Electronic control device and data collection system

Abstract

An electronic control device includes a vehicle information acquisition unit that acquires information about a vehicle and stores the information as vehicle-unit data, a vehicle-unit data collection task management unit that manages a vehicle unit data collection task in which a collection condition indicating a trigger for collection of vehicle-unit data to be a collection target and a collection goal indicating a goal relating to the collection are set, a data collection task condition monitoring unit that generates a data collection event based on the collection condition set in the vehicle-unit data collection task and designates a content of the collected data, and a collection target data extraction unit that receives the data collection event from the data collection task condition monitoring unit, extracts the vehicle-unit data to be a collection target, and stores the extracted vehicle-unit data as the collected data. The content of the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit is changed based on the collection result of the collected data for the collection goal designated in the vehicle-unit data collection task.

Description

Incorporation by Reference

[0001] This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-105033 filed on June 27, 2023, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.Technical Field

[0002] The present invention relates to an electronic control device and a data collection system.Background Art

[0003] In recent years, a data collection system has been introduced. The system collects, in a server device, data relating to a specific event occurring during traveling of a vehicle and utilizes the data for solving problems and improving functions of in-vehicle applications.

[0004] However, an attempt to collect all the target data of each vehicle requires not only the resource consumption of a storage, a central processing unit (CPU), a memory, and the like of the in-vehicle device but also excessive communication cost for transferring data to the server device and excessive resource consumption on the server device side.

[0005] For example, PTL 1 discloses means for changing the contents of data to be collected and collection frequency depending on the content of an abnormal state detected by a terminal device.Summary of InventionTechnical Problem

[0006] In a data collection system of a vehicle, data of various events becomes a collection target depending on the uses of data collection. For example, if the purpose is to analyze a dangerous event of a vehicle, data at a time when an impact or great acceleration or deceleration occurs is a target for collection. If the purpose is to analyze a failure of a specific application, data at a time when an unexpected behavior occurs in the application is a target for collection.

[0007] In addition to the handling of events under such various conditions, whether the events occur strongly depends on the travel environment of a vehicle and a behavior of a driver. Thus, it is difficult to predict how frequently a corresponding event occurs in advance. Therefore, the corresponding event may occur at a frequency more than expected, and a large amount of data may be collected.

[0008] However, depending on the uses of data collection, data on all occurring events does not have to be collected without omission, and a constant amount of data having constant quality may be collected. For example, in a case where failure analysis of a specific application is a purpose, even if a large amount of data of the same factor is collected, only a part of the collected data is actually used for analysis. That is, this means excessive data collection for the original purpose, and means excessive consumption of resources and excessive communication costs of an in-vehicle device and a server device.

[0009] In the invention described in PTL 1, excessive data collection is suppressed by collecting log information as a collection target at a low frequency at a summary level in a normal state and collecting log information as a collection target at a high frequency at a detail level only when an abnormal state occurs in an operation status of hardware or software.

[0010] However, there is a problem that excessive data collection for a purpose cannot be suppressed in a case where a corresponding event (abnormal state detection in PTL 1) described above occurs beyond expectation.

[0011] Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to suppress excessive data collection for a collection purpose.Solution to Problem

[0012] The present invention is an electronic control device that collects information about a vehicle, the device including a processing unit that performs calculation, and a storage unit that stores information, wherein the processing unit includes a vehicle information acquisition unit that acquires information about the vehicle and stores the information as vehicle-unit data, a vehicle-unit data collection task management unit that manages a vehicle-unit data collection task in which a collection condition indicating a trigger for collection of vehicle-unit data to be a collection target and a collection goal indicating a goal relating to the collection are set, a data collection task condition monitoring unit that generates a data collection event based on the collection condition defined in the vehicle-unit data collection task and designates a content of collected data, and a collection target data extraction unit that extracts the vehicle-unit data to be the collection target and stores the vehicle-unit data as the collected data in a case where the data collection event is received from the data collection task condition monitoring unit and collection of the vehicle-unit data is designated, and wherein the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit changes the content of the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit, based on a collection result of the collected data for the collection goal designated in the vehicle-unit data collection task.Advantageous Effects of Invention

[0013] According to the present invention, the excessive data collection for collection purpose can be suppressed.

[0014] Details of at least one implementation of the subject matter disclosed in this specification are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the following description. Other features, aspects, and effects of the disclosed subject matter will be apparent from the following disclosure, drawings, and claims.Brief Description of Drawings

[0015] [FIG. 1] FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration of a data collection system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [FIG. 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data collection task data group of a data collection server according to the embodiment of the present invention. [FIG. 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a collection task data group of the data collection server according to the embodiment of the present invention. [FIG. 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data collection task data group of an electronic control device according to the embodiment of the present invention. [FIG. 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data collection result data group of the electronic control device according to the embodiment of the present invention. [FIG. 6] FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a correlation of functions of the data collection system according to the embodiment of the present invention. [FIG. 7] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation screen relating to data collection tasks using a terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention. [FIG. 8] FIG. 8 is a flowchart explaining vehicle-specific data collection task update processing according to the embodiment of the present invention. [FIG. 9] FIG. 9 is a flowchart explaining data collection event processing according to the embodiment of the present invention. [FIG. 10] FIG. 10 is a flowchart explaining collected data upload processing according to the embodiment of the present invention. Description of Embodiment

[0016] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.<System configuration>

[0017] FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration of a data collection system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0018] The data collection system 1 is a computer system that controls data collection from one or more vehicles 2, and includes the vehicle 2, a data collection server 4 that controls data collection from the vehicle 2, a terminal 5 that operates the data collection server 4, and a network 6 that communicably connects the vehicle 2 and the data collection server 4 or the data collection server 4 and the terminal 5.

[0019] The vehicle 2 includes an electronic control device 3 and an in-vehicle network 60 that is communicably connected to other devices mounted on the vehicle 2. The electronic control device 3 is an electronic control unit (ECU), and includes a processing unit 10, a storage unit 30, and a communication unit 40.

[0020] The processing unit 10 includes, for example, a central processing unit (CPU) which is a central processing device. However, the processing unit 10 may include a graphics processing unit (GPU), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and the like in addition to the CPU, or may include any one of them.

[0021] The processing unit 10 includes, as functions thereof, a vehicle-unit data collection task management unit 11, a data collection task condition monitoring unit 12, a collection target data extraction unit 13, a collected data upload unit 14, a server communication control unit 15, and a vehicle information acquisition unit 16. The processing unit 10 implements functional units that provide predetermined functions by executing predetermined programs stored in the storage unit 30.

[0022] The vehicle-unit data collection task management unit 11 acquires instruction information about a data collection task from the data collection server 4 via the server communication control unit 15, and stores the instruction information in the storage unit 30 as a vehicle-unit data collection task data group 31.

[0023] The data collection task is information in which a collection condition and a collection target of the vehicle-unit data collected in the vehicle 2, a goal value (collection goal) of data to be collected, an operation state (collecting, disabled, and monitoring) of the data collection task, and the like are set.

[0024] Further, the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit 11 changes the operation state of each data collection task as necessary based on a data collection result data group 32 stored in the storage unit 30, and notifies the data collection server 4 about the changed state via the server communication control unit 15.

