unit may promote assistance to the traffic participant.

[0012] In any of the above-mentioned auxiliary control devices, the interpersonal relationship information acquisition unit may acquire interpersonal relationship information indicating the degree of friendship between a plurality of users associated with the plurality of user terminals based on a history of position information of the plurality of user terminals.

[0013] In any of the above-mentioned auxiliary control devices, a human relationship information acquisition unit may be further provided, which acquires human relationship information indicating human relationships between a plurality of users associated with the plurality of user terminals. The auxiliary control unit may determine whether to promote or inhibit assistance to the traffic participant based on the human relationships between the user associated with the first user terminal and the user associated with the second user terminal.

[0014] In any of the above-mentioned auxiliary control devices, a human relationship information acquisition unit may be further provided, which acquires information indicating a parent-child relationship between a first user associated with the first user terminal and a second user associated with the second user terminal. Based on the information acquired by the human relationship information acquisition unit, the auxiliary control unit may perform control related to assistance for traffic participants when it is determined that the user associated with the one user terminal is a parent of the user associated with the other user terminal.

[0015] In any of the above-mentioned auxiliary control devices, the auxiliary control unit may, based on the information acquired by the interpersonal relationship information acquisition unit, suppress assistance to traffic participants when it is determined that the user associated with the one user terminal is a child of the user associated with the other user terminal, compared with a case where it is determined that the user associated with the one user terminal is a parent of the user associated with the other user terminal.

[0016] In a second aspect of the present invention, an assistance control method is provided. The assistance control method includes a step of acquiring location information of a plurality of user terminals. The assistance control method includes a step of determining a first user terminal and a second user terminal that move at an interval of less than a predetermined value among the plurality of user terminals based on a history of the location information of the plurality of user terminals. The assistance control method includes a step of performing control related to assistance for a traffic participant when it is detected that one of the first user terminal and the second user terminal moves to the opposite side of a road relative to the position of the other user terminal.

[0017] In a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program that causes a computer to function as any one of the above-mentioned auxiliary control devices.

[0018] In addition, the above summary of the invention does not list all the features of the present invention. In addition, a sub-combination of these feature groups may also be an invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] Figure 1 A usage scenario of the assistance system 10 is schematically shown.

[0020] Figure 2 This shows a state where the user 80a is about to move to the opposite side of the road 90 relative to the position of the user 80b.

[0021] Figure 3 The functional structure of the auxiliary device 60 is shown.

[0022] Figure 4 An example of the data structure of the position history information of the user terminal 82 is shown.

[0023] Figure 5 An example of the data structure of interpersonal relationship information is shown.

[0024] Figure 6 An example of the data structure of the departure location information is shown.

[0025] Figure 7 An example of the execution flow of processing performed by the imaging device 70 , the user terminal 82 , the in-vehicle processing device 40 included in the vehicle 20 , and the support device 60 is shown.

[0026] Figure 8 An example of a flowchart related to a process related to the assist control method executed in the assist control device 200 is shown.

[0027] Fig. 9 An example of a computer 2000 is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described by way of the embodiments of the invention, but the following embodiments do not limit the claimed invention. In addition, not all combinations of features described in the embodiments are essential to the solution means of the invention.

[0029] Figure 1 The following schematically shows a usage scenario of the support system 10. The support system 10 includes a vehicle 20, a user terminal 82a and a user terminal 82b, a support device 60, and a camera 70.

[0030] The vehicle 20 includes the vehicle-mounted processing device 40. The user terminal 82a is a terminal held by the user 80a, and the user terminal 82b is a terminal held by the user 80b. In the present embodiment, the user 80a and the user 80b are pedestrians.

[0031] In the present embodiment, the user terminal 82a and the user terminal 82b may be collectively referred to as “user terminal 82”. The user 80a and the user 80b may be collectively referred to as “user 80”.

[0032] The vehicle 20 is a vehicle traveling on the road 90. The vehicle 20 is an example of a mobile body. The vehicle-mounted processing device 40 has a function of communicating with the outside using mobile communication. The vehicle-mounted processing device 40 is composed of sensors such as a position sensor including a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver, a speed sensor such as a vehicle speed sensor, and a distance sensor that measures the distance from the vehicle 20 to surrounding objects. The vehicle-mounted processing device 40 has a function of processing information obtained by various sensors provided by the vehicle-mounted processing device 40, and a function of communicating with the auxiliary device 60. The vehicle-mounted processing device 40 provides an advanced driving assistance system (ADAS) function provided by the vehicle 20.

