Communication performance management server, communication performance management method, and computer program

Abstract

The communication performance management server includes: a communication performance information receiving unit for receiving communication performance information including at least location information, date and time information, and communication quality measurement information, the communication quality metric information is related to at least communication quality of wireless communication at a location determined by the location information and at a date and time determined by the date and time information; a communication performance information storage unit for storing the communication performance information received by the communication performance information reception unit; and a communication performance transmission unit that, in response to reception of a transmission request for communication performance information specifying a regional range from an external device, generates information relating to the communication performance on the basis of the communication performance information stored in the communication performance information storage unit, and transmits the information to the external device. The communication performance includes position information corresponding to a regional range specified by the transmission request and communication quality information obtained from the communication quality measurement information.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a communication performance management server, a communication performance management method, and a computer program. This application claims priority based on Japanese Application No. 2022-166644 filed on October 18, 2022, and incorporates by reference all the descriptions recorded in the above Japanese application herein. Background Art

[0002] In-vehicle devices having a function of receiving various services generated by an external server through wireless communication or transmitting information acquired by in-vehicle sensors to an external server are increasing. A vehicle equipped with such an in-vehicle device is called a connected car.

[0003] When a connected car uses a service premised on wireless communication, communication quality becomes a problem. If the communication quality deteriorates or the vehicle is outside the communication service area, the use of the service cannot be continued.

[0004] One proposal for solving such a problem is disclosed in Patent Document 1 described later. The technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 aims to visually notify the communication environment. The technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 acquires an electric field intensity map representing a prescribed electric field intensity and overlays and displays the electric field intensity map on a graphic representing the driving position of the vehicle based on road map data and the vehicle position.

[0005] Prior Art Documents Patent Documents Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2021-135099 Summary of the Invention

[0006] A communication performance management server according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes: a communication performance information receiving unit configured to receive communication performance information, the communication performance information including at least position information, date and time information, and communication quality metric information, the communication quality metric information being related to at least the communication quality of wireless communication at a position determined by the position information and at a date and time determined by the date and time information; a communication performance information storage unit configured to store the communication performance information received by the communication performance information receiving unit; and a communication performance sending unit configured to, in response to receiving a transmission request for communication performance information specifying a regional range from an external device, generate information related to communication performance based on the communication performance information stored in the communication performance information storage unit and send the information to the external device, the communication performance including position information corresponding to positions within the regional range specified by the transmission request and communication quality information obtained from the communication quality metric information.

[0007] The above and other objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description related to the present disclosure understood in association with the drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] Figure 1 FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a route suggestion screen in the vehicle-mounted device according to the first embodiment. Figure 2 It is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the vehicle support system according to the first embodiment. Figure 3 It is a block diagram showing the configuration of the vehicle-mounted device according to the first embodiment. Figure 4 This is a block diagram showing the configuration of the communication performance management server according to the first embodiment. Figure 5 This is a diagram showing a record structure of a communication performance information DB (Database) according to the first embodiment. Figure 6 This is a flowchart showing a control structure of a computer program that realizes the communication performance recording unit according to the first embodiment. Figure 7 This is a flowchart showing a control structure of a computer program that realizes the driving unit according to the first embodiment. Figure 8 This is a flowchart showing a control structure of a computer program that realizes the path calculation unit according to the first embodiment. Fig. 9 This is a flowchart showing a control structure of a computer program that realizes the mesh drawing unit according to the first embodiment. Fig.10 It is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle support system according to the second embodiment. Fig.11 It is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle-mounted device according to the second embodiment. Fig.12 This is a block diagram showing the configuration of a communication performance management server according to the second embodiment. Fig.13 It is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle support system according to a third embodiment. Fig.14 It is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle-mounted device according to the third embodiment. Fig.15 This is a flowchart showing a control structure of a computer program that realizes the communication performance comparison unit according to the third embodiment. Fig.16 It is a block diagram showing the configuration of a driving assistance system according to a fourth embodiment. Fig.17 It is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle-mounted device according to a fourth embodiment. Fig.18 This is a block diagram showing the structure of a communication performance management server according to the fourth embodiment. Fig.19 It is a diagram showing a record structure of a communication performance statistical information DB according to the fourth embodiment. Fig. 20 This is a flowchart showing a control structure of a computer program that realizes a communication statistics calculation unit in the communication performance management server according to the fourth embodiment. Fig.21 This is a flowchart showing a control structure of a computer program realizing a communication record transmitting unit in a communication record management server according to the fourth embodiment. Fig. 22 This is a block diagram showing the functional structure of a communication performance server according to a modification of the fourth embodiment. Fig.23 It is a diagram showing a display in the vehicle support system according to the fifth embodiment. Fig.24 This is a flowchart showing a control structure of a computer program for creating a display in the vehicle support system according to the fifth embodiment. Fig.25 The flowchart represents the control structure of the computer program for realizing the display of the travel route. Fig.26 It is a block diagram showing a structure of a procedure for realizing the vehicle-mounted device of each embodiment involved in the present disclosure. Fig. 27 It is a diagram showing the appearance of a computer system that realizes each driving assistance server involved in the present disclosure. Fig.28 yes Fig. 27 The hardware structure diagram of the computer system shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0009] [Problems to be Solved by the Present Disclosure]

[0010] In order for connected cars to receive adequate services, it is not only the electric field strength that is important. Since there are many on-board sensors and their data is increasing, the communication speed when the connected car sends sensor data to an external server or downloads data for driving assistance from an external server is also important. In addition, when communicating data related to vehicle safety, not only this but also the delay time is important.

[0011] In the technology disclosed in the above-mentioned patent document 1, the electric field strength map is superimposed and displayed on the map. It can be seen that the communication speed is reduced at a location with low electric field strength. However, even if the electric field strength is high, the communication speed may not necessarily increase. Depending on the situation, even if the electric field strength is high, there may be a situation where the communication speed is reduced or the delay time is prolonged. Although the environment changes slightly, the communication speed can also deteriorate all of a sudden. The position of the vehicle and the surrounding conditions are constantly changing. Therefore, even if the electric field strength map is obtained, it is difficult to predict how the communication speed, delay time, etc. actually change, so during the driving of the connected car, it may not be possible to obtain sufficient communication quality to utilize the service. In other words, it is not considered that the technology disclosed in patent document 1 is sufficient for application to connected cars.

[0012] Therefore, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a communication performance management server, a communication performance management method, and a computer program that provide information that can easily determine a travel route taking communication quality into consideration.

[0013] [Effects of the present disclosure]

[0014] As described above, according to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a communication performance management server, a communication performance management method, and a computer program that provide information that facilitates determination of a travel route that takes communication quality into consideration.

[0015] [Description of Embodiments of the Present Disclosure]

[0016] In the following description and drawings, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and therefore, their detailed description will not be repeated.

[0017] The main embodiments shown in the present disclosure are listed below. In addition, one or more of the following embodiments may be combined arbitrarily.

[0018] (1) The communication performance management server involved in the first aspect of the present disclosure includes: a communication performance information receiving unit for receiving communication performance information, the communication performance information at least including location information, date and time information and communication quality measurement information, the communication quality measurement information being related to at least the communication quality of wireless communication at a location determined by the location information and at a date and time determined by the date and time information; a communication performance information storage unit for accumulating the communication performance information received by the communication performance information receiving unit; and a communication performance sending unit for generating information related to communication performance based on the communication performance information accumulated in the communication performance information storage unit and sending it to the external device in response to receiving a sending request for communication performance information specifying a regional range from an external device, and sending the information to the external device, the communication performance including location information corresponding to the regional range specified by the sending request and communication quality information obtained based on the communication quality measurement information. The communication performance information storage unit of the communication performance management server accumulates the communication quality measurement information during the actual communication performed by multiple devices together with the location information and the date and time information. The communication performance sending unit generates information related to the communication performance including the communication quality information according to the request from the external device and sends it to the external device. The external device can use the communication quality information based on the actual communication performance of other devices to estimate and use the communication quality of a specific location. As a result, in the external device, it is easy to determine the driving route taking into account the communication quality.

[0019] (2) In the above (1), the communication performance sending unit may also include a recent communication performance sending unit, which reads communication performance information from a communication performance information storage unit and sends it to an external device, wherein the communication performance information includes: location information within a geographical range specified by a sending request; date and time information within the most recent specified time; and communication quality measurement information. The recent communication performance transmission unit transmits the communication performance information within the latest predetermined time within the area specified by the transmission request to the external device. As a result, the external device can easily determine the driving route in consideration of the high-precision communication quality at the current time point.

[0020] (3) In the above (1) or (2), it is also possible that each communication performance information also includes communication environment information, and the communication environment information is related to the communication environment when wireless communication regarding the communication performance information is performed. It is also possible that the sending request also includes information related to the communication environment of the external device. It is also possible that the communication performance sending unit includes a different device communication performance sending unit, and the different device communication performance sending unit reads the communication performance information from the communication performance information storage unit and sends it to the external device in response to receiving the sending request, and the communication performance information includes: location information within the geographical range specified by the sending request; communication environment information matching the information related to the communication environment included in the sending request; and communication quality measurement information. The external device includes information related to the communication environment in the transmission request, and can obtain communication performance information of different regions / different dates and times related to the communication environment. As a result, the external device can easily determine the driving route taking into account the communication quality of the wireless communication device used.

[0021] (4) In the above (3), the communication environment information may include communication line information, communication carrier information, or a combination thereof. The external device includes information about the communication line or communication carrier to be used by the external device in the transmission request, and can obtain communication performance information of different regions / different dates and times related to the communication line or communication carrier. As a result, the external device can easily determine a driving route that takes into account the high reliability of the communication quality of the wireless communication device used.

[0022] (5) In the above (1), it may also be that the communication performance management server further includes: a communication statistics calculation unit, which calculates communication performance statistics by performing statistical processing related to communication quality metric information on the communication performance information stored in the communication performance information storage unit, based on at least the location determined by the location information; and a communication performance statistics information storage unit, which stores the communication performance statistics calculated by the communication statistics calculation unit in association with the location information. It may also be that the communication performance sending unit includes a communication performance statistics information sending unit, which, in response to receiving a sending request for communication performance information specifying a geographical range from an external device, sends the communication performance statistics stored in the communication performance statistics information storage unit, which is equivalent to the location information within the geographical range specified by the sending request and the communication performance statistics information at the location determined by the location information, to the external device. The external device includes the communication device information related to the wireless communication device in the transmission request, and can obtain the communication performance information of different regions / different dates and times related to the communication of other devices having the wireless communication device. As a result, the external device can easily determine the driving route taking into account the communication quality of the wireless communication device used.