[0025] The data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 monitors whether the data collection condition of each data collection task is satisfied with reference to the vehicle-unit data of the vehicle information data group 34, and generates (or causes occurrence of) a collection event in a case where the data collection condition is satisfied. The data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 then notifies the collection target data extraction unit 13 about the collection event, and reflects information about the collection event in the data collection result data group 32.

[0026] Upon receiving the notification from the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12, the collection target data extraction unit 13 extracts the vehicle-unit data to be collected in the corresponding data collection task from the vehicle information data group 34, and stores the extracted vehicle-unit data as collected data in a collected data group 33.

[0027] The collected data upload unit 14 uploads the collected data stored in the collected data group 33 to the data collection server 4 via the server communication control unit 15. Note that the collected data upload unit 14 can accumulate untransmitted collected data stored in the collected data group 33 for a predetermined cycle or a predetermined number and then transmit the accumulated data to the data collection server 4. As a result, the frequency of communication from the vehicle 2 to the data collection server 4 can be suppressed.

[0028] The server communication control unit 15 controls data communication between the vehicle 2 and the data collection server 4 in accordance with a predetermined data communication protocol. The communication unit 40 controls data communication on a lower layer with a device physically connected via a communication medium of the in-vehicle network 60. On the other hand, the server communication control unit 15 controls data communication on an upper layer with the data collection server 4 via a plurality of networks (the in-vehicle network 60 and the network 6).

[0029] The vehicle information acquisition unit 16 acquires various types of information about the vehicle 2 as vehicle-unit data via the in-vehicle network 60 connected to the electronic control device 3, and stores the information in the storage unit 30 as the vehicle information data group 34.

[0030] The vehicle-unit data stored in the vehicle information data group 34 is information about the vehicle 2 acquired by the electronic control device 3 during the traveling of the vehicle. Examples of the vehicle-unit data include environmental information about a periphery of the vehicle 2 detected by an external sensor mounted on the vehicle 2, information related to a movement, a traveling state, and the like of the vehicle 2, the information being detected by the vehicle sensor (traveling state information), and road information about a road where the vehicle 2 is traveling.

[0031] Further, as the vehicle-unit data, information about software operating in the electronic control device 3 is also acquired and similarly stored as a part of the vehicle information data group 34. For example, the vehicle-unit data includes log output information about an application operating in the electronic control device 3.

[0032] As the external sensor, for example, an image sensor, a light detection and ranging (LiDAR), a radar, or an ultrasonic distance measuring sensor can be adopted. As the vehicle sensor, an acceleration sensor, a vehicle speed sensor, a steering angle sensor, or the like can be adopted. The road information is able to include, for example, latitude and longitude from a navigation system, and information from a road information service, such as vehicle information and communication system (VICS) (registered trademark).

[0033] The storage unit 30 includes, for example, a storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a flash memory, and a read only memory (ROM), and a memory such as a random access memory (RAM).

[0034] The storage unit 30 stores a program to be processed by the processing unit 10, a data group necessary for the processing, and the like. Further, as a main storage for the processing unit 10 executing a program, the storage unit 30 is used also for temporarily storing data necessary for an operation of the program.

[0035] In the present embodiment, as information for implementing the functions of the electronic control device 3, the vehicle-unit data collection task data group 31, the data collection result data group 32, the collected data group 33, the vehicle information data group 34, and the like are stored.

[0036] The vehicle-unit data collection task data group 31 is a set of data relating to a data collection task for which the vehicle 2 is instructed from the data collection server 4. Examples of the data collection task include information about a data set of a collection target, a collection condition serving as a trigger for collecting the data set, and a collection goal indicating a goal (or a threshold) relating to a collection amount or a collection frequency.

[0037] The data collection result data group 32 is a set of data relating to the data collection results indicating how often and how many times the collection condition is satisfied and the vehicle-unit data is collected in each data collection task in the vehicle 2.

[0038] The collected data group 33 is a subset of the vehicle-unit data that is obtained by the collection target data extraction unit 13 extracting the vehicle-unit data as the collection target from the vehicle information data group 34 based on the collection event generated when the collection condition of the data collection task is satisfied, and storing the extracted data in the storage unit 30.

[0039] The vehicle information data group 34 is a data group (vehicle-unit data) regarding the information about the vehicle 2 acquired by the vehicle information acquisition unit 16. The information about the vehicle 2 includes information that can be acquired from equipment such as a sensor or a device via the in-vehicle network 60, and information (application logs and output results) that can be acquired via software operating in another electronic control device.

[0040] The communication unit 40 includes, for example, a network device conforming to a communication standard such as IEEE 802.3 or a controller area network (CAN). The communication unit 40 transmits to and receives data from other devices mounted on the vehicle 2 via the in-vehicle network 60 based on various protocols.

[0041] Note that in the present embodiment, the communication unit 40 and the processing unit 10 are described separately, but a part of the processing of the communication unit 40 may be executed in the processing unit 10. For example, the configuration may be such that a hardware device or the like in the communication processing is located in the communication unit 40, and a group of other device drivers, communication protocol processing, and the like are located in the processing unit 10.

[0042] The in-vehicle network 60 is a network for data communication between devices mounted on the vehicle 2. The in-vehicle network 60 is configured by a communication medium such as IEEE 802.3 or a CAN. A device (not illustrated) configured to be communicable with the outside of the vehicle 2 via the network 6 is connected to the in-vehicle network 60. The electronic control device 3 is configured to be communicable with the data collection server 4 via the in-vehicle network 60.

[0043] The data collection server 4 includes a processing unit 110, a storage unit 130, and a communication unit 140. The processing unit 110 includes, for example, a CPU which is a central processing unit. However, the processing unit 110 may include, in addition to the CPU, a GPU, an FPGA, an ASIC, and the like, or include any one of them.

[0044] The processing unit 110 includes, as functions thereof, a data collection task management unit 111, a vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112, a task status monitoring unit 113, a collected data management unit 114, and a vehicle communication control unit 115. The processing unit 110 implements these functional units by executing predetermined programs stored in the storage unit 130.

[0045] The vehicle-unit data collection task management unit 11 manages a data collection task preset by an operator (user) using the terminal 5 in the data collection server 4. The data collection task is data defining vehicle-unit data to be uploaded to the data collection server 4 among the vehicle-unit data collected by the electronic control device 3 of the vehicle 2 as described later.

[0046] The vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 communicates with the terminal 5 via the network 6 to provide information about a data collection task data group 131 that is being currently managed, and acquire input information to the terminal 5 by an operator and reflect the input information in the data collection task data group 131.

[0047] The vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 manages a data collection task (vehicle-unit task) set for each vehicle 2 in the data collection server 4. The vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 determines a content of the data collection task for each vehicle set in each vehicle 2, based on the data collection tasks and the status of each task included in the data collection task data group 131 and the status of the data collection task of each vehicle 2 included in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132.

[0048] When the content of the data collection task of the vehicle 2 has been changed, the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 updates the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132, and transmits instruction information for reflecting the new data collection task to the corresponding vehicle 2 via the vehicle communication control unit 115.