[0033] The user terminal 82 is a portable terminal such as a smartphone, for example. The user terminal 82 is an example of a mobile object. The user terminal 82 periodically transmits the current position information of the user terminal 82 detected by a position sensor including a GNSS receiver to the assistance device 60.

[0034] The camera 70 is a camera installed on a traffic infrastructure, and acquires the positions of the vehicle 20 and the user 80 within the camera range of the camera 70 by analyzing the captured images, and transmits the acquired positions of the vehicle 20 and the user 80 to the assisting device 60 .

[0035] The assistance device 60 receives information sent from the vehicle-mounted processing device 40, the user terminal 82, and the camera 70 through mobile communication. The assistance device 60 can receive information sent from the vehicle-mounted processing device 40, the user terminal 82, and the camera 70 through a communication line such as mobile communication, the Internet, and a dedicated line. The assistance device 60 performs traffic assistance for traffic participants based on the information received from the vehicle-mounted processing device 40, the user terminal 82, and the camera 70.

[0036] In the present embodiment, the auxiliary device 60 assumes that the user 80a exists within a predetermined range from the position of the user terminal 82a, and assumes that the user 80b exists within a predetermined range from the position of the user terminal 82b. The auxiliary device 60 determines that the user terminal 82a and the user terminal 82b move at intervals less than a predetermined distance based on the history of the position information of the user terminal 82a and the user terminal 82b. When the user terminal 82a and the user terminal 82b move at intervals less than a predetermined distance, the auxiliary device 60 considers that the user 80a and the user 80b move in conjunction. Therefore, the auxiliary device 60 performs traffic assistance based on the position of one of the user terminals 82a and 82b according to the displacement of the other user terminal.

[0037] Figure 2 The state in which the user 80a is about to move to the opposite side of the road 90 relative to the position of the user 80b is shown. When it is detected from the history of the position information of the user 80a that the user terminal 82a is moving toward the opposite side of the road 90 or the user terminal 82a has moved to the opposite side of the road 90, the assistance device 60 performs traffic assistance for the vehicle 20 and / or the user 80b based on the position of the user terminal 82b. Even after the user terminal 82a reaches the opposite side of the road 90, the vehicle 20 and / or the user 80b is still provided with traffic assistance based on the position of the user terminal 82b.

[0038] For example, the support device 60 determines whether there is a possibility that the user 80b and the vehicle 20 are close to each other when the user terminal 82b moves toward the opposite side of the road 90, based on the position information of the vehicle 20 received from the in-vehicle processing device 40, the position information of the user terminal 82b, and the map information indicating the configuration of the road 90. For example, the support device 60 assumes that the user 80b has started to move toward the road 90, and predicts the position of the user 80b and the position of the vehicle 20 when the user 80b arrives at the road 90, and determines that there is a possibility that the vehicle 20 and the user 80b are close to each other when the distance between the predicted position of the user 80b and the position of the vehicle 20 is less than a predetermined value.

[0039] When determining that the user 80 b and the vehicle 20 may be close to each other, the support device 60 determines to perform traffic support for the vehicle 20 and the user 80 b and instructs the in-vehicle processing device 40 and the user terminal 82 b to output an alarm.

[0040] The photographing device 70 obtains the respective position information of the user 80a and the user 80b based on the photographed image, and transmits the obtained position information to the assisting device 60. The assisting device 60 can perform traffic assistance for traffic participants based on the respective position information of the user 80a and the user 80b. For example, the above-mentioned traffic assistance can be performed by using the position information of the user 80a instead of the position information of the user terminal 82a, and using the position information of the user 80b instead of the position information of the user terminal 82b.

[0041] For example, when user 80a and user 80b are friends and walk together on road 90, if user 80a moves to the opposite side of road 90, user 80b may also be in a hurry to move to the opposite side. According to the assistance system 10, when user 80a is about to move to the opposite side of road 90, traffic assistance can be performed based on the position of user 80b. Thus, appropriate traffic assistance can be performed when multiple users move in conjunction.