[0023] (6) In the above (5), the communication statistics calculation unit may also include a communication statistics calculation unit for different periods, which calculates communication performance statistics for different periods by performing statistical processing related to communication quality measurement information based on at least a position determined by the position information and a period determined by the date and time information for the communication performance information stored in the communication performance information storage unit. The external device includes the communication device information related to the wireless communication device in the transmission request, and can obtain the communication performance information of the external device using the wireless communication device in different regions and different dates and times. As a result, the external device can easily determine the driving route taking into account the communication quality of the wireless communication device used.

[0024] (7) In the above (6), it may also be that each communication performance information also includes information related to the communication environment when wireless communication regarding the communication performance information is performed, and there is a case where the sending request includes information related to the communication environment of the external device, and the communication performance sending unit selectively performs the first processing and the second processing according to whether the received sending request includes information related to the communication environment. It may also be that the first processing is the following processing: reading the communication statistical performance information from the communication performance statistical information storage unit, calculating the communication quality measurement information based on the read communication statistical performance information, and sending it to the external device, the communication statistical performance information matches the location information within the geographical range specified by the sending request and the information related to the communication environment included in the sending request. It may also be that the second processing is the following processing: reading the communication performance information from the communication performance information storage unit and sending it to the external device, the communication performance information corresponding to the location information within the geographical range specified by the sending request.

[0025] This makes it possible to improve the accuracy of the statistical quality metric information transmitted to the vehicle-mounted device while preventing an increase in the load of statistical processing.

[0026] (8) The communication performance management method involved in the second aspect of the present disclosure includes the following steps: a computer receives communication performance information, the communication performance information includes at least location information, date and time information and communication quality measurement information, the communication quality measurement information is related to at least the communication quality of wireless communication at a location determined by the location information and at a date and time determined by the date and time information; the computer stores the communication performance information received in the step of receiving communication performance information in a storage device; and the computer generates information related to communication performance based on the communication performance information stored in the storage device and sends it to the external device in response to receiving a request to send communication performance information specifying a geographical range from an external device, the communication performance includes location information equivalent to the geographical range specified by the sending request and communication quality information obtained based on the communication quality measurement information.

[0027] According to the communication performance management method, the computer accumulates the communication performance of actual communication performed by multiple devices together with the location information and date and time information. The computer also generates information related to the communication performance including the communication quality information according to a request from the external device and sends it to the external device. The external device can use the communication quality information based on the actual communication performance of other devices to estimate and use the communication quality of a specific location. As a result, in the external device, it is possible to easily determine the driving route taking into account the communication quality.

[0028] (9) The computer program involved in the third aspect of the present disclosure causes a computer to execute the following steps: receiving communication performance information, the communication performance information including at least location information, date and time information, and communication quality measurement information, the communication quality measurement information being related to at least the communication quality of wireless communication at a location determined by the location information and at a date and time determined by the date and time information; storing the communication performance information received in the step of receiving the communication performance information in a storage device; and in response to receiving a request to send communication performance information specifying a geographical range from an external device, generating information related to the communication performance based on the communication performance information stored in the storage device and sending it to the external device, the communication performance including location information equivalent to the geographical range specified by the sending request and communication quality information obtained based on the communication quality measurement information. By executing the computer program on a computer, the computer accumulates the actual communication performance of multiple devices together with the location information and date and time information. The computer also generates information related to the communication performance including the communication quality information in response to a request from an external device and sends it to the external device. The external device can use the communication quality information based on the actual communication performance of other devices to estimate and use the communication quality of a specific location. As a result, in the external device, it is possible to easily determine the driving route taking into account the communication quality.

[0029] [Details of the embodiments of the present disclosure]

[0030] Hereinafter, specific examples of the route suggestion screen according to the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, the present disclosure is not limited to these examples, but is indicated by the claims, and is intended to include all changes within the meaning and scope equivalent to the claims.

[0031] 1. First Implementation Method

[0032] A. Structure

[0033] A1) Route suggestion screen 50

[0034] Reference Figure 1The route suggestion screen 50 in the vehicle assistance system involved in the first embodiment is a screen displayed on the touch panel type display device of the vehicle-mounted device. The route suggestion screen 50 is used to suggest to the user a first path 66 and a second path 68 from the current position 62 of the vehicle 60 to the destination 64 calculated under different constraints related to the communication quality on the path. The route suggestion screen 50 is a rectangle as a whole. The rectangular area is divided into rectangular grids of the same size. In this embodiment, when there is a vehicle in each grid, the grid is color-coded based on the communication quality actually measured by the vehicle, and is displayed on the map together with the first path 66 and the second path 68. In addition, in Figure 1 In order to simplify the drawings, maps are not shown.

[0035] exist Figure 1 In the example, the grid without shading indicates that the communication quality is good and is sufficient for receiving the service to be used in the vehicle 60. The grid with shading indicates that the communication quality is poorer and is insufficient for receiving the service to be used in the vehicle 60. In this example, the shaded area is displayed in red, and the unshaded area is displayed transparently.

[0036] Figure 1 In order to make it easier to understand the display related to communication quality, the grids are classified into two types. However, the present disclosure is not limited to such an implementation. The communication quality can also be divided into three or more stages, and different displays can be performed for each stage. Typically, for example, a grid with poor communication quality is displayed with a red hue and the lowest brightness. As the communication quality improves, the brightness of the grid is increased. If it reaches a certain quality, it is displayed as colorless (transparent) or a color different from red (such as blue). Of course, in addition to this, various methods can be considered for the display of the grid. It is also possible to change the chromaticity without changing the brightness. In addition, the hue, brightness, or chromaticity can also be changed.

[0037] For example, usually, it is sufficient to change the brightness so that it has a positive correlation with the value of the communication quality. In the case of chromaticity, on the contrary, it can be considered to change it so that it has a negative correlation with the value of the communication quality. In other words, it is sufficient to change the display mode of each grid as a monotonic function of the communication quality in the grid. In the case of hue, it is sufficient to use a monotonic function that establishes a correspondence between the gradual change from blue to green to red and the quality of communication.

[0038] exist Figure 1, as an example, a first path 66 and a second path 68 are also shown. The first path 66 is calculated, for example, as a path for the vehicle 60 to reach the destination 64 from the current position 62 in the shortest time without any restriction on the communication quality. The second path 68 is also a path for the vehicle 60 to reach the destination 64 from the current position 62, but is calculated as a path that can obtain the communication quality required for using a specific service in the vehicle 60 as a restriction related to the communication quality.

[0039] As restrictions on communication quality, not only the restrictions listed here, but also various settings can be made by the user of the vehicle 60 .

[0040] A2) Vehicle Assistance System 100

[0041] Reference Figure 2 The vehicle assistance system 100 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a plurality of vehicle-mounted devices 102, 104, and 106, etc., which are respectively mounted on different vehicles; a server 108, which is used to provide certain services to these vehicle-mounted devices by using communication or, on the contrary, to receive sensor data from the vehicle-mounted devices to analyze traffic conditions; and a communication performance management server 110, which is used to manage the following, by communicating with a plurality of vehicle-mounted devices such as the vehicle-mounted device 102, accumulating and Figure 1 The information related to the actual communication quality in each mesh of the area as shown is distributed to each vehicle-mounted device.

[0042] The vehicle-mounted device 102 and other vehicle-mounted devices are mounted on the vehicle. Therefore, they all have a wireless communication unit as described later. As a medium for wireless communication, a mobile phone line can be used. It is also conceivable to use Wi-Fi communication depending on the location. In short, the vehicle-mounted device 102 and other vehicle-mounted devices can communicate with the server 108 and the communication performance management server 110 via wireless communication with the base station and communication from the base station via a wired network based on the server 108 and the communication performance management server 110.

[0043] A3) On-vehicle device 102

[0044] Reference Figure 3The vehicle-mounted device 102 includes: a communication unit 150 for communicating with an external device such as a server 108 via a wireless communication device not shown in the figure; a communication performance recording unit 154 connected to the communication unit 150; a CAN (Controller Area Network) 152 connected to the sensor 112 and the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receiver 114 and the communication performance recording unit 154; and a communication performance information DB 156 connected to the communication performance recording unit 154. The communication unit 150 also receives data for services provided by the server 108, and sends it to a service execution unit such as an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) not shown in the figure via CAN 152. In addition, in the present embodiment, CAN is used to obtain GNSS information and sensor information. However, the present disclosure is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, CAN FD (CAN with Frexible Data rate), CAN XL, Most (Media Oriented Systems Transport), FlexRay, in-vehicle Ethernet ("Ethernet" is a registered trademark), etc. can also be used.

[0045] The communication performance recording unit 154 regularly measures the communication quality during communication by the communication unit 150 and records the communication quality including the actual bit rate (communication speed). Since the radio wave strength information can be obtained even when the communication unit 150 is not communicating, this information is recorded.

[0046] The communication performance recording unit 154 receives sensor data from the GNSS receiver 114 and other various sensors 112 mounted on the vehicle via the CAN 152 , and records a record of communication performance combining vehicle status and position information obtained from these information in the communication performance information DB 156 .

[0047] The vehicle-mounted device 102 also includes: a communication performance sending unit 158, which is connected to the communication performance recording unit 154; a communication performance acquisition unit 160, which is connected to the communication performance information DB 156; a driving unit 162, which is connected to the touch panel display device 116; a path calculation unit 164, which is connected to the communication performance information DB 156, the driving unit 162 and the communication performance acquisition unit 160; and a grid drawing unit 166.

[0048] The communication performance sending unit 158 ​​sends the communication performance information of the communication unit 150 recorded by the communication performance recording unit 154 to the communication performance management server 110 according to the prescribed sending schedule. The communication performance acquisition unit 160 sends a request for sending the communication performance information to the communication performance management server 110 when necessary, thereby obtaining the communication performance information of other vehicles from the communication performance management server 110 and updating (adding) the communication performance information DB 156. The sending request at this time includes information for determining the area to be the target, and may also include necessary date and time information or communication environment according to the situation. The communication environment mentioned here includes the communication line or communication operator used in the communication or a combination thereof. The driving unit 162 is a device for automatic driving or remote driving in addition to the general so-called car navigation function, and receives input of information for route suggestion (information related to the destination of the driving route, etc.) through interaction with the user using the touch panel type display device 116. In addition, the communication performance acquisition unit 160 can also receive communication performance information from the communication performance management server 110 according to a prescribed schedule.

[0049] At this time, the driving unit 162 may also allow the user to input constraints when generating the driving route. Constraints include, for example, the number of driving routes generated, information that determines the services that are desired to be used in the driving route, conditions that the driving route should satisfy, and the like. In the following embodiment, as the number of driving routes, three are generated as specified by the user. As the three driving routes, for example, the first shortest path to the third shortest path shown below are set. The first shortest path is the shortest path that connects the current position to the destination regardless of the communication speed. The second shortest path is the shortest path among the driving routes at which the communication speed at which the service can be used is estimated as a whole. The third shortest path is a driving route in which a service may not be used at a sufficient bit rate in a part, but if there is a communication speed of more than half of the specified bit rate, a service that replaces the service or a service that is the same as the service is used, and it is estimated that the required bit rate is ensured.