[0049] The task status monitoring unit 113 calculates the collection status of the data collection task of each vehicle 2 and the collection status (progress rate or operation rate) of the entire data collection task of each vehicle 2 based on the collected data group 133 which is vehicle-unit data collected from the vehicle 2 by the collected data management unit 114, and stores the collection statuses as result information about the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 and the data collection task data group 131.

[0050] The collected data management unit 114 acquires the collected data uploaded from the electronic control device 3 of each vehicle 2 via the vehicle communication control unit 115, and stores the collected data in the collected data group 133.

[0051] The vehicle communication control unit 115 controls data communication between the vehicle 2 and the data collection server 4 in accordance with a predetermined protocol.

[0052] The storage unit 130 includes, for example, a storage device such as an HDD, a flash memory, and a ROM, and a memory such as a RAM. The storage unit 130 stores programs to be processed by the processing unit 110, a data group necessary for the processing, and the like. Further, as a main storage for the processing unit 110 executing the program, the storage unit is used also for temporarily storing data necessary for an operation of the program.

[0053] In the present embodiment, as information for implementing the functions of the data collection server 4, the data collection task data group 131, the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132, the collected data group 133, and the like are stored in the storage unit 130.

[0054] The data collection task data group 131 is a set of data regarding a data collection task set by an operator in the data collection server 4. The data collection task includes, in addition to the collection condition regarding the data collection, the information about the data set as the collection target, and the specification regarding the data collection such as a collection goal, also information about the data collection status from the vehicle 2 (reason for a change in task information).

[0055] The vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 is a set of data regarding the data collection task set for each vehicle 2. The vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 includes, in addition to the specification regarding the data collection of each data collection task, information about the data collection status of each data collection task in each vehicle 2.

[0056] The collected data group 133 is a set of vehicle-unit data extracted into the collected data group 33 in each vehicle 2 and uploaded to the data collection server 4.

[0057] The communication unit 140 includes a network card or the like conforming to the communication standard such as IEEE 802.3. The communication unit 140 transmits to and receives data from the electronic control device 3 and the terminal 5 connected via the network 6, based on various protocols.

[0058] The terminal 5 is a processing device with which an operator operates the data collection server 4. The terminal 5 corresponds to, for example, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a notebook terminal, or a desktop terminal, and the operator browses and sets information about the data collection task of the data collection server 4 via predetermined software (a web browser or the like).

[0059] The network 6 is, for example, a wide area network such as a mobile communication network or the Internet.

[0060] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a structure of data stored in the data collection task data group 131.

[0061] The data collection task data group 131 includes information about specifications and collection results of the data collection tasks set by the operator via the terminal 5. The data collection task data group 131 includes a task ID 201, an operation state 202, a collection condition 203, a collection target 204, an overall collection goal 205, a vehicle collection goal 206, an overall collection result 207, a vehicle operation state 208, a task information change reason 209, and the like.

[0062] The task ID 201 is information about an identifier of the data collection task. Hereinafter, the expression "task XXX" means that the identifier of the task ID 201 is "XXX".

[0063] The operation state 202 is information about the operation state of the corresponding data collection task. The type of the operation state of the data collection task includes "collecting", "monitoring", "disabled", and the like.

[0064] "Collecting" means a state where the collection of the vehicle-unit data is enabled for the corresponding data collection task, and the corresponding vehicle information data group 34 is extracted from each vehicle 2 and stored in the collected data group 33.

[0065] "Monitoring" means a state where when the collection condition 203 regarding a corresponding data collection task is satisfied, only the information about the collection event for which the collection condition 203 is satisfied is being collected without collecting the vehicle-unit data of the collection target 204. That is, "monitoring" indicates the operation state of the data collection task excluding (or prohibiting) the extraction of the vehicle-unit data.

[0066] The "disabled" means a state where data collection regarding a corresponding data collection task is disabled for some reason. Also in this case, "disabled" indicates the operation state of the data collection task excluding (or prohibiting) the extraction of the vehicle-unit data.

[0067] The information about the collection event is information generated by the electronic control device 3 of the vehicle 2 in a case where the collection condition 203 is satisfied, and includes a collection event (or a data collection event) and a collection disabled event in the present embodiment.

[0068] The collection condition 203 is information about a condition serving as a trigger for collecting the vehicle-unit data of the collection target 204 in a corresponding data collection task. The collection condition is expressed by, for example, a conditional statement determined using the vehicle-unit data included in the vehicle information data group 34 of the vehicle 2. The case of "the absolute value of the acceleration > 0.4 G" means that the information about the acceleration of a corresponding vehicle is included in the vehicle information data group 34 and a determination is made based on whether the absolute value is larger than 0.4 G.

[0069] A plurality of conditional statements may be combined like a statement of "error of application A && area I". The illustrated "area I" means whether the place where the error of the application A occurs is in the range of the area I.

[0070] A determination of these conditional statements may be implemented by software or a script describing a determination logic. In this case, when the vehicle 2 is instructed about the data collection task, a corresponding software or script is also distributed to the vehicle 2.

[0071] The collection target 204 is information indicating a data set as the collection target in the data collection task. In FIG. 2, the collection target is expressed by the names of the data sets such as "host vehicle information" and" sensor information", but may be expressed using an ID or the like for identifying the data set.

[0072] The overall collection goal 205 is a goal value of a total amount of collected data acquired from each vehicle 2, and is information indicating the goal value, such as the data collection amount, the number of data collection times, or the collection frequency for a corresponding data collection task.

[0073] For example, "20 times per month" and" 3 times per day" of the task 2 mean that the goal value is set such that the number of data collection times in one day is 3 times and the cumulative number of times in one month is 20 times.

[0074] In a case where the goal is set only by the collection frequency during a predetermined period, even if the goal value is reached once, a result of the collection frequency during the predetermined period decreases as time elapses, and thus, the data collection task is not disabled.

[0075] On the other hand, in a case where the number of data collection times is set as in "10 times" of the task 10 in the drawing, data collection does not have to be continued anymore once the goal value is reached, and thus the corresponding data collection task is disabled.

[0076] The vehicle collection goal 206 is information indicating the goal value, such as the data collection amount, the number of data collection times, or the collection frequency for the data collection regarding the corresponding data collection task in each vehicle 2.

[0077] The vehicle collection goal 206 may be expressed by a combination of a plurality of goal values, and even if an event regarding data collection occurs, the data collection of a corresponding data collection task is suppressed (disabled or monitored) when any goal value has been reached at that time.

[0078] The overall collection result 207 is information indicating a status of the data collection with respect to the overall collection goal 205. For example, the overall collection result 207 includes the progress rate with respect to the overall collection goal 205, the cumulative number of data collections, the number of monitors (the number of occurrences of events of a corresponding data collection task), and the occurrence frequency of data collection and monitoring.

[0079] The vehicle operation state 208 is information about a ratio of the operation state 202 of a corresponding data collection task in the entire vehicles 2. The example of the task ID 10 indicates that the operation state 202 is "collecting", the extraction of the collected data is permitted in each vehicle 2, the collected data is extracted in 80% of all the vehicles 2, and the extraction of the collected data is disabled in 20% of the vehicles 2.

[0080] The task information change reason 209 is information about a change content and a reason in a case where the data collection system 1 changes the task information, such as the operation state 202 and the collection condition 203, based on the data collection result and the like.