[0042] Figure 3 The following is a functional configuration of the support device 60. The support device 60 includes a support control device 200, a communication device 290, and a storage device 280.

[0043] The communication device 290 is responsible for the communication between the vehicle-mounted processing device 40, the camera device 70 and the user terminal 82 and the auxiliary device 60, respectively, based on the control of the auxiliary control device 200. The auxiliary control device 200 is implemented by a circuit including, for example, a calculation processing device including a processor. The auxiliary control device 200 can be implemented by a microcomputer including a CPU, ROM, RAM, I / O, bus, etc. The storage device 280 is implemented by having a non-volatile storage medium. The auxiliary control device 200 uses the information stored in the storage device 280 for processing. The storage device 280 can store map information. The map information stored in the storage device 280 can be used by the auxiliary control device 200.

[0044] The auxiliary control device 200 includes an acquisition unit 250, a determination unit 210, an auxiliary control unit 260, a human relationship information acquisition unit 230, and a determination unit 220. Figure 2 The functional form of a part of the functional structure shown.

[0045] The acquisition unit 250 acquires the position information of the plurality of user terminals 82. The determination unit 210 determines the first user terminal 82 and the second user terminal 82 that move at intervals less than a predetermined value among the plurality of user terminals 82 based on the history of the position information of the plurality of user terminals 82. When it is detected that one of the first user terminal 82 and the second user terminal 82 moves to the opposite side of the road relative to the position of the other user terminal 82, the assistance control unit 260 performs control related to assistance for traffic participants. In the present embodiment, the first user terminal 82 may be the user terminal 82a, and the second user terminal 82 may be the user terminal 82b.

[0046] The assist control unit 260 performs control for outputting an alarm to a moving object approaching the position of the second user terminal 82. For example, the assist control unit 260 performs control for outputting an alarm to a vehicle 20 approaching the position of the second user terminal 82.

[0047] The acquisition unit 250 may also acquire information indicating whether the users associated with the plurality of user terminals 82 are speaking. The determination unit 210 may determine, based on the history of the position information of the plurality of user terminals 82, a first user terminal 82 and a second user terminal 82 at which the users who move at intervals less than a predetermined value and are associated with each user terminal 82 are alternately speaking.

[0048] For example, each of the plurality of user terminals 82 may acquire sound through a sound pickup device provided in the respective user terminal 82, and when determining that the acquired sound is the sound of the user 80 registered as the user of the user terminal 82, the information indicating that the user 80 is speaking is sent to the auxiliary device 60. The determination unit 210 may determine, based on the history of the position information of the plurality of user terminals 82, a group of a first user terminal 82 and a second user terminal 82 in which the user associated with each user terminal 82 is alternately speaking.

[0049] The determination unit 220 determines whether the current positions of the first user terminal 82 and the second user terminal 82 are locations where the first user terminal 82 and the second user terminal 82 start moving in directions different from each other, based on the history of the position information of the first user terminal 82 and the second user terminal 82. If the determination unit 220 determines that the current positions of the first user terminal 82 and the second user terminal 82 are locations where the first user terminal 82 and the second user terminal 82 start moving in directions different from each other, the assistance control unit 260 suppresses assistance for the traffic participant.

[0050] The interpersonal relationship information acquisition unit 230 acquires interpersonal relationship information indicating the degree of friendship between the plurality of users 80 associated with the plurality of user terminals 82. The higher the degree of friendship between the user associated with the first user terminal 82 and the user associated with the second user terminal 82, the more the assistance control unit 260 can promote assistance for the traffic participant.

[0051] The interpersonal relationship information acquisition unit 230 may acquire interpersonal relationship information indicating the degree of friendship between the plurality of users 80 associated with the plurality of user terminals 82 based on the history of the position information of the plurality of user terminals 82 .

[0052] The interpersonal relationship information acquisition unit 230 acquires interpersonal relationship information indicating interpersonal relationships between a plurality of users 80 associated with a plurality of user terminals 82. The assistance control unit 260 determines whether to promote or suppress assistance for a traffic participant based on the interpersonal relationships between a user associated with a first user terminal 82 and a user 80 associated with a second user terminal.

