System operation method

Abstract

To provide a system operation method of a terminal unit and the like capable of improving the communication efficiency of long-distance wireless communication.SOLUTION: A system operation method is an operation method for a system comprising multiple terminal units, each of which is configured to perform long-distance wireless communication. The method includes a step in which one of the multiple terminal units executing cooperative control via short-range wireless communication, which has a shorter communication distance than the long-distance wireless communication, transmits a notification to other terminal units of the multiple terminal units in a state where the long-distance wireless communication has been established; and a step in which the other terminal unit carries out the communication via the communication line through the one terminal unit, in response to the notification.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a method of operation of a system. [Background technology]

[0002] There is known a technology for configuring a vehicle to be able to communicate with external devices using an in-vehicle device equipped with a long-distance wireless communication function. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicular wireless communication device equipped with multiple communication media. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2022-62548 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] There is room for improvement in the communication efficiency of long-distance wireless communication in in-vehicle devices and the like.

[0005] The following describes a system operation method and the like that enables improvement of communication efficiency of long-distance wireless communication by an in-vehicle device or the like. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In the present disclosure, a method of operating a system having a plurality of terminal devices, each configured to be capable of long-distance wireless communication, includes one of the plurality of terminal devices performing cooperative control via short-range wireless communication, which has a shorter communication distance than the long-distance wireless communication, sending a notification to another of the plurality of terminal devices while establishing a communication line with a communication partner via the long-distance wireless communication, and the other terminal device responding to the notification and communicating via the communication line via the one terminal device. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to the system operation method and the like of the present disclosure, it is possible to improve the communication efficiency of long-distance wireless communication by an in-vehicle device and the like. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an information communication system. [Figure 2] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of an operation procedure of the information communication system. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation procedure of a terminal device related to cooperative control. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] The following describes the embodiments.

[0010] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an information communication system according to an embodiment. The information communication system 1 includes a plurality of vehicles 10 and an on-board device 11 provided in each vehicle 10. The vehicles 10 are, for example, passenger cars, commercial vehicles, etc. The on-board devices 11 have a long-distance wireless communication function and a short-distance wireless communication function for shorter communication distances, and correspond to the "terminal device" in this embodiment. The on-board devices 11 are configured to be able to communicate information with each other or with other communication partners via a base station 12 by long-distance wireless communication, for example, or to communicate information with each other by short-distance wireless communication.

[0011] In the event of an emergency such as a disaster or accident, if the in-vehicle devices 11 of multiple vehicles 10 all attempt to contact the police, fire department, or the like via long-distance wireless communication simultaneously, congestion may occur, resulting in a decrease in communication efficiency. However, this problem can be solved by the operation method of the information communication system 1 in this embodiment. That is, the operation method of the information communication system 1 having multiple terminal devices, i.e., the in-vehicle devices 11, each configured to be capable of long-distance wireless communication, includes the following: one in-vehicle device 11-1 (hereinafter, when the multiple in-vehicle devices 11 are individually referred to, a subnumber will be added) among the multiple in-vehicle devices 11 performing cooperative control via short-distance wireless communication, which has a shorter communication distance than long-distance wireless communication, sends a notification (hereinafter, referred to as an establishment notification) to another in-vehicle device 11-2 among the multiple in-vehicle devices 11, in a state where a communication line with a communication partner via long-distance wireless communication has been established; and the other in-vehicle device 11-2 responds to the establishment notification by performing communication via the communication line via the one in-vehicle device 11-1. In an emergency, there is a high probability that multiple vehicles 10 will be crowded together due to traffic jams, stalls, etc., and communication with each communication partner is possible by using the long-distance wireless communication of one on-board device 11-1 among the on-board devices 11 of the multiple vehicles 10 that has established a communication line with an external communication partner, and another on-board device 11-2 using the long-distance wireless communication of the on-board device 11-1. Therefore, compared to when the on-board devices 11 of multiple vehicles 10 use long-distance wireless communication simultaneously, it is possible to reduce the risk of congestion occurring in long-distance wireless communication and improve communication efficiency.