[0050] The route calculation unit 164 requests the communication performance acquisition unit 160 to acquire information such as communication performance, required position, time, etc. from the communication performance information DB 156 based on the user input received by the driving unit 162 and the communication conditions required for using the service. The route calculation unit 164 calculates a plurality of driving routes under a plurality of types of constraints based on the communication performance information, destination information, and required communication conditions acquired by the communication performance acquisition unit 160 from the communication performance information DB 156, and displays the calculated routes on the touch panel display device 116 via the driving unit 162. In the present embodiment, the grid drawing unit 166 displays information indicating the communication performance in each part of the displayed area in an overlapping manner with the driving route candidates and the map displayed on the touch panel display device 116. In addition, the communication performance information refers to information obtained by combining the communication performance (communication speed or radio wave strength) and the information indicating the state of the vehicle (vehicle speed or traveling direction, etc.) when the communication performance was acquired.

[0051] More specifically, the grid drawing unit 166 divides the displayed area into grids, and overlays and displays the grids whose colors, brightness, or chromaticity are adjusted as a function of an index value representing past communication performance (communication quality) in each grid on the driving route candidate and the map. The past communication performance is obtained based on information accumulated in the communication performance information DB 156.

[0052] A4) Communication performance management server 110

[0053] Reference Figure 4 The communication performance management server 110 includes a communication performance acquisition unit 200 , a communication performance information storage unit 202 , and a communication performance transmission unit 204 .

[0054] The communication performance acquisition unit 200 acquires communication performance information collected by the vehicle-mounted devices at various locations and dates from a plurality of vehicle-mounted devices. The communication performance information storage unit 202 stores the communication performance information received by the communication performance acquisition unit 200. The communication performance transmission unit 204 responds to the vehicle-mounted device (e.g., Figure 2Upon receiving a transmission request from an in-vehicle device such as the in-vehicle devices 102, 104, or 106 shown, the communication performance information stored in the communication performance information storage unit 202 is transmitted to the in-vehicle device. In addition, the device that transmits the communication performance information to the communication performance acquisition unit 200 is not limited to the in-vehicle device. Any device with a communication function, such as a mobile phone, can be used. If it is a device that can move, such as a mobile phone, it is more preferable, but it can also be a device that does not move but has a communication function, such as a roadside device. Additionally, the communication performance transmission unit 204 can also transmit the communication performance information to each in-vehicle device according to a pre-determined schedule, not only in response to a transmission request from the in-vehicle device.

[0055] A5) Structure of the communication performance information DB156

[0056] Figure 5 shows an example of the column structure of the table in the communication performance information DB156. Refer to Figure 5 , the columns of the communication performance information DB156 include a communication performance ID and a vehicle ID. The communication performance ID is an identifier that determines the record of the communication performance. The vehicle ID is an identifier that determines the vehicle on which the in-vehicle device that recorded the communication performance is mounted.

[0057] As other columns, for example, there are measurement intervals, modems, GNSS, date and time, latitude, longitude, grid ID, geometric values, communication speed, (vehicle) speed, (vehicle) azimuth, route ID, (vehicle) travel direction, (vehicle) acceleration and deceleration, (vehicle) steering angle, accelerator operation, brake operation, communication line, communication carrier, band number, (mobile phone) cell ID, SINR, RSSI, RSRP, and RSRQ, etc.

[0058] The main columns among these are explained. The measurement interval indicates the measurement interval of the communication speed. The unit of the measurement interval is seconds. The date and time indicates the date and time when the vehicle-mounted device has achieved communication results. The latitude and longitude respectively indicate the position of the vehicle during communication. The grid ID refers to the value obtained by converting the latitude and longitude into a string by a conversion method called geohash. The geohash is converted into a string by applying a prescribed conversion table to the latitude and longitude. Each string determines a rectangular area on the ground. The longer the string length is, the smaller the rectangular area is. If the string from the beginning to the prescribed number of digits in two strings is the same, the two rectangular areas determined by the two strings are in the rectangular area determined by the same string. When the length of the string used as the geohash is the same, the size (area) of the rectangular area determined by them is the same. Therefore, by setting the length of the string used as the geohash to a certain length and setting the first few characters to be the same, the map (or the corresponding area) can be divided into multiple rectangular areas adjacent to each other. Here, such a rectangular area is called a grid, and its identifier (latitude and longitude converted into a geohash) is called a grid ID.

[0059] The communication speed indicates the communication speed measured for the communication actually performed when communication is possible at the time indicated by the value of the date and time column. If communication is not possible due to reasons such as being out of service area, in this embodiment, "-1" is recorded as the communication speed.

[0060] SINR, RSSI, RSRP, and RSRQ refer to the signal to interference and noise ratio, the received signal strength, the received power of the reference signal, and the received quality of the reference signal, respectively, and are equivalent to the above-mentioned radio wave strength information.

[0061] In this way, the communication performance information DB 156 combines information indicating the communication quality including the communication speed measured in the actual communication with the state of the vehicle at that time ( Figure 5 The communication performance information DB 156 is updated by this process. Figure 5 The values ​​of communication speed, SINR, RSSI, RSRP, RSRQ, etc. shown and their statistical values ​​are considered to be indicators representing the quality of communication. Therefore, in this specification, these values ​​are referred to as "communication quality metrics" and information representing these values ​​is referred to as "communication quality metric information."

[0062] A6) Control structure of the program

[0063] A6-1) Communication performance record section 154

[0064] Figure 3Each functional unit of the vehicle-mounted device 102 shown is implemented by a computer and a program executed by the computer.

[0065] Figure 6 The implementation is shown in Figure 3 The control structure of the program of the communication performance recording unit 154 is shown. Figure 6 , the procedure includes step 250 of executing step 252 according to a specified schedule (a certain period in this embodiment).

[0066] Step 252 includes: step 260, performing communication processing or signal strength measurement processing using the communication unit 150; step 262, obtaining information indicating the status of the vehicle via CAN 152; and step 264, combining the information obtained in steps 260 and 262 and recording it in the communication performance information DB 156.

[0067] The program further includes: step 266, branching the control flow according to whether there is a communication performance management server cooperating with the vehicle-mounted device 102; and step 268, when the determination of step 266 is affirmative, sending communication performance information to the communication performance management server of the cooperating object and terminating the execution of step 252. When the determination of step 266 is negative, the execution of step 252 is terminated.

[0068] A6-2) Path calculation unit 164

[0069] Figure 7 The implementation is shown in Figure 3 The control structure of the program of the path calculation unit 164 is shown. Figure 7 The procedure includes: step 310, obtaining the location of the destination through interaction with the user; and step 312, obtaining information related to the communication service requested in order to receive the service provided by the server 108 (information related to the required communication speed such as bit rate, etc.).

[0070] The program further includes: step 314, from the communication performance information DB156 ( Figure 3 ) obtains communication performance information of the area from the vicinity of the current position to the vicinity of the destination; step 316, branches the control process according to whether there is a communication performance management server that cooperates with the vehicle-mounted device 102; and step 318, when the judgment in step 316 is affirmative, branches the control process according to whether the data from the communication performance information DB156 is sufficient for the path calculation.

[0071] The program further includes: step 320, when the determination in step 318 is negative, from the communication performance management server (in this example, Figure 2The communication performance management server 110 shown in FIG. 1 acquires communication performance information of an area from the vicinity of the current position to the vicinity of the destination; and step 322, uses the acquired communication performance information to calculate a driving route, gives information related to the calculated driving route to the driving unit 162, and ends the execution of the program. When the determination in step 316 is negative and the determination in step 318 is positive, step 320 is not executed, and the route calculation process in step 322 is immediately executed.

[0072] Figure 8 The implementation is shown in Figure 7 The control structure of the program of step 322 is shown. Figure 8 , step 322 includes: step 350, setting a search range for a driving route; and step 352, generating a route graph connecting the current position and the destination within the search range based on the map information possessed by the driving unit 162. The route graph referred to here refers to a graph that uses intersections as nodes and roads connecting intersections as edges (links). In this embodiment, information indicating the length of the corresponding road is attached to each edge. In the route graph, there are multiple paths connecting the current position and the destination.

[0073] The program further includes step 354 of searching the path graph generated in step 352 for the shortest path from the current position to the destination. In the present embodiment, the shortest path search uses the Dijkstra algorithm. Of course, the algorithm is not limited to the Dijkstra algorithm, and any algorithm can be used as long as it can find the shortest path in the graph.

[0074] The program also includes: step 356, referring to the communication performance information, deleting the edges including the locations with a bit rate less than half of the bit rate specified by the service from the path graph; step 358, searching for the shortest path in the path graph processed by step 356; step 360, further deleting the links including the locations with a bit rate less than the specified bit rate from the path graph; and step 362, searching for the shortest path in the path graph processed by step 360 and ending step 322.

[0075] Through the above processing, the shortest driving route regardless of the designated bit rate, the shortest driving route that can communicate at a bit rate at least half of the designated bit rate, and the shortest driving route that can communicate at a bit rate higher than the designated bit rate can be determined.

[0076] Fig. 9 Representation Implementation Figure 3 The control structure of the program of the mesh drawing unit 166 shown in FIG. The mesh image obtained by the mesh drawing unit 166 is, for example, Figure 1 The grid shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 In the grid, each grid is displayed in a different display mode according to the communication speed that can be used in the grid. Figure 7 The multiple driving paths generated in step 322 are further overlapped with semi-transparent grids.

[0077] Reference Fig. 9 The program includes step 370, which obtains a geographic hash value representing an area displayed on the touch panel type display device 116 and divides the area into a predetermined number of grid areas from the upper left to the lower right. In step 370, a geographic hash of a predetermined position (e.g., a center position) in each grid area is further calculated.

[0078] The procedure further includes step 372 , which executes step 374 for each grid area obtained in step 370 .

[0079] Step 374 includes: step 380, retrieving records having the same character string as the geohash of the grid area at the beginning and the time indicated by the date and time thereof within a specified range centered at the current time from the communication performance information DB 156, and calculating their average communication speed; and step 382, ​​quantizing the average communication speed calculated in step 380 into several stages, and determining the display color (hue) and brightness of the target grid area. In this embodiment, the hue is set to red, and the brightness is determined as a monotonic function of the communication speed, such that the brightness is low when the communication speed is low and the brightness is high when the communication speed is high. In addition, in this embodiment, when the communication speed is greater than a specified threshold, the brightness is set to the maximum value.