[0053] The interpersonal relationship information acquisition unit 230 may acquire information indicating a parent-child relationship between a first user 80 associated with the first user terminal 82 and a second user 80 associated with the second user terminal 82. When it is determined based on the information acquired by the interpersonal relationship information acquisition unit 250 that the user 80 associated with one user terminal 82 is the parent of the user 80 associated with the other user terminal 82, the assistance control unit 260 performs control related to assistance for traffic participants.

[0054] In a case where it is determined based on information acquired by the interpersonal relationship information acquisition unit 250 that a user 80 associated with one user terminal 82 is a child of a user 80 associated with another user terminal 82, the assistance control unit 260 suppresses assistance to traffic participants, compared to a case where it is determined that a user 80 associated with one user terminal 82 is a parent of a user 80 associated with another user terminal 82.

[0055] Figure 4 An example of the data structure of the position history information of the user terminal 82 is shown. The position history information is generated based on the position information acquired from the user terminal 82, and is stored in the storage device 280. The position history information contains an ID, a time, and position information as data items.

[0056] ID represents identification information of the user terminal 82. Time represents the time when the location information is acquired. Location information represents location information of the user terminal 82. The location information may be, for example, latitude and longitude information of the location of the user terminal 82.

[0057] Figure 5 An example of the data structure of the interpersonal relationship information is shown. The interpersonal relationship information is stored in the storage device 280. The interpersonal relationship information contains the first ID, the second ID, the interpersonal relationship, and the degree of friendship as data items.

[0058] The first ID and the second ID represent identification information of the user terminal 82. The interpersonal relationship represents the interpersonal relationship between the user 80 associated with the user terminal 82 identified by the first ID and the user 80 associated with the user terminal 82 identified by the second ID. Examples of interpersonal relationships are parent-child, friends, etc. In the case of a parent-child relationship, the first ID may represent identification information of the user terminal 82 associated with the user 80 as a parent, and the second ID may represent identification information of the user terminal 82 associated with the user 80 as a child.

[0059] The interpersonal relationship may be determined by receiving the setting information of the interpersonal relationship of the user 80. The interpersonal relationship may be determined based on the location history information. For example, the interpersonal relationship of the user associated with the user terminal 82 located within a predetermined range at night may be determined as a family member. In the case where the age information of the user 80 is previously associated with the identification information of the user terminal 82, whether it is a parent-child relationship may be determined based on the age information associated with the identification information of the user terminal 82 of the user determined as a family member.

[0060] The friendship degree indicates the friendship degree between the user 80 associated with the user terminal 82 identified by the first ID and the user 80 associated with the user terminal 82 identified by the second ID. The friendship degree may be determined based on location history information. For example, based on the movement history information, the friendship degree may be determined as "high", "medium", or "low" according to the frequency of the user 80 associated with the user terminal 82 identified by the first ID and the user 80 associated with the user terminal 82 identified by the second ID moving together. In the case where the interpersonal relationship is parent-child, the friendship degree may be determined as "highest".

[0061] Figure 6 An example of the data structure of the departure location information is shown. The departure location information is stored in the storage device 280. The departure location information contains a first ID, a second ID, a departure location, and a departure time period as data items.

[0062] The first ID and the second ID represent identification information of the user terminal 82. The separation point represents the point where the user terminal 82 identified by the first ID and the user terminal 82 identified by the second ID start moving in different directions. The separation time period represents the time period when the user terminal 82 identified by the first ID and the user terminal 82 identified by the second ID start moving in different directions at the separation point.

[0063] For example, the judgment unit 220 refers to the location history information to determine a group of user terminals 82 that start moving in mutually different directions after moving a predetermined distance at a predetermined interval, and determines the position and time at which the user terminals 82 start moving in different directions. The judgment unit 220 determines the location and time period at which the user terminals 82 start moving in different directions at a frequency exceeding a predetermined frequency in the past based on the determined location and time. The storage device 280 sets the identification information of the group of user terminals 82 determined by the judgment unit 220 as the first ID and the second ID, sets the location and time period determined by the judgment unit 220 as the separation location and separation time period, respectively, and stores them as separation location information in correspondence with each other.