[0012] Next, the configuration of the in-vehicle device 11 will be described.

[0013] The in-vehicle device 11 has a communication unit 111, a storage unit 112, a control unit 113, a positioning unit 114, an input unit 115, and an output unit 116. One or more of these units may be configured as a single control device, or may be configured as a personal computer including a tablet terminal, a smartphone terminal, or a navigation device. Alternatively, the units may be connected to each other so as to be able to communicate information via an in-vehicle network that complies with standards such as CAN (Controller Area Network).

[0014] The communication unit 111 includes one or more communication interfaces. The communication interfaces are, for example, an interface compatible with long-distance wireless communication and an interface compatible with short-distance wireless communication, which has a shorter communication distance than long-distance wireless communication. Long-distance wireless communication is categorized into LTE (Long Term Evolution), 4G (4G), and the like. th Generation), 5G(5 th The communication methods include cellular communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark), satellite communication, and LPWA (Low Power Wide Area Network), etc. The short-range wireless communication methods include Bluetooth (registered trademark), Wi-SUN (registered trademark), ZigBee (registered trademark), Wi-Fi (registered trademark), etc. The communication unit 111 receives information used for the operation of the control unit 113, and transmits information obtained by the operation of the control unit 113. The control unit 113 can use the communication unit 111 to communicate information with other devices via the base station 12 by long-range wireless communication, or can directly connect to the communication unit 111 of another in-vehicle device 11 by short-range wireless communication and communicate information.

[0015] The storage unit 112 includes one or more semiconductor memories, one or more magnetic memories, one or more optical memories, or a combination of at least two of these. The semiconductor memories are, for example, RAM (Random Access Memory) or ROM (Read Only Memory). The RAM is, for example, SRAM (Static RAM) or DRAM (Dynamic RAM). The ROM is, for example, EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM). The storage unit 112 functions as, for example, a main storage device, an auxiliary storage device, or a cache memory. The storage unit 112 stores information used in the operation of the control unit 113 and information obtained by the operation of the in-vehicle device 11.

[0016] The control unit 113 includes one or more processors, one or more dedicated circuits, or a combination thereof. The processor is, for example, a general-purpose processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), or a dedicated processor such as a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) specialized for a specific process. The dedicated circuit is, for example, an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), etc. The control unit 113 controls each part of the in-vehicle device 11 and executes information processing related to the operation of the vehicle 10.

[0017] The positioning unit 114 includes one or more GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receivers. GNSS includes at least one of the following: GPS (Global Positioning System), QZSS (Quasi-Zenith Satellite System), BeiDou, GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System), and Galileo. The positioning unit 114 acquires position information of the vehicle 10.

[0018] The input unit 115 includes one or more input interfaces. The input interface is, for example, a physical key, a capacitive key, a pointing device, a touch screen integrated with a display, or a microphone that accepts voice input. The input interface may further include a camera that captures captured images or image codes, or an IC card reader. The input unit 115 accepts an operation to input information used in the operation of the control unit 113 and sends the input information to the control unit 113.

[0019] The output unit 116 includes one or more output interfaces. The output interface is, for example, a display or a speaker. The display is, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or an organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) display. The output unit 116 outputs information obtained by the operation of the control unit 113.

[0020] The functions of control unit 113 are realized by executing a control program on a processor included in control unit 113. The control program is a program that causes a computer to execute processing of steps included in the operation of control unit 113, thereby causing the computer to realize functions corresponding to the processing of those steps. In other words, the control program is a program that causes a computer to function as control unit 113. Furthermore, some or all of the functions of control unit 113 may be realized by a dedicated circuit included in control unit 113.

[0021] FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a procedure for the cooperative operation of a plurality of in-vehicle devices 11. Here, an example of the cooperative operation of three in-vehicle devices 11-1, 11-2, and 11-3 is shown. Steps relating to various information processing in each in-vehicle device 11 in FIG. 2 are executed by the respective control units 113. Furthermore, steps relating to the transmission and reception of various information in each in-vehicle device 11 are executed by the respective control units 113 transmitting and receiving information to each other via the respective communication units 111. Furthermore, in each in-vehicle device 11, the information processed and transmitted and received by the respective control units 113 is appropriately stored in the storage unit 112. Furthermore, in each in-vehicle device 11, information input by a user's operation is accepted by the respective input units 115, and various information intended for the user is output by the respective output units 116.