[0080] Step 374 further includes step 384 of setting a value indicating semi-transparency to the alpha value of each mesh area when displayed and terminating step 374. At this time, the alpha value is set so that the mesh with the highest brightness is displayed transparently.

[0081] B. Action

[0082] B1) Accumulation of communication achievements

[0083] The communication unit 150 regularly measures the communication speed and radio wave strength during the movement of the vehicle equipped with the vehicle-mounted device 102. When no communication is performed, the communication unit 150 only measures the radio wave strength. The communication unit 150 gives these information to the communication performance recording unit 154 as communication performance.

[0084] The communication record recording unit 154 receives information indicating the state of the vehicle from the sensor 112 and the GNSS receiver 114 via the CAN 152. The communication record recording unit 154 generates communication record information based on the communication record received from the communication unit 150 and the information indicating the state of the vehicle, and stores the communication record information in the communication record information DB 156.

[0085] B2) Input of destination

[0086] When the user is heading to the destination, the user interacts with the touch panel display device 116 to display the initial screen for route setting, and specifies the destination and the service to be used. Figure 7 In step 310, the vehicle-mounted device 102 obtains the designation of the destination and determines its position. In step 312, the route calculation unit 164 obtains information related to the communication service requested by the service designated by the user (step 312). As a result of this processing, the required bit rate is determined.

[0087] The route calculation unit 164 also obtains communication performance information ( Figure 7 If there is no communication performance management server ( Figure 7 If the determination in step 316 is negative), the path calculation unit 164 executes the path calculation process ( Figure 7 If there is a communication performance management server ( Figure 7 If the determination in step 316 is affirmative), it is determined whether the communication performance obtained from the communication performance information DB 156 is sufficient to determine the driving route based on the bit rate determined in the target area (step 318). If the determination in step 318 is affirmative, the path calculation unit 164 calculates the driving route using only the communication performance obtained from the communication performance information DB 156 (step 322). If the determination in step 318 is negative, the path calculation unit 164 instructs the communication performance acquisition unit 160 to obtain the communication performance information of the target area from the communication performance management server 110. The communication performance acquisition unit 160 appends the acquired communication performance information to the communication performance information DB 156, and after the path calculation unit 164 obtains the communication performance information again from the communication performance information DB 156, it calculates the driving route using the communication performance information obtained again (step 322).

[0088] B3) Path calculation

[0089] The route calculation unit 164 of the vehicle-mounted device 102 calculates the travel route as follows. Figure 8Based on the relationship between the current position and the destination, a search range of the driving route is determined (step 350). Various methods can be considered as a method for determining the search range. In this embodiment, a rectangle with a line connecting the current position and the destination as a diagonal line is used as the search range. Of course, the search range is not limited to this, and various other methods can also be considered.

[0090] Next, the route calculation unit 164 generates a route graph based on information about each intersection existing within the search range determined in step 350 and the roads connecting these intersections (step 352). At this time, roads having a road width smaller than a certain value may be excluded from the route graph.

[0091] The route calculation unit 164 generates a driving route consisting of the shortest path from the current position to the destination by applying the Dijkstra algorithm to the route graph thus generated (step 352). In the generation of the driving route at this time, the communication speed along the way is not considered. That is, the driving route generated in step 352 is the shortest path when not accepting the service based on communication is selected.

[0092] The path calculation unit 164 further deletes the edges with a communication speed less than half of the designated bit rate from the path graph in step 356. As a result, the remaining edges have a communication speed of more than half of the designated bit rate. The path calculation unit 164 searches for the shortest path in the path graph in step 358. The path is the shortest path among the driving paths that are estimated to use a bit rate of more than half of the designated bit rate.

[0093] The path calculation unit 164 further deletes the edges with a lower bit rate from the path graph in step 360. Next, the shortest path in the remaining path graph is searched in step 362. The driving path obtained by this process is the shortest driving path among the driving paths with communication speeds estimated to be higher than the specified bit rate.

[0094] In this way, a plurality of travel routes are calculated based on the constraints specified by the user.

[0095] In addition, the constraints are not limited to the above constraints, and other various conditions can also be considered. Figure 8 The program is composed of a series of procedures such as steps 352 and 354, and the appropriate program can be executed based on the user's designation. Preferably, the execution order of the program is also specified in advance. By executing the program according to such a designation, the amount of calculation required for calculating the driving route can be reduced.

[0096] B4) Display of route suggestion screen

[0097] When the driving route is calculated through the above-mentioned processing, the driving unit 162 generates Figure 1 The route suggestion screen 50 shown is displayed on the touch panel type display device 116. The driving unit 162 first displays a map of the area. The driving unit 162 then overlaps the three calculated driving routes and displays them on the map. The display of the driving route can be performed by continuously drawing a rectangle connecting the start point and the end point of each edge forming the driving route.

[0098] The mesh drawing unit 166 creates Figure 1 The grid is displayed as shown. Fig. 9 The grid drawing unit 166 obtains the geohash value representing the area displayed on the touch panel type display device 116, and divides the area into a predetermined number of grid areas from the upper left to the lower right (step 370). At this time, the geohash of a predetermined position (e.g., the center position) in each grid area is calculated.

[0099] The mesh drawing unit 166 further executes the following step 374 for each mesh area.

[0100] In step 374, the grid drawing unit 166 retrieves records from the communication performance information DB 156 that have the same character string as the geohash of the target grid area at the beginning and whose time indicated by the date and time is within a specified range centered at the current time, and calculates their average communication speed (step 380). The grid drawing unit 166 further quantizes the average communication speed calculated in step 380 into several stages and determines the display color (hue) and brightness of the target grid area (step 382). In the present embodiment, the hue is set to red, and the brightness is determined as a monotonic function of the communication speed, such that the brightness is low when the communication speed is low and the brightness is high when the communication speed is high.

[0101] The grid drawing unit 166 further sets the α value of each grid area to a value indicating semi-transparency when displaying the grid area (step 384). At this time, the grid drawing unit 166 sets the α value so that the grid area with the highest brightness is displayed transparently. The image of the grid area thus created is overlapped with the image of the map and the driving route in the driving unit 162. As a result, Figure 1 As shown, on the display surface of the touch panel type display device 116, the map, the driving route and the grid are displayed in an overlapping manner. In the area with high communication speed, the map is displayed as it is. The area with low communication speed is displayed semi-transparently on the map as a red area with a brightness according to the size of the communication speed. The lower the communication speed, the darker the red is displayed, and the higher the communication speed, the brighter the red is displayed.

[0102] As described above, according to this embodiment, the communication speed actually measured in the past is accumulated in the communication performance information DB 156 and used in the calculation of the driving route. As a result, it is possible to calculate an appropriate driving route corresponding to the bit rate requested by the service used. When calculating the driving route, multiple driving routes are calculated based on the constraints specified by the user. The user can select an appropriate driving route according to how to use the service.

[0103] In addition, the state of communication speed in the area surrounding the current location and the destination is visually displayed. Therefore, when moving from the current location to the destination, the user can select an appropriate driving route based on the purpose of using the service, the communication status, and the distance to the destination, such as how fully the service using communication is provided and what route is best to take in order to fully utilize the service.

[0104] In addition, the communication performance management server 110 stores communication performance information from each vehicle. Therefore, when calculating a driving route in a certain vehicle-mounted device, if sufficient communication performance is not stored in the vehicle-mounted device, the necessary communication performance information can be obtained from the communication performance management server 110. As a result, the calculation of the optimal driving route for using communication services in a wide area can be performed.

[0105] In addition, in the first embodiment described above, the user is allowed to select any one of the three driving routes displayed on the touch panel type display device 116. However, the present disclosure is not limited to such an embodiment. An embodiment may also be an embodiment in which a driving route that can always maintain the required communication speed is selected, or when such a route does not exist, a driving route with the highest average communication speed is automatically selected.

[0106] 2. Second Implementation Method

[0107] A. Structure

[0108] A1) Vehicle Assistance System 400

[0109] Fig.10 2 shows a configuration of a vehicle assistance system 400 according to the second embodiment. Fig.10 The vehicle assistance system 400 involved in the second embodiment includes: a server 108; vehicle-mounted devices 402, 404 and 406, etc., which utilize the services provided by the server 108; and a communication performance management server 408, which accumulates communication performance information based on multiple vehicle-mounted devices such as the vehicle-mounted device 402, and sends communication performance information to each vehicle-mounted device according to a request.

[0110] In this embodiment, unlike the first embodiment, the route calculation unit is not present in the vehicle-mounted device 402 but is present in the communication performance management server 408 .

[0111] A2) Vehicle-mounted device 402

[0112] Reference Fig.11 , the vehicle-mounted device 402 and Figure 3 Compared with the in-vehicle device 102 shown in FIG. 1 , the in-vehicle device 102 is different from the in-vehicle device 102 in that the communication performance acquisition unit 160 and the path calculation unit 164 are not included.

[0113] In addition, the driving unit 162 and Figure 3 The driving unit 162 shown is different in that it requests necessary communication performance information from the communication performance management server 408 instead of from the communication performance information DB 156 based on information on the destination input from the user using the touch panel display device 116 .

[0114] A3) Communication performance management server 408

[0115] Reference Fig.12 The communication performance management server 408 includes: a communication performance acquisition unit 450, which acquires communication performance information from a plurality of vehicle-mounted devices; a communication performance information storage unit 202, which is used to accumulate the communication performance information acquired by the communication performance acquisition unit 450; and a path calculation unit 452, which is used to obtain the communication performance information from the plurality of vehicle-mounted devices. Fig.10 The driving unit 162 of an onboard device such as the onboard device 402 shown receives a request to calculate a travel route specifying a current position and a destination, reads communication performance information of the area from the communication performance information storage unit 202 , and transmits the information to the onboard device 402 .

[0116] B. Action

[0117] The second embodiment is different only in the following two points: first, when a destination is inputted via the touch panel display device 116, the driving unit 162 specifies the current position and the destination and requests communication performance information to the path calculation unit 452 of the communication performance management server 408 instead of the communication performance information DB 156; and second, in response to the request, the path calculation unit 452 reads the communication performance information of the area from the communication performance information storage unit 202 and transmits it to the driving unit 162. In other points, each functional unit of the vehicle support system 400 operates in the same manner as the corresponding functional unit of the first embodiment.

[0118] 3. Third Implementation Method

[0119] A. Structure

[0120] A1) Vehicle Assistance System 500

[0121] Reference Fig.13The vehicle assistance system 500 according to the third embodiment of the present disclosure includes a server 108, vehicle-mounted devices 502, 504, and 506, and a communication performance management server 110. The server 108 and the communication performance management server 110 are Figure 2 The server 108 and the communication performance management server 110 in the first embodiment shown are the same.