[0064] When it is detected that the user terminal 82a moves to the opposite side of the road 90 relative to the position of the user terminal 82b, the judgment unit 220 refers to the departure location information stored in the storage device 280, and obtains the departure location and departure time corresponding to the identification information of the user terminal 82a and the identification information of the user terminal 82b. When the current position of the user terminal 82b is within the predetermined range including the acquired departure location, and the current time is within the predetermined time range including the departure time period, the judgment unit 220 determines that it is the location where the user terminal 82a and the user terminal 82b start to move in different directions from each other. In this case, the auxiliary control unit 260 suppresses the assistance for the traffic participants. Thereby, it is possible to prevent unnecessary assistance at the place of daily farewell, for example.

[0065] Figure 7 An example of the execution flow of processing performed by the imaging device 70 , the user terminal 82 , the in-vehicle processing device 40 included in the vehicle 20 , and the support device 60 is shown.

[0066] In S720, the user terminal 82a transmits location information indicating the current location of the user terminal 82a based on the signal received from the GNSS satellite together with the identification information of the user terminal 82a to the auxiliary device 60. The location information and the identification information are periodically transmitted from the user terminal 82a to the auxiliary device 60. The user terminal 82a may transmit information indicating whether the user is speaking to the auxiliary device 60 together with the location information.

[0067] In S721, the user terminal 82b sends location information indicating the current location of the user terminal 82b based on the signal received from the GNSS satellite together with the identification information of the user terminal 82b to the auxiliary device 60. The location information and the identification information are periodically sent from the user terminal 82b to the auxiliary device 60. The user terminal 82b may send information indicating whether the user is speaking to the auxiliary device 60 together with the location information.

[0068] In S730, the imaging device 70 transmits position information indicating the position of the user 80 obtained by analyzing the image captured by the imaging device 70 to the support device 60. The position information of the user 80 is transmitted from the imaging device 70 to the support device 60 at regular intervals.

[0069] In S700, the in-vehicle processing device 40 transmits the position information of the vehicle 20 to the support device 60. The position information is transmitted from the in-vehicle processing device 40 to the support device 60 periodically.

[0070] In S714, the auxiliary control unit 260 of the auxiliary device 60 determines whether to perform traffic assistance for the vehicle 20 and the user terminal 82 based on the location information of the user terminal 82 obtained from the user terminal 82 and / or the location information of the user terminal 82 obtained from the shooting device 70, and the location information and map information of the vehicle 20 obtained from the on-board processing device 40.

[0071] For example, the assistance control unit 260 determines to perform assistance based on the position of the user terminal 82b and the position of the vehicle 20, based on the history of the position information of the user terminal 82 and the map information, when the user terminal 82b moves to the opposite side of the road 90 after the user terminal 82a and the user terminal 82b move at an interval of less than a predetermined distance by a predetermined distance. When it is predicted that the future position of the vehicle 20 will approach the future position of the user terminal 82b within a predetermined time, the assistance control unit 260 determines to perform assistance.

[0072] If it is determined that assistance is to be performed, in S716, the assistance control unit 260 controls the communication device 290 to send assistance information indicating the output of an alarm to the vehicle-mounted processing unit 40. In addition, in S718, the assistance control unit 260 controls the communication device 290 to send assistance information indicating the output of an alarm to at least the user terminal 82b.

[0073] When the vehicle-mounted processing device 40 receives the auxiliary information from the auxiliary device 60, based on the auxiliary information, in S706, the vehicle-mounted processing device 40 notifies the passengers of the vehicle 20 to beware of the pedestrian running out of the road 90 through the HMI (Human Machine Interface) function of the vehicle-mounted processing device 40. The vehicle-mounted processing device 40 can notify the passengers of the vehicle 20 of the intention to beware of the pedestrian running out of the road 90 through sound and display on the display device of the vehicle 20.

[0074] When the user terminal 82b receives the assistance information from the assistance device 60, in S726, the HMI function of the user terminal 82b notifies the user 80b of the presence of the vehicle 20 approaching the user 80b. The user terminal 82b can notify the user 80b of the presence of the vehicle approaching the user 80b by voice.

[0075] Figure 8 An example of a flowchart related to a process related to the assist control method executed in the assist control device 200 is shown.

[0076] In S800, the acquisition unit 250 acquires the location information of the user terminal 82. The acquisition unit 250 may acquire the location information transmitted from the user terminal 82. The acquisition unit 250 may acquire the location information of the user 80 recognized by the photographing device 70 and transmitted from the photographing device 70 as the location information of the user terminal 82.