[0022] The procedure of FIG. 2 begins in S200 when the control unit 113 of each in-vehicle device 11 determines that an emergency has occurred. An emergency situation may be a natural disaster, various accidents, or the like, which increases the likelihood of multiple vehicles 10 being crowded together due to traffic blockades, traffic congestion, or the like. Each control unit 113 determines the occurrence of an emergency by, for example, acquiring emergency information from a server that provides emergency information indicating the occurrence of an emergency, such as a disaster or accident. The emergency information includes location information indicating the location where the emergency occurred. Each control unit 113 may compare its own location information acquired from the positioning unit 114 with the location information of the location where the emergency occurred, and determine the occurrence of an emergency if its own location and the location where the emergency occurred match. The match between the two locations is determined, for example, when the difference between the two locations is within an arbitrary reference value. Furthermore, each control unit 113 may acquire information indicating vibrations to the vehicle 10 from sensors installed in each vehicle 10, and determine the occurrence of an emergency if it detects an amplitude equal to or greater than an arbitrary reference value that indicates the likelihood of a collision, for example. Furthermore, each control unit 113 may receive information indicating the occurrence of an emergency input by the user to the input unit 115, and determine the occurrence of an emergency based on this information.

[0023] In S201, each control unit 103 starts cooperative control. The detailed procedure of S201 is shown in FIG.

[0024] FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation procedure related to cooperative control by the control unit 113 of each in-vehicle device 11.

[0025] In S30, the control unit 113 determines whether there are other in-vehicle devices 11 in a cooperative state. For example, the control unit 113 first stops an application program for executing communication via long-distance wireless communication and blocks spontaneous long-distance wireless communication. Next, the control unit 113 activates short-distance wireless communication and transmits and receives, via short-distance wireless communication, messages, headers, data packets, etc. containing preset keywords for confirming the cooperative state, as well as its own identification information. By receiving such information, the control unit 113 determines whether there are other in-vehicle devices 11 in a cooperative state.

[0026] In S31, the control unit 113 detects the communication state of long-distance wireless communication in its own in-vehicle device 11. The control unit 113 detects the communication state by performing long-distance wireless communication with the base station 12 using the communication unit 111 of each in-vehicle device 11. For example, the control unit 113 performs packet communication with the base station 12 and detects a response speed, a packet loss rate, a communication speed, etc. as the communication state. The control unit 113 may also measure physical radio wave strength (RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator), RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power), RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality), SINR (Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio), etc.) and include it in the communication state. Note that in order to avoid congestion caused by the in-vehicle devices 11-1, 11-2, and 11-3 simultaneously starting long-distance wireless communication, each control unit 113 may start long-distance wireless communication after a random waiting time has elapsed.

[0027] In S32, the control unit 113 transmits and receives information on the detected communication state to and from other in-vehicle devices 11 to share the information.

[0028] In S33, the control unit 113 determines a representative terminal device for the communication connection using the information on the communication status shared with the other in-vehicle devices 11. For example, the control unit 113 scores the response speed, packet loss rate, communication speed, radio wave strength, etc. included in the information on the communication status and tally them up for each in-vehicle device 11, and determines an in-vehicle device 11 having a higher score than the other in-vehicle devices 11 as the representative terminal device for the long-distance wireless communication connection. In this example, the in-vehicle device 11-1 is determined as the representative terminal device.

[0029] In S34, the control unit 113 stops long-distance wireless communication when the in-vehicle device 11 is an in-vehicle device 11 other than the representative terminal device. In this example, the in-vehicle devices 11-2 and 11-3 stop long-distance wireless communication.