[0081] For example, a value "excessive occurrence (disabled)" is set in the task information change reason 209 of the task 2 in the drawing. This means that the data collection system 1 disables the operation state 202 because a detection is made that the data collection event of the task 2 has excessively occurred.

[0082] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a structural example of partial data stored in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132.

[0083] In the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132, a response relating to a data collection task is stored. The data collection server 4 instructs each vehicle 2 on the data collection task. The vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 includes a vehicle ID 301, a task ID 302, an operation state 303, a collection goal 304, a collection result 305, a task information change reason 306, and the like.

[0084] The vehicle ID 301 is information about an identifier of the vehicle 2 to which the instruction is given about a corresponding data collection task.

[0085] The task ID 302 is information about an identifier of a corresponding data collection task. This corresponds to the task ID 201 of the data collection task data group 131.

[0086] The operation state 303 is information about the operation state of a corresponding data collection task in the corresponding vehicle 2. This corresponds to the operation state 202 of the data collection task data group 131.

[0087] The collection goal 304 is information indicating a goal value of data collection relating to a corresponding data collection task in the corresponding vehicle 2. This corresponds to the vehicle collection goal 206 of the data collection task data group 131.

[0088] The collection result 305 is information indicating a status of the data collection with respect to the collection goal 304. The collection result 305 includes information such as a cumulative number of collections and a number of occurrences of collection events (occurrence frequency) collected or being monitored during the latest predetermined period.

[0089] The task information change reason 306 is information indicating the content and reason of an information change notified from a corresponding vehicle 2 in a case where the corresponding vehicle 2 changes the information about a corresponding data collection task. For example, the value "excessive occurrence (disabled)" in the drawing means that the vehicle 2 disables the operation state 303 because a detection is made that the data collection event has excessively occurred.

[0090] "Goal reaching (disabling)" of the vehicle ID 301 = 1001 and the task ID 10 means that the corresponding vehicle 2 disables the operation state 303 because a detection is made that the collection results 305 relating to the corresponding data collection task in the vehicle 2 have reached the collection goal 304.

[0091] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a structural example of partial data stored in the vehicle-unit data collection task data group 31 of the electronic control device 3.

[0092] The vehicle-unit data collection task data group 31 includes information about a data collection task about which the data collection server 4 instructs the corresponding vehicle 2. The vehicle-unit data collection task data group 31 includes a task ID 401, an operation state 402, a collection condition 403, a collection target 404, a collection goal 405, and the like.

[0093] The task ID 401 is information about an identifier of a corresponding data collection task. This corresponds to the task ID 201 of the data collection task data group 131 and the task ID 302 of the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132.

[0094] The operation state 402 is information about the operation state of a corresponding data collection task in the corresponding vehicle 2. This corresponds to the operation state 202 of the data collection task data group 131 and the operation state 303 of the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132.

[0095] The collection condition 403 is information about a condition serving as a trigger for collecting data of the collection target 404 in a corresponding data collection task. This corresponds to the collection condition 203 of the data collection task data group 131.

[0096] The collection target 404 is information indicating a data set of the vehicle information data group 34 as a collection target in a corresponding data collection task. This corresponds to the collection target 204 of the data collection task data group 131.

[0097] The collection goal 405 is information indicating a goal value of data collection relating to a corresponding data collection task in the corresponding vehicle 2. This corresponds to the vehicle collection goal 206 of the data collection task data group 131 and the collection goal 304 of the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132.

[0098] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a structural example of partial data stored in the data collection result data group 32.

[0099] The data collection result data group 32 includes, for example, information about an occurrence history of an event relating to collection or monitoring of data for a data collection task defined in the vehicle-unit data collection task data group 31 in the corresponding vehicle 2.

[0100] The data collection result data group 32 includes a task ID 501, an event time 502, an event type 503, data collection execution or non-execution 504, position information 505, and the like.

[0101] The task ID 501 is information about an identifier of a corresponding data collection task. This corresponds to the task ID 401 of the vehicle-unit data collection task data group 31.

[0102] The event time 502 is information about the time at which an event relating to a corresponding data collection task occurs.

[0103] The event type 503 is information about the type of the event that occurs. Examples of the event type include "occurrence of collection event" that is an event indicating that a collection condition in the corresponding data collection task is satisfied, and "disabling of collection" for disabling the operation state of the corresponding data collection task.

[0104] The data collection execution or non-execution 504 is information indicating whether data as the collection target (the vehicle information data group 34) is extracted and stored in the collected data group 33 when the event type 503 is " occurrence of collection event". In the case of "execution", the data as the collection target is extracted and stored, whereas in the case of "non-execution", only event information (for example, the type or identifier of the event) is stored without execution. This corresponds to that the operation state 402 of the vehicle-unit data collection task data group 31 indicates "collecting" and "monitoring". In addition, in the case of "non-execution", the event information may not be stored. As a result, the amount of data to be stored can be reduced.

[0105] The position information 505 is information relating to position information about the vehicle 2 in a case where a corresponding event occurs. For example, the position information 505 may be expressed by position information on the earth expressed by latitude and longitude, or may be expressed by a road position on a road map. Further, as the position information 505, information from a navigation system (not illustrated) mounted on the vehicle 2 can be used.

[0106] Processing of the data collection system 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 10.

[0107] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a correlation of functions implemented by the data collection system 1. The data collection system 1 is implemented, for example, based on data collection task operation processing S700, vehicle-specific data collection task update processing S800, data collection event processing S900, and collected data upload processing S1000.

[0108] In the data collection task operation processing S700, an operator communicates with the data collection task management unit 111 of the data collection server 4 via the network 6 using the terminal 5 to browse the state of the data collection task data group 131 set in the data collection server 4 or manually add a new data collection task, or correct or delete the data collection task.

[0109] In the vehicle-specific data collection task update processing S800, the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 detects a change in the data collection task data group 131 and updates the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 issuing an instruction to the vehicle 2.

[0110] In addition, the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 notifies the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit 11 of the electronic control device 3 of the vehicle 2 about the change content of the data collection task.

[0111] Note that the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 distributes the vehicle-specific data collection task of the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 managed by the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 to each vehicle 2 in advance, and manages the distributed data collection task for each vehicle 2.

[0112] The vehicle-unit data collection task management unit 11 of the electronic control device 3 reflects the change content received from the data collection server 4 in the vehicle-unit data collection task data group 31.

[0113] In the data collection event processing S900, the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 periodically monitors whether the collection condition of the data collection task defined in the vehicle-unit data collection task data group 31 is satisfied, with reference to the vehicle information data group 34.

[0114] When detecting a data collection task satisfying the collection condition, the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 notifies the collection target data extraction unit 13 about occurrence of the data collection event, and records the information about the data collection event in the data collection result data group 32.

[0115] Based on the notified data collection event, the collection target data extraction unit 13 extracts collection target data with reference to the vehicle-unit data of the vehicle information data group 34, and stores the collection target data in the collected data group 33.

[0116] Further, the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit 11 determines whether a change of the operation state of the data collection task defined in the vehicle-unit data collection task data group 31 is necessary, based on the updated data collection result data group 32, and corrects the vehicle-unit data collection task data group 31 in a case where the change of the operation state is necessary.