[0077] In S802, the determination unit 210 determines the first user terminal 82 and the second user terminal 82 moving at positions close to each other based on the position information of the user terminal 82. The determination unit 210 determines the first user terminal 82 and the second user terminal 82 that maintain a positional relationship with a distance less than a predetermined value and move within a predetermined time. The determination unit 210 can determine the first user terminal 82 and the second user terminal 82 in which the time for each user of the user terminal 82 to alternately speak is longer than the predetermined time based on the information indicating whether the speech is being transmitted from the user terminal 82.

[0078] In S804, the interpersonal relationship information acquisition unit 230 acquires the interpersonal relationship and / or friendship degree between the user 80 of the first user terminal 82 and the user of the second user terminal 82 determined in S802. The interpersonal relationship information acquisition unit 230 refers to the interpersonal relationship information stored in the storage device 280 to acquire the interpersonal relationship and / or friendship degree.

[0079] In S806 , the support control unit 260 determines whether the user 80 of one of the user terminals 82 specified in S802 has crossed the road 90 .

[0080] In S808, the auxiliary control unit 260 determines the possibility of the user 80 of another user terminal 82 among the user terminals 82 determined in S802 crossing the road 90. For example, the auxiliary control unit 260 determines the possibility of the user 80 of another user terminal 82 crossing the road 90, that is, the crossing possibility, based on the interpersonal relationship information acquired in S804 and the interpersonal relationship between the user 80 of another user terminal 82 and the user 80 of one user terminal 82. When the relationship between the user 80 of another user terminal 82 and the user 80 of one user terminal 82 is a friend relationship, the auxiliary control unit 260 may determine the crossing possibility to be higher. When the relationship between the user 80 of another user terminal 82 and the user 80 of one user terminal 82 is a parent-child relationship, the auxiliary control unit 260 may determine the crossing possibility to be higher. If the user 80 of another user terminal 82 is a child of the user 80 of one user terminal 82, the auxiliary control unit 260 may determine the crossing possibility to be higher. The support control unit 260 may determine that the possibility of crossing is higher as the degree of friendship between the user 80 of one user terminal 82 and the user 80 of another user terminal 82 is higher.

[0081] The auxiliary control unit 260 may determine the crossing possibility with reference to the separation time point stored in the storage device 280. The auxiliary control unit 260 may determine the crossing possibility to be lower with reference to the separation position and the separation time period corresponding to the identification information of one user terminal 82 and the identification information of another user terminal 82, when the current position of the other user terminal 82 is within a predetermined range including the separation position. In this case, when the current time is within the predetermined time range including the separation time period, the crossing possibility may be determined to be lower.

[0082] In S810, the assistance control unit 260 determines whether to assist the traffic participant. When the crossing possibility determined in S808 is higher than a predetermined value, the assistance control unit 260 predicts the future position of the vehicle 20 and the future position of the other user terminal 82 within a predetermined time from the current. Based on the predicted future position of the vehicle 20 and the future position of the other user terminal 82, the assistance control unit 260 determines to assist the traffic participant when it is predicted that the vehicle 20 and the other user terminal 82 are close.

[0083] In S812 , the assist control portion 260 transmits the assist information to the vehicle 20 and / or another user terminal 82 according to the determination in S810 .

[0084] According to the above-described assistance system 10, when friends or parents and children are walking and one of the users moves to the opposite side of the road, traffic assistance can be performed based on the position of the other user. Thus, appropriate traffic assistance can be performed when multiple users move in conjunction.

[0085] Fig. 9 An example of a computer 2000 that can fully or partially embody multiple embodiments of the present invention is shown. The program installed in the computer 2000 can cause the computer 2000 to function as a device such as the auxiliary device 60 or each unit of the device involved in the embodiment, perform operations associated with the device or each unit of the device, and / or perform a process involved in the embodiment or steps of the process. Such a program can be executed by the CPU 2012 in order to cause the 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 diagram.

[0086] The computer 2000 according to the present embodiment includes a CPU 2012 and a RAM 2014, which are connected to each other 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.

[0087] The CPU 2012 operates according to the programs stored in the ROM 2026 and the RAM 2014 , thereby controlling each unit.

[0088] 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 a startup program executed by the computer 2000 when activated, and / or a program dependent on the hardware of the computer 2000. The input / output chip 2040 can also connect various input / output units such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a monitor to the input / output controller 2020 via an input / output port 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.