[0030] 2, in S202, the control unit 113-1 of the in-vehicle device 11-1 (hereinafter, when the control unit 113 for each in-vehicle device 11 is to be distinguished and referred to, a subnumber corresponding to the in-vehicle device 11 is assigned) establishes a communication line with an external communication partner. The control unit 113-1 establishes a communication line by long-distance wireless communication with another device, for example, a server in an external network such as the Internet or a VPN (Virtual Private Network), via the base station 12.

[0031] In S203 and S204, the control unit 113-1 sends an establishment notification indicating that a communication line has been established to the in-vehicle devices 11-2 and 11-3, respectively.

[0032] In S205, control units 113-1, 113-2, and 113-3 share a communication line. In response to the establishment notification, control units 113-2 and 113-3 establish device-to-device communication with in-vehicle unit 11-1 through short-range wireless communication between in-vehicle units 11-2 and 11-3, respectively. In-vehicle units 11-2 and 11-3 communicate information with their respective communication partners via in-vehicle unit 11-1, which is the representative terminal device, using the communication line established by in-vehicle unit 11-1 through device-to-device communication. The communication partners are, for example, communication devices of fire departments, police, various organizations, etc.

[0033] In S205, the control unit 113-1 of the in-vehicle device 11-1, which is the representative terminal device, monitors the communication quality of the communication line. If the communication quality falls below a given reference quality for a given reference time or if the communication line is disconnected, in S206, the control unit 113-1 disconnects the communication line.

[0034] In S207 and S208, the control unit 113-1 sends a cooperation request to the in-vehicle devices 11-2 and 11-3 to execute the cooperative control again.

[0035] In response to the request for cooperation, the control units 113-1 and 113-2 of the in-vehicle devices 11-2 and 11-3 respectively execute S201 again together with the control unit 113-1 of the in-vehicle device 11-1 to start cooperative control. As a result of the cooperative control, the in-vehicle device 11-2 is determined to be the representative terminal device.

[0036] In S209, the control unit 113-2 of the in-vehicle unit 11-2 establishes a communication line with an external communication partner, and in S210 and S211, sends establishment notifications to the in-vehicle units 11-1 and 11-3, respectively.

[0037] In S212, the control units 113-1, 113-2, and 113-3 share a communication line. In response to the establishment notification, the control units 113-1 and 113-3 establish inter-device communication with the in-vehicle unit 11-2 by short-range wireless communication between the in-vehicle units 11-1 and 11-3, respectively, and perform information communication with the respective communication partners using the established communication line via the in-vehicle unit 11-2, which is the representative terminal device.

[0038] Thereafter, the processes from S206 onwards are repeated as appropriate.

[0039] According to the above-described embodiment, the risk of congestion occurring in long-distance wireless communication can be reduced compared to when the on-board devices 11 of multiple vehicles 10 simultaneously use long-distance wireless communication, thereby improving communication efficiency.

[0040] Instead of the in-vehicle device 11, a terminal device carried by a user, such as a smartphone, is also included in the scope of the above-described embodiments.

[0041] Although the embodiments have been described above based on the drawings and examples, it should be noted that those skilled in the art can easily make various modifications and alterations based on the present disclosure. Therefore, it should be noted that these modifications and alterations are included in the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the functions included in each means, step, etc. can be rearranged so as not to be logically inconsistent, and multiple means, steps, etc. can be combined or divided into one. [Explanation of symbols]

[0042] 1. Information and Communication Systems 10 vehicles 11 Onboard equipment 111 Communications Department 112 Storage section 113 Control Unit 114 Positioning Unit 115 Input section 116 Output section

Claims

[Claim 1] 1. A method of operating a system having a plurality of terminal devices, each configured to be capable of long-distance wireless communication, comprising: one of the plurality of terminal devices that is executing cooperative control by short-distance wireless communication, the communication distance of which is shorter than that of the long-distance wireless communication, sends a notification to the other of the plurality of terminal devices in a state where a communication line with a communication partner by the long-distance wireless communication is established; the other terminal device responds to the notification by communicating via the communication line via the one terminal device; and how the system operates.

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