[0122] A2) On-vehicle device 502

[0123] Reference Fig.14 , the vehicle-mounted device 502 and Figure 3 However, unlike the vehicle-mounted device 102, the vehicle-mounted device 502 includes a communication performance comparison unit 552, which receives the measurement result related to the current communication speed from the communication performance recording unit 154, compares it with the communication speed estimated from the information stored in the communication performance information DB 156, calculates the difference between the two, and outputs the value. Figure 3 As shown in the communication unit 150, the vehicle-mounted device 102 includes a communication unit 550, which has the following function: in accordance with the case where the size of the difference output by the communication performance comparison unit 552 is larger than the threshold value, the communication unit 550 adjusts the bit rate used for the service received from the server 108. When the actual speed measured by the communication performance recording unit 154 is smaller than the predicted speed by more than the threshold value, the communication unit 550 requests the server 108 to reduce the bit rate of the service used by the server 108. As a result, if the data stream provided by the server 108 is a video stream, for example, the server 108 reduces the resolution of the video or reduces the number of frames to be sent so that the service can be continued. On the contrary, if the actual measurement value is larger than the predicted value by more than the threshold value, the communication unit 550 requests the server 108 to increase the bit rate used in the service as much as possible.

[0124] replace Figure 3 The vehicle-mounted device 502 further includes a path calculation unit 556, which, in addition to the functions of the path calculation unit 164, has a function of recalculating the path when the absolute value of the value output by the communication performance comparison unit 552 is greater than a threshold value. Figure 3 As shown in the communication performance sending unit 158, the vehicle-mounted device 502 also includes a communication performance sending unit 554. In addition to the functions of the communication performance sending unit 158, the communication performance sending unit 554 immediately sends the communication performance information generated based on the latest measurement result measured by the communication performance recording unit 154 to the server 108 when the absolute value of the value output by the communication performance comparison unit 552 is above the threshold.

[0125] A3) Communication Performance Comparison Department 552

[0126] Fig.15 The control structure of the program that realizes the communication performance comparison unit 552 is shown in FIG. Fig.15 , the procedure includes step 600 repeatedly executing step 602.

[0127] Step 602 includes: step 610, receiving the latest measurement value of the communication speed from the communication performance recording unit 154; step 612, reading the past communication performance information of the current position from the communication performance information DB 156; and step 614, branching the control flow according to whether the difference between the latest measurement result and the communication speed in the communication performance read in step 612 is greater than a threshold. If the determination in step 614 is negative, the processing for the latest measurement result in step 602 ends.

[0128] The program further includes: step 616, when the determination in step 614 is positive, immediately sending the communication performance information obtained from the latest measurement result to the communication performance management server 110; step 618, by controlling the communication unit 550 based on the latest measurement result, changing the communication quality with the server 108; and step 620, by controlling the path calculation unit 556, executing a path change for recalculating the driving path and terminating the execution of step 602. In addition, in the present embodiment, the result of the path change is not presented to the user, but is immediately reflected in the operation of the driving unit 162.

[0129] B. Action

[0130] Reference Fig.14 The communication unit 550, like the communication unit 150 in other embodiments, periodically measures the communication speed and radio wave strength when communication is performed, and periodically measures the radio wave strength when no communication is performed, and gives the measurement results to the communication performance recording unit 154. Figure 3 However, the communication performance recording unit 154 also gives the latest communication performance to the communication performance comparing unit 552.

[0131] The communication performance comparison unit 552 receives the latest communication performance ( Fig.15In step 610, based on the current position of the vehicle-mounted device 502, the past communication performance of the location is read from the communication performance information DB 156, and the speed of the past communication performance is subtracted from the latest measured speed (step 612). If the absolute value of the subtraction result is greater than the threshold value (the judgment in step 614 is affirmative), the communication performance comparison unit 552 assigns the communication performance based on the latest measurement result to the communication performance sending unit 554 (step 616). The communication performance comparison unit 552 further assigns the subtraction result in step 614 to the communication unit 550 (step 618). The communication performance comparison unit 552 similarly assigns the communication performance based on the latest measurement result to the path calculation unit 556 (step 618).

[0132] As a result, the communication performance transmission unit 554 immediately transmits the communication performance based on the latest measurement result to the communication performance management server 110. The communication performance management server 110 stores the received communication performance in the communication performance information storage unit 202 (see Figure 4 ). The communication unit 550 requests the server 108 to adjust the bit rate of the service provided by the server 108 based on the latest measurement result. The route calculation unit 556 once again performs the calculation of the driving route based on the latest measurement result, and controls the driving unit 162 to change the driving route according to the result.

[0133] As described above, according to the third embodiment, when the latest measurement result related to the communication speed is greatly different from the past communication performance, the latest measurement result is immediately sent to the communication performance management server 110 as the communication performance. As a result, the latest measurement result is immediately reflected in the communication performance management server 110. Similarly, the bit rate of the service received from the server 108 is changed by the communication unit 550 according to the communication speed based on the latest measurement result. As a result, if the communication speed decreases, the service is also changed to a service based on a lower bit rate corresponding thereto. On the contrary, if the communication speed increases, the service is also changed to a service based on a higher bit rate corresponding thereto. For example, in the case of a video stream, the service can be maintained by changing the resolution of the image or changing the frame rate according to the available communication speed. In addition, by automatically changing the path, a line that can obtain better communication quality is selected. As a result, the user can use the service in a better state.

[0134] 4. Fourth Implementation

[0135] A. Structure

[0136] A1) Driving Assistance System 650

[0137] Reference Fig.16The driving assistance system 650 according to the fourth embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a server 108 ; vehicle-mounted devices such as vehicle-mounted devices 652 , 654 , and 656 ; and a communication performance management server 658 .

[0138] The vehicle-mounted device 652 according to the fourth embodiment has the following features: Figure 3 In addition to the functions of the vehicle-mounted device 102 shown in the figure, the vehicle-mounted device 102 also performs statistical processing on the communication performance stored in the communication performance information DB 156 and provides travel route suggestions based on the results. In addition, in this statistical processing, values ​​indicating that communication is impossible (such as "-1" and the like) are excluded from the calculation objects of values ​​such as the so-called average value. However, when calculating statistical information related to whether communication is possible, it becomes an object of counting.

[0139] A2) Vehicle-mounted device 652

[0140] Reference Fig.17 As mentioned above, the vehicle-mounted device 652 has Figure 3 In addition to the various parts of the vehicle-mounted device 102 shown, it also includes: a communication statistics calculation unit 700, which performs prescribed statistical processing on the communication performance information stored in the communication performance information DB156; a communication performance statistics information DB702, which is used to store communication-related statistical information calculated by the communication statistics calculation unit 700; and a path calculation unit 704, which uses the communication performance statistics information stored in the communication performance statistics information DB702 to calculate the driving path.

[0141] In the present embodiment, when the communication performance acquisition unit 160 receives a request for acquiring communication performance information from the path calculation unit 704, it gives the path calculation unit 704 the communication performance statistical information stored in the communication performance statistical information DB 702 instead of the communication performance statistical information stored in the communication performance statistical information DB 156. When it is difficult to calculate the travel route by the path calculation unit 704 based on the communication performance statistical information stored in the communication performance statistical information DB 702, the communication performance acquisition unit 160 receives the communication performance statistical information stored in the communication performance statistical information DB 702 from the communication performance management server 658. The communication performance acquisition unit 160 adds the communication performance statistical information to the communication performance statistical information DB 702, and then gives it to the path calculation unit 704. The path calculation unit 704 is different from the path calculation unit 164 in that the communication performance used when calculating the travel route is not the measured information stored in the communication performance information DB 156 but the statistically processed information stored in the communication performance statistical information DB 702.

[0142] A3) Communication performance management server 658

[0143] Reference Fig.18 The communication performance management server 658 includes: a communication performance acquisition unit 200; a communication performance information storage unit 202; and a communication statistics calculation unit 720, which is used to compare the communication performance information stored in the communication performance information storage unit 202 with the communication performance information stored in the communication performance information storage unit 202. Fig.17 The communication performance management server 658 further includes: a communication performance statistical information storage unit 722 for storing statistical information related to communication performance calculated by the communication statistics calculation unit 720; and a communication performance sending unit 724 for sending statistical information related to communication performance according to the communication statistics calculation unit 720; Fig.17 In response to the request of the communication performance acquisition unit 160 shown in FIG. 1 , the communication performance statistical information corresponding to the current location specified by the communication performance acquisition unit 160 is read from the communication performance statistical information storage unit 722 and transmitted to the communication performance acquisition unit 160 .

[0144] exist Fig.19 Shown in Fig.17 The column structure of the communication performance statistical information DB 702 is shown. Fig.18 The communication performance statistical information storage unit 722 shown also has the same column structure.

[0145] Reference Fig.19 The communication performance statistics information DB 702 has a date and time column, a grid ID column, a communication speed column, a speed column, a direction column, a communication line column, a communication operator column, a frequency band number column, a cell ID column, and Figure 5 The same columns of SINR, RSSI, RSRP and RSRQ are shown.

[0146] In the information stored in these columns, the date and time are used to determine the unit period that is the object of statistics. For example, if a value representing the Gregorian calendar year ("2022", etc.) is entered in the date and time column, the statistics for the year 2022 are the contents of one record in the communication performance statistical information DB702. If information representing a certain month ("202206", etc.) is entered in the date and time column, it can be seen that the statistics for one month related to the information are saved in the one record. Similarly, if the date and time column is used, statistics for one day, one hour, etc. can be saved in the communication performance statistical information DB702 as one record. In this way, by including date and time information in the record, statistical information can be recorded in layers for various periods.

[0147] The grid ID is an identifier that specifies the geographic hash of the grid that is the object of statistics. This value is a fixed value assigned to each grid. However, the grid ID also has a hierarchical structure as described above. Therefore, if the minimum unit of the size of the grid is determined in advance and the statistical value of the communication status in the grid is recorded, statistics related to a larger grid can be calculated at any time. In this way, by using the value of the date and time column and the value of the grid ID column, statistical information can be calculated or recorded in a geographical and temporal hierarchical structure.

[0148] exist Fig.19 In the column below the communication speed, the values ​​are statistically processed. The statistical processing methods in these columns vary depending on the column. For example, with respect to communication speed, speed, azimuth, SINR, RSSI, RSRP, and RSRQ, any one of the representative values ​​obtained by statistical processing, such as the average, maximum value, minimum value, and CDF (cumulative distribution function), or any combination thereof, is saved. Regarding azimuth, the azimuth can be digitized and averaged, or 360 degrees can be divided into specified angles and the number of values ​​entering each angle range can be counted. Communication lines, communication operators, frequency band numbers, and cell IDs are all discrete values, but for them, it is sufficient to count the values ​​used during the object unit period by type and record the value.