[0117] The vehicle-unit data collection task management unit 11 then notifies the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 of the data collection server 4 about the change content of the data collection task, and records event information indicating that the operation state has been changed for the data collection result data group 32.

[0118] The vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 of the data collection server 4, which has received the notification about the change in the operation state of the data collection task from the vehicle 2, reflects the change content in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 and updates the vehicle operation state 208 of the data collection task data group 131.

[0119] In the collected data upload processing S1000, the collected data upload unit 14 of the vehicle 2 uploads the collected data stored in the collected data group 33 to the collected data management unit 114 of the data collection server 4.

[0120] The collected data management unit 114 stores the collected data acquired from the vehicle 2 in the collected data group 133. The task status monitoring unit 113 updates the overall collection result 207 of the data collection task data group 131 and the collection result 305 of the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 based on the updated collected data group 133.<Data collection task operation processing S700>

[0121] The terminal 5 is configured to be able to browse and set information about the data collection task of the data collection server 4 via predetermined software (web browser or the like). FIG. 7 illustrates an example of an operation screen of the terminal 5 in the data collection task operation processing S700.

[0122] In a region 701 on the operation screen, information about the data collection task data group 131 of the data collection server 4 is displayed. The information about the data collection task data group 131 is acquired from the data collection task management unit 111 of the data collection server 4 by the software of the terminal 5.

[0123] The region 701 further has a function of operating entry information about the data collection task. When an edit button 711 is pressed, for example, the operation state, the collection condition, the collection target, the overall collection goal, and the vehicle collection goal of a corresponding entry make a transition to an editable mode, and the specification of the data collection task can be changed.

[0124] When a delete button 712 is pressed, a corresponding data collection task entry can be deleted. By using these task operation functions, an operator can delete a data collection task for which excessive data collection has occurred, the data collection task being registered in the data collection server 4, or change the specifications so that the data collection frequency is suppressed.

[0125] A region 702 on the operation screen is an operation region for adding a new data collection task. The specification information about the data collection task is reflected in a region 722 in the drawing, and the new data collection task is reflected in the data collection task data group 131 of the data collection server 4 by pressing a new addition button 721.<Vehicle-specific data collection task update processing S800>

[0126] The vehicle-specific data collection task update processing S800 will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 8. This processing is executed at a predetermined cycle.

[0127] First, in step S801, the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 extracts a changed data collection task entry with reference to the data collection task data group 131.

[0128] The change of the data collection task entry corresponds to the operation state and the collection condition change of the data collection task based on the data collection result by the data collection task management unit 111 to be described later, in addition to the addition of a new data collection task, and correction and deletion of the data collection task by an operator in the data collection task operation processing S700.

[0129] Subsequently, in step S802, the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 reflects the change point of the data collection task entry extracted in step S801 in the corresponding vehicle-specific data collection task entry in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132.

[0130] The corresponding vehicle-specific data collection task entry can be determined by collating the task ID 401 of the vehicle-unit data collection task data group 31 with the task ID 201 of the data collection task data entry.

[0131] In step S803, the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 transmits the information of the corresponding task entry to the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit 11 of the electronic control device 3 via the vehicle communication control unit 115 as an update instruction of the vehicle-unit data collection task issued to the vehicle 2 corresponding to the vehicle ID 301 of the changed vehicle-specific data collection task entry.

[0132] When receiving the instruction to update the above-described vehicle-unit data collection task via the server communication control unit 15 in step S804, the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit 11 of the electronic control device 3 reflects (updates) the content of the instruction in the vehicle-unit data collection task data group 31 in step S805.<Data collection event processing S900>

[0133] The data collection event processing S900 will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 9. This processing is executed at a predetermined cycle.

[0134] First, in step S901, the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 acquires, from the vehicle information data group 34, unprocessed vehicle-unit data among various types of information (vehicle-unit data) about the vehicle 2 periodically acquired or updated by the vehicle information acquisition unit 16 via the in-vehicle network 60 or software operating on the electronic control device 3.

[0135] Further, in step S902, the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 acquires a task entry (collecting or monitoring) of which the operation state 402 is not "disabled" from the vehicle-unit data collection task data group 31.

[0136] In step S903, the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 determines whether the collection condition 403 of the enabled vehicle-unit data collection task entry is satisfied, based on the vehicle-unit data acquired from the vehicle information data group 34.

[0137] If a task entry of which the collection condition 403 is satisfied exists (Y in step S903), the processing proceeds to step S904, and if not (N in step S903), the processing ends.

[0138] In step S904, the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 checks the operation state 402 in the task entry of which the collection condition 403 is satisfied. If "collecting" (Y in step S904), the processing proceeds to step S905. Otherwise (N in step S904), the processing proceeds to step S907.

[0139] In step S905, the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 checks whether the collection goal 405 of the corresponding task entry has been reached with reference to the past data collection result described in the data collection result data group 32.

[0140] The data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 proceeds to step S906 if non of the conditions has not been reached (Y in step S905), and proceeds to step S907 if any of the conditions has been reached (N in step S905).

[0141] For example, the collection goal 405 of the task 3 in FIG. 4 is a combination of "20 times per month", "3 times per day", and "1 time per place". In the example of FIG. 5, three data entries of the task 3 exist, but in the first and second data entries, since the occurrence frequency is sufficiently low and collection events in the same place do not occur, the data collection is executed (the data collection execution or non-execution 504 indicates "execution").

[0142] On the other hand, as for the third data entry, since the second data entry and the position information 505 are sufficiently close (within a predetermined range), the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 determines as collection events in the same place and prevents data collection (the data collection execution or non-execution 504 indicates "non-execution"). Note that if the distance of the position information 505 between the two pieces of data is within a preset threshold, the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 determines that the two pieces of data are in the same place.

[0143] In step S906, the collection target data extraction unit 13 extracts data corresponding to the collection target 404 of the corresponding task entry from the vehicle-unit data with reference to the vehicle information data group 34.

[0144] In step S907, the collection target data extraction unit 13 stores the extracted collected data in the collected data group 33 in association with the collection event. The extracted collected data includes vehicle-unit data corresponding to the collection target 404 extracted in step S906, data (data collection event information) regarding a collection event of which the collection condition 403 of the corresponding task entry is satisfied, and the like.

[0145] In a case where the processing skips step S906, the vehicle-unit data is excluded and only the collection event is stored in the collected data group 33 as the extracted data. The information about the collection event is, for example, data corresponding to the data collection result data group 32 in FIG. 5. That is, the occurrence of an event is stored as data collection event information, but there exists no vehicle-unit data of the vehicle information data group 34 corresponding to the event.

[0146] Further, in a case where the processing skips step S906, by excluding the vehicle-unit data and using only the collection event as the collected data, the vehicle-unit data included in the extracted data is reduced, thereby suppressing the amount of the collected data to be stored in the data collection server 4 from becoming excessive.

[0147] In step S908, the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 adds the data collection event information to the data collection result data group 32. In a case where only the data collection event information is stored in the collected data group 133, the data collection execution or non-execution 504 is "non-execution". In a case where data corresponding to the collection target 404 is also stored, the data collection execution or non-execution 504 is "execution".