[0089] The program is provided via a computer-readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or a USB flash drive, or a network. RAM 2014, ROM 2026, or flash memory 2024 is an example of a computer-readable storage medium. The program is installed in 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, and the cooperation between the program and the various types of hardware resources described above is realized. The device or method can be constructed by implementing the operation or processing of information in accordance with the use of computer 2000.

[0090] For example, when the computer 2000 communicates with an external device, the CPU 2012 may 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 the transmission data stored in the transmission buffer processing area provided in the RAM 2014 and the recording medium such as the flash memory 2024, transmits the read transmission data to the network, and writes the reception data received from the network to the reception buffer processing area provided on the recording medium.

[0091] In addition, the CPU 2012 can read all or a necessary part of a file or database stored in a recording medium such as the flash memory 2024 to the RAM 2014, and execute various processes on the data in the RAM 2014. The CPU 2012 then writes the processed data back to the recording medium.

[0092] Various types of information such as programs, data, tables, and databases can be saved to a recording medium and applied to information processing. CPU2012 can perform various operations, information processing, conditional judgment, conditional branching, unconditional branching, information retrieval / replacement, etc., which are specified by the instruction sequence of the program, 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 multiple items having attribute values ​​of the first attribute associated with the attribute value of the second attribute are stored in the recording medium, CPU2012 can retrieve an item that specifies the attribute value of the first attribute and is consistent with the condition from the multiple 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.

[0093] The program or software module 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 a computer-readable storage medium. The program stored in the computer-readable storage medium can be provided to the computer 2000 via a network.

[0094] The program installed in the computer 2000 and causing the computer 2000 to function as the auxiliary device 60 can be run in the CPU 2012 or the like, thereby causing the computer 2000 to function as each unit of the auxiliary device 60 (e.g., the auxiliary control device 200, etc.). The information processing described in these programs is read into the computer 2000, thereby functioning as a specific unit in which software and the various hardware resources described above cooperate, that is, each unit of the auxiliary device 60. And, by using these specific units to realize the calculation or processing of information corresponding to the purpose of use of the computer 2000 in this embodiment, a unique auxiliary device 60 corresponding to the purpose of use is constructed.

[0095] Various embodiments are described with reference to block diagrams, etc. In the block diagram, 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 storage medium, and / or a processor supplied together with computer-readable instructions stored on a computer-readable storage 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 reconfigurable hardware circuits including 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), etc., including memory elements.

[0096] The computer-readable storage medium may include any tangible device capable of storing instructions to be executed by an appropriate device, and as a result, the computer-readable storage medium having the instructions stored therein constitutes at least a part of a product containing instructions executable to implement a unit for performing the operations specified in the process flow or block diagram. As examples of computer-readable storage media, electrical storage media, magnetic storage media, optical storage media, electromagnetic storage media, semiconductor storage media, etc. may be included. As more specific examples of computer-readable storage media, floppy disks (registered trademark), floppy 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-ROM), digital versatile disks (DVD), Blu-ray (registered trademark) optical disks, memory sticks, integrated circuit cards, etc. may be included.

[0097] 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.

[0098] 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 or local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet, and the computer readable instructions can be executed to implement a unit for performing the operations specified in the described processing flow or block diagram. Examples of processors include computer processors, processing units, microprocessors, digital signal processors, controllers, microcontrollers, etc.

[0099] The present invention has been described above using the embodiments, but the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the above embodiments. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes or improvements can be made to the above embodiments. It is obvious from the description of the claims that such changes or improvements can also be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

[0100] Regarding the execution order of each process of actions, processes, steps, and steps in the devices, systems, programs, and methods shown in the claims, specifications, and drawings, it should be noted that there is no special indication of "before", "preceding", etc., and in addition, as long as the output of the previous process is not used in the subsequent process, it can be implemented in any order. For the action flow in the claims, specifications, and drawings, even if "first", "next", etc. are used for convenience, it does not mean that it must be implemented in such an order.