[0149] Fig. 20 The computer is shown as Fig.18 The control structure of the program executed by the communication statistics calculation unit 720 shown in FIG. 7 is shown in FIG. 7 . The program is started by receiving a parameter 730 that specifies the granularity of the period to be the object of statistical calculation and the granularity when the area is divided into grids as an independent variable. The program calculates the statistics of communication performance for each period of the specified granularity and the area of ​​the specified granularity. In addition, in this specification, "high granularity" means that the unit to be processed is large, and "low granularity" means that the unit to be processed is small. Of course, high and low granularity are relative expressions.

[0150] The program includes step 732, which confirms the current time and the entire range (entire area range) of the position covering the information communication performance information stored in the communication performance information storage unit 202. The entire area range is a rectangle in the fourth embodiment, and is specified by the coordinates (latitude, longitude) of the northwest end and the southeast end. Of course, the shape that specifies the entire area range is not limited to a rectangle. Any shape including a shape that is not composed of straight lines, such as a circle or an ellipse, can be used.

[0151] The program also includes: step 734, determining the object period by dividing the period of statistical calculation according to parameter 730; and step 736, dividing the entire area range according to the specified granularity according to parameter 730, thereby determining the set of object regions for statistical calculation.

[0152] In step 734, basically, the unit period including the current time obtained in step 732 and the unit period immediately before it are the objects. However, for example, when the statistics are already created and it is determined not to be updated, the unit period immediately before is not the object of the statistics calculation.

[0153] For example, if the granularity of the date and time is "day" and the current date is "September 1, 2022", the date "September 1, 2022" including the current time and the date "August 31, 2022" immediately before it become the objects of statistical calculation. However, for example, if it is determined that the statistical calculation for "August 31, 2022" has been completed and it is not updated, only "September 1, 2022" becomes the object of statistical calculation.

[0154] If the date and time granularity is "hours" and the current date and time is "September 1, 2022, 11:05:17", then "September 1, 2022, 11:00" and "September 1, 2022, 10:00" become the objects of statistical calculation. However, if statistical calculation for "September 1, 2022, 10:00" is determined, only "September 1, 2022, 11:00" becomes the object of statistical calculation.

[0155] In step 736, the entire rectangular area range confirmed in step 732 is divided into rectangular areas of a size specified by parameter 730. At this time, each divided area is assigned a unique geographic hash code as described above.

[0156] The program further includes step 738 of executing step 740 for each unit period included in the target period determined in step 734. As described above, the unit period included in the target period is basically one unit period including the current time or two unit periods including the most recent unit period.

[0157] Step 740 includes step 742 , wherein step 742 executes step 744 for each object area segmented in step 736 .

[0158] Step 744 includes: Step 750, from Fig.18The communication performance information storage unit 202 shown reads the communication performance information using the target period and the target region as keywords; and step 752, based on the communication performance information read in step 750, calculates each statistical information shown in the communication performance statistical information DB 702. Regarding the calculation of the statistical information in step 752, different processing is performed for each item. In addition, when a relational database is used in the communication performance statistical information DB 702, regarding representative statistical values ​​such as average, maximum value, minimum value or variance, by including instructions for calculating these statistical representative values ​​in the query when reading the record, the processing in step 732 can sometimes be simplified.

[0159] Step 744 also includes step 754, which branches the control flow according to whether there is a record having the same keyword as the keyword used in step 750 in the communication performance statistical information storage unit 722. Step 744 also includes: step 756, when the determination in step 754 is affirmative, updating the record having the keyword according to the latest statistical value calculated in step 752 and ending step 744; and step 758, when the determination in step 754 is negative, using the target period and target region used in step 750 as keywords, adding a new record having the statistical value calculated in step 752 as the content to the communication performance statistical information storage unit 722 and ending step 744.

[0160] The above description is about Fig.18 The following is an explanation of the program executed by the communication statistics calculation unit 720 of the communication performance management server 658 shown in FIG. Fig.17 The communication statistics calculation unit 700 of the vehicle-mounted device 652 shown essentially also performs the same Fig. 20 However, in the case of the vehicle-mounted device 652, the area considered as the target is also limited, and the size of the grid used for route suggestion is also limited. Therefore, the execution of the same Fig. 20 The granularity of date and time and the granularity of range division are also relatively high when the program is the same as the program shown. As a result, even a device with less advantageous computing resources such as the vehicle-mounted device 652 can stably calculate communication statistics.

[0161] Fig.21 The method for making a computer as Fig.18 The control structure of the program executed by the communication performance transmission unit 724 shown in FIG. 7 is shown in FIG. 7. The program is activated every time the communication performance management server 658 receives a request to transmit communication performance statistics from an external device.

[0162] Reference Fig.21, the program includes step 780, which extracts information representing the date and time, the granularity of the date and time, the range, and the granularity of the range that are the objects of the transmission from the received message of the transmission request. In the case where no date and time are specified, it is deemed that the nearest unit time is specified. The unit time in this case is determined by the granularity of the date and time. In the case where the granularity of the date and time is not specified, a default unit time, such as one hour, is used as the unit time. The range is required. The granularity of the range is specified, for example, by the number of bits of the geographic hash used. In the case where the granularity of the range is not specified, the granularity of the range is determined as a function of the size of the specified range.

[0163] The program also includes: step 782, following step 780, reading out records corresponding to the date and time, the granularity of the date and time, the range and the granularity of the range extracted by step 780 from the communication performance statistical information storage unit 722; and step 784, shaping the information contained in the record read out in step 782 into a prescribed format, sending it to an external device via one or more data packets and terminating the execution of the program.

[0164] B. Action

[0165] In this embodiment, Fig.17 The communication performance recording unit 154 of the vehicle-mounted device 652 shown in the figure periodically acquires communication performance information and stores the communication performance information in the communication performance information DB 156. The communication performance transmitting unit 158 ​​transmits the communication performance information to the communication performance management server 658 in the same manner. Fig.18 The communication performance acquisition unit 200 of the communication performance management server 658 shown acquires communication performance information from a plurality of vehicle-mounted devices including the vehicle-mounted device 652 , and stores the communication performance information in the communication performance information storage unit 202 .

[0166] Reference Fig.17 In the fourth embodiment, in the vehicle-mounted device 652, the communication statistics calculation unit 700 performs statistical processing on the communication performance information stored in the communication performance information DB 156 according to a certain schedule, and stores the results in the communication performance statistical information DB 702.

[0167] As a schedule in this case, it can be a schedule that performs statistical processing only once every time the above-mentioned minimum time unit passes, or it can be a schedule that performs statistical processing every time a prescribed period longer than the minimum time unit passes. However, in the fourth embodiment, it is necessary to obtain hierarchical statistics. In this case, when the statistical processing is executed, not only the processing of the minimum time unit is performed, but also the statistics of the upper layer are calculated. In the case of calculating the upper layer statistics, it can be directly calculated based on the information accumulated in the communication performance information DB156, or it can use the lower layer statistical information stored in the communication performance statistical information DB702. In the fourth embodiment, as described above, the communication statistics calculation unit 700 only uses the information of the communication performance information DB156. In addition, compared with the communication statistics calculation unit 720, the load of the statistical calculation processing performed by the communication statistics calculation unit 700 is small. On the other hand, the statistical information accumulated in the communication performance statistical information DB702 is obtained from the information in a relatively limited region, and is limited to statistical information with a high granularity in terms of time and geography compared with the statistical information stored in the communication performance statistical information storage unit 722.

[0168] On the other hand, Fig.18 In the communication performance management server 658 shown, similarly to the vehicle-mounted device 652 , the communication statistics calculation unit 720 performs statistical processing on the communication performance information accumulated in the communication performance information storage unit 202 according to a certain schedule, and stores the obtained communication performance statistical information in the communication performance statistical information storage unit 722 .

[0169] For example, when statistical processing is performed on a daily basis, a period of 24 hours or 12 hours is usually set as one cycle, and each region of each layer of the management target range is used. Fig. 20 The program of the control structure shown in FIG. is started. For example, when 12 hours is used as a cycle of statistical processing, the information of 24 hours is processed twice. In the first processing, the statistical information of the first 12 hours is calculated. In the second processing, the statistical information of 24 hours is calculated, and the statistical information calculated based on the information of 12 hours is updated by this information.

[0170] Fig. 20 The program shown can be started multiple times at the same time, and parallel processing can be performed. When the granularity of the date and time when calculating statistical information is reduced, the range is expanded, and the granularity of the range is also reduced, the number of objects of statistical calculation becomes very large. In this case, statistical processing is performed by multiple processors, and parallel calculation is further performed using a GPU in each processor, so that the required statistical processing can be performed in a timely manner. The computing resources that can be used by the communication performance management server 658 can be increased as needed. As a result, even if the demand from external devices increases, it can be flexibly responded to.

[0171] When the path calculation unit 704 calculates a driving path, it specifies the current position and the destination, and requests the communication performance acquisition unit 160 to acquire the communication performance of the area. The communication performance acquisition unit 160 inputs the communication performance statistical information that has undergone statistical processing related to the specified area into the path calculation unit 704 from the information stored in the communication performance statistical information DB 702. If the information obtained from the communication performance statistical information DB 702 is sufficient to calculate the driving path in the specified area, the path calculation unit 704 immediately executes the path calculation process; otherwise, it requests the communication performance acquisition unit 160 to obtain the communication performance statistical information related to the specified area from the communication performance management server 658. The communication performance acquisition unit 160 sends a request for sending statistical information to the communication performance sending unit 754 of the communication performance management server 658 to obtain the requested information.

[0172] This sending request includes information determining the time range for which statistical information is needed, information determining the geographical range, and information determining their granularity. For example, in the case of information in a range not covered by the statistical information to be stored in the communication statistics calculation unit 700, the communication performance acquisition unit 160 requests the communication performance management server 658 for at least the statistical information related to this range. In the case where the communication conditions in different small geographical areas cannot be determined based on the information stored in the communication statistics calculation unit 700, the communication performance acquisition unit 160 requests the communication performance management server 658 for the statistical information of a divided area with a smaller granularity.

[0173] When Fig.18 the communication performance sending unit 724 of the communication performance management server 658 as shown receives this sending request, it executes Fig.21 the program as shown. That is, the communication performance sending unit 724 extracts the information indicating the date and time, the granularity of the date and time, the range, and the granularity of the range that are the objects of sending from the message of the sending request (step 780). In the case where there is no specification of this information, as described above, the communication performance sending unit 724 uses the default values. The communication performance sending unit 724 reads out the records corresponding to the information obtained from the sending request from the communication performance statistical information storage unit 722 (step 782).