[0148] In step S909, the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit 11 calculates the occurrence frequency of the data collection event of each vehicle-unit data collection task entry with reference to the updated data collection result data group 32 to check whether the occurrence frequency is equal to or larger than a predetermined value. If the frequency is less than the predetermined value in step S909 (N in step S909), the processing ends without doing anything.

[0149] On the other hand, if the frequency is equal to or larger than the predetermined value (Y in step S909), the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit 11 sets the operation state 402 of the corresponding task entry to "disabled" or "monitoring" in step S910, and transmits the change content and the change reason of the operation state 402 to the data collection server 4 in step S911.

[0150] The reason for the change of the operation state 402 is information about what has caused the change of the operation state, and here, a corresponding example is "excessive occurrence" of the data collection event. Upon receiving the notification in step S921, the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 of the data collection server 4 updates the operation state 303 of the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132, the vehicle operation state 208 and the task information change reason 209 of the data collection task data group 131 in step S922.

[0151] The occurrence frequency of the data collection event of each task entry can be calculated in step S909 depending on how many task IDs 501 corresponding to the event time 502 are included in the range of the latest predetermined period (1 hour, 1 day, 1 month, etc.) in the data collection result data group 32.

[0152] Alternatively, the occurrence frequency may be calculated based on a ratio of the number of event occurrences in unit time. For example, in the example of FIG. 5, three data collection events of the task 2 occur successively on the same day. The collection goal 405 of the task 2 can be calculated to be 90 events per month in monthly conversion based on a ratio of 3 events per day.

[0153] The predetermined value used in step S909 may be fixedly set regardless of the content of a task, or may be calculated based on the value of the collection goal 405 of the vehicle-unit data collection task data group 31.

[0154] For example, in a case where a value 3 times as large as the collection goal 405 is set as the predetermined value (threshold of the occurrence frequency), the collection goal 405 of the task 2 corresponds to 20 times per month, 3 times per day, 60 times per month, 9 times per day.

[0155] In a case where the occurrence frequency on a monthly basis is 90 per month as described above, this exceeds the threshold of 60 times per month. Thus, the operation state of the task entry is changed to "disabled" or" monitoring" in step S910.

[0156] When the operation state 402 of the task entry is changed to "disabled " or "monitoring", even if a data collection event of the same task ID 401 occurs in the next and subsequent times, data storage in the collected data group 33 in step S907 is completely suppressed (in the case of disabled) or only data collection event information with a small data amount is suppressed (in the case of monitoring) in the processing of steps S902 to S904.

[0157] Whether to set "disabled" or "monitoring" in step S910 may be fixedly set in advance, or the threshold (predetermined value) in step S909 may be determined in two stages. For example, the value equal to the collection goal 405 is set as a first-stage predetermined value, and if the frequency exceeds this value, the operation state is set to "monitoring". A value that is 3 times as large as the collection goal 405 is set, and if the frequency exceeds this value, the operation state is set to "disabled".

[0158] Further, in steps S909 to S910, the operation state may be changed depending on the achievement status as for the collection goal 405 in addition to the occurrence frequency of the data collection event. For example, the collection goal 405 of the task 10 in FIG. 4 includes the goal relating to the cumulative number of event occurrence times, that is, "10 times".

[0159] Unlike the goal value regarding the occurrence frequency, such a goal value regarding the cumulative number of times is always satisfied when this value is once achieved. Therefore, since it is not necessary to enable the data collection task any more, the operation state may be changed to "disabled" or "monitoring".

[0160] Through the above processing, the electronic control device 3 extracts the vehicle-unit data from the vehicle information data group 34 for the data collection task of which the operation state 402 is "collecting", and then stores the extracted data in the collected data group 33 as the collected data if the number or frequency of the extracted vehicle-unit data does not reach the collection goal 405.

[0161] On the other hand, if the number or frequency of the extracted vehicle-unit data reaches the collection goal 405, the electronic control device 3 changes the operation state 402 of the data collection task to "monitoring" or "disabled" to prohibit subsequent extraction of the collected data. As a result, the data collection server 4 that receives the collected data can suppress excessive acquisition of the collected data.

[0162] Further, the electronic control device 3 notifies the data collection server 4 about the data collection task of which the operation state 402 has been changed. As a result, the data collection server 4 can update the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 to implement synchronize with the data collection task of the electronic control device 3 of the vehicle 2.<Collected data upload processing S1000>

[0163] The collected data upload processing S1000 will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 10. This processing is executed at a predetermined cycle.

[0164] First, the collected data upload unit 14 acquires collected data stored in the collected data group 33 in step S1001, and transmits the collected data to the data collection server 4 via the server communication control unit 15 in step S1002.

[0165] On the data collection server 4 side, the collected data management unit 114 receives the collected data via the vehicle communication control unit 115 in step S1011, and stores the collected data in the collected data group 133 in step S1012.

[0166] In response to the storage of the collected data, the task status monitoring unit 113 updates the collection result 305 of the corresponding task entry of the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 in step S1013, based on the updated collected data group 133.

[0167] In step S1014, the task status monitoring unit 113 then updates the overall collection result 207 and the vehicle operation state 208 of the corresponding task entry of the data collection task data group 131.

[0168] In the updating of the collection result, the task status monitoring unit 113 calculates the number of collections by, for example, calculating the number of pieces of data of the corresponding task entry stored in the collected data group 133.

[0169] Further, the occurrence frequency can be calculated, for example, by the task status monitoring unit 113 managing the data collection event information included in the collected data in the form of the data collection result data group 32 as illustrated in FIG. 5 and calculating the number of pieces of data collection event information of the corresponding task entry during the latest predetermined period (1 day, 1 month, etc.). The vehicle operation state 208 can be calculated by the task status monitoring unit 113 aggregating the operation state 303 for each vehicle in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132.

[0170] Subsequently, the data collection task management unit 111 checks the overall collection result 207 of the task entry of the updated data collection task data group 131, checks whether the number of collections has reached the overall collection goal 205 (step S1015) and whether the occurrence frequency is not equal to or larger than a predetermined value (step S1017).

[0171] If any one of the conditions is satisfied (Y in step S1015 or Y in step S1017), the data collection task management unit 111 sets the operation state 202 of the corresponding task entry to "disabled" (step S1016 or step S1018), and the processing proceeds to step S1019.

[0172] If none of the conditions is satisfied (N in step S1015 and N in step S1017), the data collection task management unit 111 performs nothing, and the processing proceeds to step S1019.

[0173] In step S1019, the data collection task management unit 111 further checks the vehicle operation state 208 of the data collection task data group 131, and checks whether the rate of the vehicles 2 being "disabled" is equal to or larger than a predetermined value.

[0174] If the rate of the "disabled" vehicles 2 is equal to or larger than the predetermined value (Y in step S1019), the data collection task management unit 111 sets the operation state 202 of the corresponding task entry to "disabled" and ends the processing. If the rate is less than the predetermined value (N in step S1019), the processing ends without doing anything.

[0175] Through the above processing, the data collection server 4 acquires the collected data extracted by the electronic control device 3, updates the corresponding collection result 305 of the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132, and updates the task information change reason 306 of the task entry based on the notification about the change of the data collection task received from the vehicle 2.

[0176] The data collection server 4 calculates the overall collection result from the collection results 305 of all the vehicles 2 to update the overall collection result 207, changes the operation state 202 to "disabled" for the data collection task of which the overall collection result 207 reaches the overall collection goal 205 that is a goal value, and stops subsequent extraction of the collected data.