[0101] [Description of Reference Numerals]

[0102] 10Assistance Systems

[0103] 20 vehicles

[0104] 40 On-board processing device

[0105] 60 auxiliary devices

[0106] 70 Camera

[0107] 80 users

[0108] 82 user terminals

[0109] 90 Road

[0110] 200 Auxiliary Control Devices

[0111] 210 Determination Department

[0112] 220 Judgment Department

[0113] 230 Interpersonal Relationship Information Acquisition Department

[0114] 250 Acquisition Department

[0115] 260 Auxiliary Control Unit

[0116] 280 storage devices

[0117] 290 communication device

[0118] 2000 Computer

[0119] 2010 Main Controller

[0120] 2012 CPU

[0121] 2014 RAM

[0122] 2020 Input / Output Controller

[0123] 2022 Communication Interface

[0124] 2024 Flash

[0125] 2026ROM

[0126] 2040 input / output chips.

Claims

1. An auxiliary control device, characterized in that: have: an acquisition unit, which acquires location information of a plurality of user terminals; a determination unit that determines, among the plurality of user terminals, a first user terminal and a second user terminal that move at an interval equal to or smaller than a predetermined value based on a history of position information of the plurality of user terminals; as well as The assistance control unit performs control related to assistance for a traffic participant when detecting that one of the first user terminal and the second user terminal has moved to an opposite side of a road relative to the position of the other user terminal.

2. The auxiliary control device according to claim 1, wherein: The auxiliary control unit performs control for outputting an alarm to a moving object approaching a position of the second user terminal.

3. The auxiliary control device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The acquisition unit further acquires information indicating whether the user associated with the plurality of user terminals is speaking. The identification unit identifies, based on the history of the position information of the plurality of user terminals, a first user terminal and a second user terminal at which users who move at intervals equal to or less than a predetermined value and are associated with the respective user terminals are alternately speaking, among the plurality of user terminals.

4. The auxiliary control device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: further comprising a determination unit, the determination unit determining whether the current positions of the first user terminal and the second user terminal are locations where the first user terminal and the second user terminal start moving in different directions from each other, based on the history of the position information of the first user terminal and the second user terminal; When the determination unit determines that the current positions of the first user terminal and the second user terminal are locations where the first user terminal and the second user terminal start moving in directions different from each other, the assistance control unit suppresses assistance for the traffic participant.

5. The auxiliary control device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The device further comprises a human relationship information acquisition unit for acquiring human relationship information indicating the degree of friendship between a plurality of users associated with the plurality of user terminals. The assistance control unit promotes assistance for traffic participants more when the degree of friendship between the user associated with the first user terminal and the user associated with the second user terminal is higher.

6. The auxiliary control device according to claim 5, wherein: The interpersonal relationship information acquisition unit acquires interpersonal relationship information indicating the degree of friendship between a plurality of users associated with the plurality of user terminals based on the history of the position information of the plurality of user terminals.

7. The auxiliary control device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The device further comprises a human relationship information acquisition unit configured to acquire human relationship information indicating human relationships between a plurality of users associated with the plurality of user terminals. The assistance control unit determines whether to promote or suppress assistance for the traffic participant based on a personal relationship between a user associated with the first user terminal and a user associated with the second user terminal.

8. The auxiliary control device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The device further comprises a human relationship information acquisition unit configured to acquire information indicating a parent-child relationship between a first user associated with the first user terminal and a second user associated with the second user terminal. The assistance control unit performs control related to assistance for traffic participants when it is determined that the user associated with the one user terminal is a parent of the user associated with the other user terminal based on the information acquired by the interpersonal relationship information acquisition unit.

9. The auxiliary control device according to claim 8, wherein: Based on the information acquired by the interpersonal relationship information acquisition unit, when the assistance control unit determines that the user associated with the one user terminal is a child of the user associated with the other user terminal, the assistance control unit suppresses assistance to the traffic participant, compared with a case where the user associated with the one user terminal is determined to be a parent of the user associated with the other user terminal.

10. An auxiliary control method, characterized in that: have: The step of obtaining location information of multiple user terminals; A step of determining, based on a history of location information of the plurality of user terminals, a first user terminal and a second user terminal that move at an interval less than a predetermined value among the plurality of user terminals; as well as A step of performing control related to assistance for a traffic participant is performed when it is detected that one of the first user terminal and the second user terminal has moved to an opposite side of the road relative to the position of the other user terminal.

11. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: A program for causing a computer to function as the auxiliary control device according to any one of claims 1 to 9 is stored.

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