[0174] At this time, in the case where the received sending request includes specific communication device information, communication line information, or communication carrier information, when the communication performance sending unit 724 reads out the information from the communication performance statistical information DB 702, it only extracts the records (communication environment information) having communication device information, communication line information, and communication carrier information that are consistent with them. The communication performance sending unit 724 also performs statistical processing on the values related to the communication quality metrics of these records and calculates the statistical representative values.

[0175] The communication performance transmission unit 724 formats the information included in the read log or the statistically processed information into a predetermined format, and transmits it to the communication performance acquisition unit 160 of the vehicle-mounted device 652 via one or more packets (step 784 ).

[0176] The communication performance acquisition unit 160 receives the statistical information from the communication performance transmission unit 724 and adds it to Fig.17 The added information is input from the communication performance statistical information DB 702 to the path calculation unit 704. The path calculation unit 704 calculates a path from the current position to the destination according to the specified conditions using the statistical information of the communication performance obtained in this way.

[0177] The operations of the other components are the same as those of the vehicle-mounted device in the first to third embodiments.

[0178] C. Variations

[0179] In the fourth embodiment, the calculation of statistical metrics of the communication environment based on the communication device, communication line or communication operator is not performed. This is because, since there are many types and many changes in them, they are not suitable for continuous statistical calculation. In addition, this is because, when the communication performance information is subdivided by this information, there is also a problem of increasing the amount of calculation for statistical processing. However, for example, when the vehicle-mounted device 652 uses a specific communication device, communication line or communication operator, it is considered that the reliability of the estimation of the communication state becomes higher when using statistical metrics that take them into account.

[0180] Therefore, in this modification, the communication performance management server generally performs the same operation as in the fourth embodiment, but when the information related to the communication environment is attached to the transmission request, the statistical information stored in the communication performance statistical information storage unit 722 is not extracted, but only the records that meet the specified conditions are extracted from the details of the communication performance information stored in the communication performance information storage unit 202. The read records are statistically processed and the results are sent to the vehicle-mounted device.

[0181] Fig. 22 A block diagram of a communication performance management server 790 according to this modification is shown in FIG. Fig.18 The communication performance management server 658 shown is different in that instead of Fig.18The communication performance sending unit 724 shown in the fourth embodiment includes a communication performance sending unit 792, which receives a transmission request and performs different processing depending on whether the transmission request contains information related to the communication environment. The communication performance sending unit 792 reads information from the communication performance statistical information storage unit 722 and sends it to the vehicle-mounted device in the same manner as the communication performance sending unit 724 in the fourth embodiment. However, when the transmission request contains information related to the communication environment (for example, a communication line or a communication operator or a combination thereof), the communication performance sending unit 792 performs a different processing.

[0182] The communication performance management server 790 also includes a real-time communication statistics processing and calculation unit 794, which performs the following processing: when information related to the communication environment is attached to the sending request, in response to the instruction from the communication performance sending unit 792, a record of communication environment information containing the specified date, time and range and matching information related to the communication environment is read from the communication performance information storage unit 202, and at the same time, statistical processing related to communication quality measurement is performed on the read record, and the result is returned to the communication performance sending unit 792.

[0183] That is, when the communication performance transmission unit 792 adds information related to the communication environment to the transmission request, it does not obtain the information from the communication performance statistical information storage unit 722 but obtains the information from the continuous communication statistics processing and calculation unit 794 .

[0184] By setting such a structure, the communication performance management server 790 involved in this modification can usually send the communication quality metric to the vehicle-mounted device at a high speed using the information of the communication performance statistical information storage unit 722. In addition, when the information specifying the communication environment is attached to the transmission request, the communication performance management server 790 sends the communication quality metric obtained only from the communication performance consistent with the specific communication environment to the vehicle-mounted device. As a result, it is possible to improve the accuracy of the statistical quality metric sent to the vehicle-mounted device while preventing an increase in the load of statistical processing.

[0185] 5. Fifth Implementation Method

[0186] The fifth embodiment is characterized by the display method of the travel route suggestion. Figure 3 However, in this embodiment, it is not the same as the vehicle-mounted device 102 shown in FIG. Figure 3 In the fifth embodiment, instead of this, as shown in the grid drawing unit 166 shown in FIG. Fig.23As shown, a suggested route display unit (not shown) is used that displays the suggested driving route in different forms according to the communication speed assumed to be available in each grid through which the driving route passes.

[0187] Reference Fig.23 In the fifth embodiment, the display 800 of the touch panel type display device 116 includes a driving route display 810 , a first route prediction image display 812 , and a second route prediction image display 814 .

[0188] In the driving route display 810, a map is displayed on which the current position and destination of the vehicle image 816 are superimposed on the map as speech bubbles 820 and 822. The grid is not displayed. Instead, each portion of the image of the driving route 830 and 832 is displayed with a hue and brightness corresponding to the communication speed in the grid to which the portion belongs. Typically, the hue is red and the brightness is adjusted according to a monotonic function of the communication speed, so that the higher the communication speed, the higher the brightness, and the lower the brightness at a lower communication speed. However, in Fig.23 Due to limitations of the drawings, such changes in display methods are not shown.

[0189] In the fifth embodiment, for each driving route, a representative value of the communication speed (such as the average bit rate, the ratio of the route length that can use the minimum bit rate specified by the service to the entire route, etc.) is displayed in association with each driving route. Fig.23 The "communication quality satisfaction" shown in the speech bubbles 824 and 826 in the figure is an example. For example, according to the speech bubble 824, the communication quality satisfaction in the first route (the first driving path) is 75%. This means that in the first driving path, the total length of the path that can maintain the bit rate specified by the service is equivalent to 75% of the total length of the first driving path. In the second driving path, this value is 25%. That is, in the first driving path, the service can be used with the highest quality assumed in 3 / 4 of the total length of the path, but in the second driving path, only 1 / 4 can be used. By displaying a numerical value called such a representative value, it is easy for the user to understand the communication quality in each route.

[0190] The first route prediction image display 812 and the second route prediction image display 814 represent the expected image quality of the image displayed in each driving route in the form of an image when the service used during driving on each driving route is a stream of images. In this example, a sample image is prepared in advance. The expected image quality is represented by the following image, which is obtained by reducing the number of pixels of the sample image according to the ratio of the representative value of the predicted communication speed when driving on each driving route to the communication speed that can receive the image at its original resolution. As described above, if the communication quality in each route is represented by a numerical value, the user can understand the difference, but it is difficult to grasp the difference intuitively. However, as shown in the first route prediction image display 812 and the second route prediction image display 814, by representing the communication quality in each driving route as the difference in images, it is easy for the user to intuitively grasp the difference in communication quality. In addition, although a speech bubble is used in this example, it is also possible to establish a correspondence between the driving route and the display of communication quality by, for example, displaying a line obtained by connecting the display of communication quality with the corresponding driving route instead of a speech bubble.

[0191] It is expected that such an effect will be presented to the user according to the type of service. For example, if the service the user wants to use is not an image service but a sound service, it is conceivable that noise corresponding to the communication speed may be superimposed on the sample sound or sample music instead of superimposed on the sample image.

[0192] Fig.24 The control structure of the computer program for realizing the above-mentioned route suggestion processing unit in the fifth embodiment is shown in FIG. Fig.24 The procedure includes: step 850, setting the destination; step 852, obtaining the current position of the vehicle; and step 854, accepting the specification of constraint conditions when calculating the route from the user.

[0193] The program also includes: step 856, searching for the driving path from the current location to the destination specified in steps 850 and 852 under the constraints specified in step 856; step 858, such as Fig.23 The driving paths searched in step 856 are displayed as shown in the driving path display 810; in step 860, for each driving path, a representative value indicating its communication quality is calculated; and in step 862, for each driving path, the representative value calculated in step 860 is displayed together with the dialogue bubbles 824 and 826 having convex portions in contact with the corresponding driving paths.

[0194] The program also includes: step 864, as in the case where the service involves images, determining whether an image for indicating communication quality should be displayed, and branching the control flow according to the result; step 866, when the determination in step 864 is affirmative, processing the sample image prepared in advance based on the representative value calculated in step 860 for each driving path; and step 868, displaying the sample image processed in step 866 as shown in FIG. Fig.23 As shown in the first route prediction image display 812 and the second route prediction image display 814 in FIG. 8 , the image display is displayed at a predetermined position relative to the driving route display 810 and the execution of the program is terminated. If it is determined in step 864 that image display is not necessary, steps 866 and 868 are not executed.

[0195] Reference Fig.25 , Fig.24 Step 858 includes: step 900, executing Fig. 9 The mesh drawing process shown is the same as the mesh drawing process; and step 902, executing step 904 for each mesh obtained in step 900.

[0196] Step 904 includes: step 910, calculating the repeated parts of the grid of the processing object and each driving path; and step 912, for each repeated part calculated in step 910, setting the alpha value of each pixel in a manner such that the repeated part is displayed as semi-transparent and the other parts are displayed as transparent, and ending step 904.

[0197] Through this processing, the grids in the grid that do not overlap with the driving route are displayed as transparent. That is, the map is displayed as it is. For the grids in the grid that overlap with the driving route, the overlapping portion is displayed with the color tone and brightness set in the processing of step 900, but the portion other than the overlapping portion is displayed as transparent. As a result, each part of each driving route is displayed in a different manner (color tone and brightness) according to the communication quality (communication speed) in that part. The map is displayed in the portion other than the driving route. That is, the following is obtained. Fig.23 The driving route is displayed as shown in 810.

[0198] As described above, according to the fifth embodiment, the communication quality in the recommended driving route can also be visually displayed, and the user can select the driving route that is considered to be the best according to the service he wants to use and the time required to reach the destination.

[0199] 6. Computer-based implementation

[0200] A) Hardware of the vehicle device

[0201] Figure 2The vehicle-mounted device according to the present disclosure shown in and includes a communication device and an MCU (Micro Controller Unit), and the MCU includes a storage device storing a program executed by the MCU, etc. Each structure of the MCU is hardware. Fig.26 The structure of MCU950 is shown in the form of a block diagram.

[0202] Reference Fig.26 MCU950 includes: MPU952 as a processor; high-speed bus 978, MPU952 is connected to the high-speed bus 978; SRAM954 is connected to the high-speed bus 978; flash memory 956 is connected to the high-speed bus 978; and ROM958 is connected to the high-speed bus 978. Data required for executing the program is stored in SRAM954. Program 976 for realizing each function of the vehicle-mounted device involved in the first embodiment to the fifth embodiment is stored in flash memory 956. The startup program of MPU952 is stored in ROM958.

[0203] MCU950 also includes a low-speed bus 960 connected to the high-speed bus 978 via a bridge 962, a serial I / F 964, an ADC 966, a timer / counter 968, a clock generator 970, a power supply control unit 972 and a general I / F 974 all connected to the low-speed bus 960.