[0177] Further, the data collection server 4 calculates the overall collection result from the collection results 305 of all the vehicles 2 to update the overall collection result 207, changes the operation state 202 to "disabled" for the data collection task of which the occurrence frequency of the overall collection result 207 reaches the overall collection goal 205 that is the goal value, and stops extraction of subsequent collected data.

[0178] Further, the data collection server 4 can reduce the processing load of the electronic control device 3 of each vehicle 2 by setting the operation state 202 of the data collection task data group 131 to "disabled" for the data collection task of which the ratio (rate) at which the operation state 202 of the data collection task is "disabled" in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 is equal to or larger than a predetermined value.

[0179] According to the above embodiment, the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 and the collection target data extraction unit 13 are provided. The data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 detects the occurrence of an event that meets the collection condition 403 by using the vehicle information data group 34 relating to the state of the corresponding vehicle 2, based on the information (the operation state 402, the collection condition 403, and the collection target 404 in FIG. 4) about data collection designated in the vehicle-unit data collection task data group 31. The collection target data extraction unit 13 determines a target to be uploaded to the data collection server 4 and stored in the collected data group 133 as the collection target data relating to the detected event, depending on the operation state 402. The vehicle-unit data collection task management unit 11 changes the operation state 402 in accordance with the collection result of each data collection task calculated based on the data collection event information included in the collection target data.

[0180] For example, in steps S908 to S910 of FIG. 9, if the event occurrence frequency in the data collection task exceeds the threshold, the operation state 402 of the corresponding task is set to "disabled" or "monitoring". As a result, in a case where the data collection event occurs at a frequency more than expected, the corresponding data collection task is disabled, or the collection is limited to only the data collection event information with a small data amount. This can suppress excessive data collection.

[0181] According to the above embodiment, by further setting the goal value of the number of data collections relating to the same place in the collection goal 405, the data of the collection target 404 is excluded from the collection target in a case where the number of data entries whose occurrence positions are close to each other in the data collection result data group 32 exceeds the goal value. This can suppress redundant data collection caused by occurrence of the data collection event many times in the same place.

[0182] Note that the embodiment described above is an example, and the present invention is not limited thereto. That is, various applications are possible, and all embodiments are included in the scope of the present invention.

[0183] For example, in the above embodiment, in the electronic control device 3 and the data collection server 4, each processing is assumed to be executed in the same processing unit and storage unit, but may be executed in a plurality of different processing units and storage units. In that case, for example, processing software having a similar configuration is mounted in each storage unit, and each processing unit executes corresponding processing in a shared manner.

[0184] Further, each processing in the electronic control device 3 and the data collection server 4 is implemented by executing a predetermined program using a processor and a RAM, but can also be implemented by unique hardware as necessary.<Conclusion>

[0185] As described above, the above embodiment can have the following configurations.

[0186] (1) An electronic control device (3) that collects information about a vehicle (2), the device (3) including a processing unit (10) that performs calculation, and a storage unit (30) that stores information, wherein the processing unit (10) includes a vehicle information acquisition unit (16) that acquires information about the vehicle (2) and stores the information as vehicle-unit data, a vehicle-unit data collection task management unit (11) that manages a vehicle-unit data collection task in which a collection condition indicating a trigger for collection of vehicle-unit data to be a collection target and a collection goal indicating a goal relating to the collection are set, a data collection task condition monitoring unit (12) that generates a data collection event based on the collection condition defined in the vehicle-unit data collection task and designates a content of collected data, and a collection target data extraction unit (13) that extracts the vehicle-unit data to be the collection target and stores the vehicle-unit data as the collected data in a case where the data collection event is received from the data collection task condition monitoring unit (12) and collection of the vehicle-unit data is designated, and wherein the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit (11) changes the content of the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit (13), based on a collection result of the collected data for the collection goal designated in the vehicle-unit data collection task.

[0187] With the above configuration, the excessive data collection for collection purpose can be suppressed.

[0188] (2) The electronic control device according to (1), wherein the data collection task condition monitoring unit (12) designates the vehicle-unit data and information about the data collection event as the collected data in a case where the collection condition defined in the vehicle-unit data collection task is satisfied and the collection result of the collected data does not reach the collection goal.

[0189] With the above configuration, the excessive data collection for collection purpose can be suppressed.

[0190] (3) The electronic control device according to (1), wherein the data collection task condition monitoring unit (12) designates information about the data collection event as the collected data and does not designate the vehicle-unit data as the collected data in a case where the collection condition defined in the vehicle-unit data collection task is satisfied and the collection result of the collected data reaches the collection goal.

[0191] With the above configuration, the excessive data collection for the collection purpose can be suppressed and the history of occurrences of the collection event can be saved.

[0192] (4) The electronic control device according to (1), wherein the data collection task condition monitoring unit (12) designates neither the vehicle-unit data nor information about the data collection event as the collected data in a case where the collection condition defined in the vehicle-unit data collection task is satisfied and the collection result of the collected data reaches the collection goal.

[0193] With the above configuration, the excessive data collection for collection purpose can be suppressed.

[0194] (5) The electronic control device according to (1), wherein the data collection task condition monitoring unit (12) stores information about the data collection event and information about a content designated in the collected data as data collection result data in a case where the data collection event is generated, and wherein the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit (11) determines the collection result of the collected data for a collection goal designated in the vehicle-unit data collection task, based on the data collection result data.

[0195] With the above configuration, by determining the collection result of the collected data for the collection goal, the excessive data collection for the collection purpose can be suppressed.

[0196] (6) The electronic control device according to (5), wherein the data collection task condition monitoring unit (12) refers to the data collection result data, and in a case where an occurrence amount or an occurrence frequency of the data collection event relating to the vehicle-unit data collection task exceeds a threshold set in the collection goal, does not designate the vehicle-unit data as the collected data.

[0197] With the above configuration, by determining the occurrence amount or occurrence frequency of the data collection event for the collection goal, the excessive data collection for the collection purpose can be suppressed.

[0198] (7) The electronic control device according to (5), wherein the data collection task condition monitoring unit (12) acquires position information about the vehicle (2) and stores the position information in the data collection result data in association with the data collection event, and in a case where an occurrence amount or an occurrence frequency of the data collection events of which the position information is within a predetermined range among the data collection events relating to the vehicle-unit data collection task exceeds a threshold defined in the collection goal, does not designate the vehicle-unit data as the collected data.

[0199] The above configuration makes it possible to suppress redundant data collection caused by the occurrence of the data collection event many times in the same place.

[0200] (8) A data collection system (1) includes the electronic control device (3) according to (1), and a server (4) including a processing unit (110) that performs calculation, a storage unit (130) that stores information, and a communication unit (140) that communicates with the electronic control device (3), the server configured to collect data from a vehicle (2), wherein the electronic control device (3) includes a communication unit (40) that receives the vehicle-unit data collection task from the server (4) and transmits the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit (13) to the server (4), wherein the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit (11) manages the vehicle-unit data collection task received from the server (4), wherein the server (4) includes a data collection task management unit (111) that manages a data collection task defined in an overall collection goal indicating a collection condition indicating a trigger for collection of vehicle-unit data to be collected and a collection goal relating to the collected data to be collected from a plurality of the vehicles, a vehicle-specific data collection task management unit (112) that manages the vehicle-unit data collection task set for each vehicle (2) depending on the data collection task, and a collected data management unit (114) that receives the collected data from the vehicle (2) and stores the collected data in a collected data group (133), and wherein the data collection task management unit (111) updates the vehicle-unit data collection task based on a storage result of the collected data in the collected data group (133) for the overall collection goal designated in the data collection task, to change a content of the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit (13).