[0204] Note that the operation of the MCU is well known, and what is significant in the embodiments is the function of the program executed by the MCU. Therefore, in the following description, the operation of the MCU itself will not be repeated.

[0205] B) Server Hardware

[0206] Fig. 27 This is an external view of an example of a computer system that realizes the communication performance management servers 110 and 408 and the communication performance management server 658 according to the above-mentioned embodiment. Fig.28 Yes means Fig. 27 A block diagram of an example of the hardware structure of a computer system is shown.

[0207] Reference Fig. 27 The computer system 1050 includes a computer 1070 connected to a DVD drive 1102, and a keyboard 1074, a mouse 1076, and a monitor 1072, all connected to the computer 1070, for interacting with a user. These are examples of a structure used when user interaction is required, and any hardware and software can be used as long as they are general hardware and software that can be used for user interaction (for example, a touch panel, sound input, and a general pointing device).

[0208] Reference Fig.28The computer 1070 includes: a CPU 1090; a GPU 1092; a bus 1110 connected to the CPU 1090, the GPU 1092, and the DVD drive 1102; a ROM 1096 connected to the bus 1110 and storing the startup program of the computer 1070; a RAM 1098 connected to the bus 1110 and storing the commands constituting the program, the system program, and the operation data; and an SSD 1100 as a non-volatile memory connected to the bus 1110. The SSD 1100 stores the programs executed by the CPU 1090 and the GPU 1092 and the data used by the programs executed by the CPU 1090 and the GPU 1092. The computer 1070 also includes: a network I / F 1108 that provides a connection to a network 1086 that can communicate with other terminals; and a USB port 1106 that can remove and install a USB memory 1084 and provides communication between the USB memory 1084 and various parts in the computer 1070.

[0209] The computer 1070 also includes an input / output I / F 1104, which is connected to external devices such as a microphone 1082 and a speaker 1080 and a bus 1110, and is used to read out sound signals, image signals, and text data generated by the CPU 1090 and stored in the RAM 1098 or the SSD 1100 according to the instructions of the CPU 1090, perform analog conversion and amplification processing to drive the speaker 1080, or digitize the analog sound signal from the microphone 1082 and store it in any address of the RAM 1098 or the SSD 1100 specified by the CPU 1090.

[0210] In the above-mentioned embodiments, the programs and parameters for realizing the communication performance management servers 110, 408 and 658, and the sample images used in the fifth embodiment are stored in, for example, Fig.28 The data and parameters are stored in the SSD 1100, RAM 1098, DVD 1078, or USB memory 1084 shown, or in a storage medium of an external device not shown connected via the network I / F 1108 and the network 1086. Typically, these data and parameters are written to the SSD 1100 from the outside, for example, and loaded into the RAM 1098 when executed by the computer 1070.

[0211] The program for realizing the functions of each part involved in the above-mentioned embodiment by cooperating with the computer 1070 includes a plurality of commands described and arranged in a manner so as to make the computer 1070 act to realize these functions. Some of the basic functions required to execute the command are provided by the operating system (OS (Operating System)) operating on the computer 1070 or a third-party program or a module of various toolkits installed on the computer 1070. Therefore, the program does not have to include all the functions required to implement the system and method of the embodiment. In the command, the program statically links the appropriate functions or the functions of the "programming toolkit" by a method of controlling in a manner to obtain the desired result, or dynamically links to these functions in a dynamic manner when the program is executed, so that only the commands for executing the actions of the above-mentioned devices and their structural elements are sufficient. The operation method of the computer 1070 for this purpose is well known, so it will not be repeated here.

[0212] In addition, the GPU 1092 is capable of parallel processing, for example, it is capable of executing a large number of calculations accompanying path search processing and statistical processing in parallel or in a pipeline manner. For example, parallel calculation elements found in the program when compiling the program or parallel calculation elements found when the program is executed are scheduled from the CPU 1090 to the GPU 1092 at any time and executed, and the results are returned to the CPU 1090 directly or via a specified address of the RAM 1098 and substituted into a specified variable in the program.

[0213] The embodiments disclosed herein are illustrative in all aspects and should not be construed as restrictive. The scope of the present disclosure is not indicated by the detailed description of the disclosure but by each claim of the claims, and is intended to include all changes within the meaning and scope equivalent to the words of the claims.

[0214] Description of symbols 50 Route suggestion screen 60 Vehicles 62 Current location 64 destinations 66 First Path 68 Second Path 100, 400, 500 vehicle assistance systems 102, 104, 106, 402, 404, 406, 502, 504, 506, 652, 654, 656 vehicle mounted devices 108 Server 110, 408, 658 communication performance management server 112 Sensors 114 GNSS Receiver 116 Touch panel display device 150, 550 Communications Department 152 CAN 154 Communication Performance Record Department 156 Communication performance information DB 158, 204, 554, 724 communication results sending department 160, 200, 450 communication performance acquisition department 162 Driving Department 164, 452, 556, 704 Path Calculation Unit 166 Grid drawing department 202 Communication performance information storage department 552 Communication Performance Comparison Department 650 Driver Assistance Systems 700, 720 Communication Statistics and Computing Department 702 Communication performance statistics information DB 722 Communication performance statistics information storage unit 800 Display 810 Driving route display 812 First route prediction image display 814 Second route prediction image display 816 vehicle images 820, 822, 824, 826 speech bubbles 830 driving route 950 MCU 952 MPU 954 SRAM 956 Flash Memory 958, 1096 ROM 960 Low-speed bus 962 Bridge 964 Serial I / F 966 ADC 968 Timer / Counter 970 Clock Generator 972 Power supply control unit 974 General I / F 976 Program 978 High Speed ​​Bus 1050 Computer Systems 1070 Computer 1072 Monitor 1074 Keyboard 1076 Mouse 1078 DVD 1080 Speakers 1082 Microphone 1084 USB storage 1086 Network 1090 CPU 1092 GPU 1098 RAM 1100 SSD 1102 DVD drive 1104 Input / Output I / F 1106 USB ports 1108 Network I / F 1110 bus.

Claims

1. A communication performance management server, include: a communication performance information receiving unit, configured to receive communication performance information, wherein the communication performance information includes at least location information, date and time information, and communication quality metric information, wherein the communication quality metric information is related to at least the communication quality of wireless communication at a location determined by the location information and at a date and time determined by the date and time information; a communication performance information storage unit for storing the communication performance information received by the communication performance information receiving unit; and A communication performance sending unit, in response to receiving a sending request for the communication performance information specifying a geographical range from an external device, generates information related to the communication performance based on the communication performance information accumulated in the communication performance information storage unit and sends the information to the external device, wherein the communication performance includes the location information corresponding to the geographical range specified by the sending request and the communication quality information obtained based on the communication quality metric information.

2. The communication performance management server according to claim 1, in, The communication performance transmission unit includes a latest communication performance transmission unit, which reads the communication performance information from the communication performance information storage unit and transmits the communication performance information to the external device. The communication performance information includes: Equivalent to the location information within the geographical range specified by the sending request; The date and time information within the most recent specified time; and The communication quality metric information.

3. The communication performance management server according to claim 1 or claim 2, in, Each of the communication performance information further includes communication environment information, and the communication environment information is related to the communication environment when wireless communication related to the communication performance information is performed. The sending request further includes information related to the communication environment of the external device, The communication performance sending unit includes a different device communication performance sending unit, and the different device communication performance sending unit reads the communication performance information from the communication performance information storage unit and sends it to the external device in response to receiving the sending request. The communication performance information includes: Equivalent to the location information within the geographical range specified by the sending request; the communication environment information matching the information related to the communication environment included in the sending request; and The communication quality metric information.

4. The communication performance management server according to claim 3, in, The communication environment information includes communication line information, communication carrier information, or a combination thereof.

5. The communication performance management server according to claim 1, in, The communication performance management server also includes: a communication statistics calculation unit that performs statistical processing related to the communication quality metric information on the communication performance information stored in the communication performance information storage unit, based on at least the position specified by the position information, and calculates communication performance statistical information; and a communication performance statistical information storage unit for storing the communication performance statistical information calculated by the communication statistics calculation unit in association with the position information; The communication performance sending unit includes a communication performance statistical information sending unit. In response to receiving a sending request for the communication performance information specifying a geographical range from an external device, the communication performance statistical information sending unit sends the communication performance statistical information stored in the communication performance statistical information storage unit, which is equivalent to the location information within the geographical range specified by the sending request and the communication performance statistical information of the location determined by the location information, to the external device.

6. The communication performance management server according to claim 5, in, The communication statistics calculation unit includes a communication statistics calculation unit for different periods, which calculates communication performance statistics for different periods by performing statistical processing related to the communication quality measurement information based on at least the position determined by the position information and the period determined by the date and time information for the communication performance information stored in the communication performance information storage unit.

7. The communication performance management server according to claim 6, in, Each of the communication performance information further includes information related to the communication environment when wireless communication related to the communication performance information is performed. In a case where the transmission request includes information related to the communication environment of the external device, The communication performance transmitting unit selectively performs the first process and the second process according to whether the received transmission request includes the information related to the communication environment. The first processing is as follows: reading the communication statistical performance information from the communication performance statistical information storage unit, calculating the communication quality metric information based on the communication statistical performance information read out, and sending it to the external device, the communication statistical performance information is matched with the location information within the geographical range specified by the sending request and the information related to the communication environment included in the sending request, The second process is a process of reading the communication performance information from the communication performance information storage unit and transmitting the communication performance information to the external device, the communication performance information corresponding to the location information corresponding to the regional range specified by the transmission request.

8. A communication performance management method, comprising the following steps: The computer receives communication performance information, the communication performance information including at least location information, date and time information, and communication quality metric information, the communication quality metric information being related to at least communication quality of wireless communication at a location determined by the location information and at a date and time determined by the date and time information; The computer stores the communication performance information received in the step of receiving the communication performance information in a storage device; and In response to receiving a request to send the communication performance information specifying a geographical range from an external device, the computer generates information related to the communication performance based on the communication performance information accumulated in the storage device and sends it to the external device, wherein the communication performance includes the location information within the geographical range specified by the sending request and the communication quality information obtained based on the communication quality metric information.

9. A computer program for causing a computer to execute the following steps: receiving communication performance information, the communication performance information including at least location information, date and time information, and communication quality metric information, the communication quality metric information being related to at least communication quality of wireless communication at a location determined by the location information and at a date and time determined by the date and time information; storing the communication performance information received in the step of receiving the communication performance information in a storage device; and In response to receiving a request to send the communication performance information specifying a geographical range from an external device, information related to the communication performance is generated based on the communication performance information accumulated in the storage device and sent to the external device, the communication performance including the location information within the geographical range specified by the sending request and the communication quality information obtained based on the communication quality metric information.

Images