[0201] With the above configuration, the excessive data collection for the collection purpose can be suppressed based on the collection result of the collected data to be collected in the plurality of vehicles.

[0202] (9) The data collection system (1) according to (8), wherein the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit (11) notifies, in a case where the content of the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit (13) is changed, the server (4) about a task information change reason indicating a reason for the change, and wherein the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit (112) records the content of the collected data after the change and the task information change reason in the data collection task in a case where the task information change reason is notified from the vehicle (2).

[0203] With the above configuration, the administrator of the server can grasp the reason why the excessive data collection has occurred, and can set, for the collection purpose, the data collection task for suppressing the excessive data collection.

[0204] (10) The data collection system (1) according to (8), wherein the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit (11) notifies, in a case where the content of the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit (13) is changed, the server (4) about the content of the change, and wherein the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit (112) stops, in a case where there exists a vehicle-unit data collection task in which a ratio of vehicles (2) in which the vehicle-unit data is not designated as the collected data to a total number of vehicles (2) with which the server (4) communicates exceeds a threshold, extraction of the collected data relating to the vehicle-unit data collection task for all the vehicles (2).

[0205] With the above configuration, the processing load of the electronic control device of each vehicle can be reduced.

[0206] Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and includes various modifications. For example, the above-described embodiment has been described in detail for easy understanding of the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to an invention including all the described configurations. A part of the configuration in one embodiment can be replaced with the configuration in another embodiment, or the configuration in another embodiment can be added to the configuration in one embodiment. Further, any of addition, deletion, and substitution of other configurations can be applied to a part of the configuration in each embodiment alone or in combination.

[0207] Some or all of the above-described configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, and the like may be achieved by hardware, for example, by designing with an integrated circuit. In addition, each of the above-described configurations, functions, and the like may be achieved by software with which a processor interprets and executes programs for implementing functions. Information such as a program, a table, and a file for achieving each function can be stored in a recording device such as a memory, a hard disk, and a solid state drive (SSD), or in a recording medium such as an integrated circuit (IC) card, a secure digital (SD) card, and a digital versatile disc (DVD).

[0208] In addition, control lines and information lines that are considered to be necessary for the description are indicated, and not all control lines and information lines on a product are indicated. In practice, it may be considered that almost all the configurations are connected to each other.

Claims

1. An electronic control device that collects information about a vehicle, the device comprising: a processing unit that performs calculation; and a storage unit that stores information, wherein the processing unit includes a vehicle information acquisition unit that acquires information about the vehicle and stores the information as vehicle-unit data, a vehicle-unit data collection task management unit that manages a vehicle-unit data collection task in which a collection condition indicating a trigger for collection of vehicle-unit data to be a collection target and a collection goal indicating a goal relating to the collection are set, a data collection task condition monitoring unit that generates a data collection event based on the collection condition defined in the vehicle-unit data collection task and designates a content of collected data, and a collection target data extraction unit that extracts the vehicle-unit data to be the collection target and stores the vehicle-unit data as the collected data in a case where the data collection event is received from the data collection task condition monitoring unit and collection of the vehicle-unit data is designated, and the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit changes the content of the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit, based on a collection result of the collected data for the collection goal designated in the vehicle-unit data collection task.

2. The electronic control device according to claim 1, wherein the data collection task condition monitoring unit designates the vehicle-unit data and information about the data collection event as the collected data in a case where the collection condition defined in the vehicle-unit data collection task is satisfied and the collection result of the collected data does not reach the collection goal.

3. The electronic control device according to claim 1, wherein the data collection task condition monitoring unit designates information about the data collection event as the collected data and does not designate the vehicle-unit data as the collected data in a case where the collection condition defined in the vehicle-unit data collection task is satisfied and the collection result of the collected data reaches the collection goal.

4. The electronic control device according to claim 1, wherein the data collection task condition monitoring unit designates neither the vehicle-unit data nor information about the data collection event as the collected data in a case where the collection condition defined in the vehicle-unit data collection task is satisfied and the collection result of the collected data reaches the collection goal.

5. The electronic control device according to claim 1, wherein the data collection task condition monitoring unit stores information about the data collection event and information about a content designated in the collected data as data collection result data in a case where the data collection event is generated, and wherein the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit determines the collection result of the collected data for a collection goal designated in the vehicle-unit data collection task, based on the data collection result data.

6. The electronic control device according to claim 5, wherein the data collection task condition monitoring unit refers to the data collection result data, and in a case where an occurrence amount or an occurrence frequency of the data collection event relating to the vehicle-unit data collection task exceeds a threshold set in the collection goal, does not designate the vehicle-unit data as the collected data.

7. The electronic control device according to claim 5, wherein the data collection task condition monitoring unit acquires position information about the vehicle and stores the position information in the data collection result data in association with the data collection event, and in a case where, the data collection event including a plurality of the data collection events, an occurrence amount or an occurrence frequency of the data collection events of which the position information is within a predetermined range among the data collection events relating to the vehicle-unit data collection task exceeds a threshold defined in the collection goal, does not designate the vehicle-unit data as the collected data.

8. A data collection system, comprising: the electronic control device according to claim 1; and a server including a processing unit that performs calculation, a storage unit that stores information, and a communication unit that communicates with the electronic control device, the server configured to collect data from a vehicle, wherein the electronic control device includes a communication unit that receives the vehicle-unit data collection task from the server and transmits the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit to the server, the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit manages the vehicle-unit data collection task received from the server, the server includes a data collection task management unit that manages a data collection task defined in an overall collection goal indicating a collection condition indicating a trigger for collection of vehicle-unit data to be collected and a collection goal relating to the collected data to be collected from a plurality of the vehicles, a vehicle-specific data collection task management unit that manages the vehicle-unit data collection task set for each vehicle depending on the data collection task, and a collected data management unit that receives the collected data from the vehicle and stores the collected data in a collected data group, and the data collection task management unit updates the vehicle-unit data collection task based on a storage result of the collected data in the collected data group for the overall collection goal designated in the data collection task to change a content of the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit.

9. The data collection system according to claim 8, wherein the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit notifies, in a case where the content of the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit is changed, the server about a task information change reason indicating a reason for the change, and the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit records the content of the collected data after the change and the task information change reason in the data collection task in a case where the task information change reason is notified from the vehicle.

10. The data collection system according to claim 8, wherein the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit notifies, in a case where the content of the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit is changed, the server about the content of the change, and wherein the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit stops, in a case where there exists a vehicle-unit data collection task in which a ratio of vehicles in which the vehicle-unit data is not designated as the collected data to a total number of vehicles with which the server communicates exceeds a threshold, extraction of the collected data relating to the vehicle-unit data collection task for all the vehicles.

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