Terminal device, information processing method, program, and storage medium

Abstract

To provide an information processor capable of giving a warning specifying an accident type.SOLUTION: An information processor acquires accident information, which contains situation information at a time of encountering an accident event and an accident type concerning the accident event, for a plurality of vehicles which has encountered accident events. Thereafter, at least a part of accident types whose relevant pieces of accident information classified by the situation information occupy a higher constitution ratio than the pieces of accident information specifying the other accident types is identified as an alert accident type. Warning information containing the alert accident type associated with request information is transmitted to an onboard terminal which has transmitted the request information containing position information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 9

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a technology for providing information on locations with a high risk of accidents. [Background technology]

[0002] There is known a technology for notifying a driver in advance of points where caution is required while driving in a navigation device, etc. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a method for notifying a driver when a vehicle approaches a point where caution is required, such as a point where an accident has occurred, a point where congestion has occurred, or a point where traffic restrictions are in place. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-42792 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, the method of Patent Document 1 has a problem in that even if a driver is vaguely notified that a location is prone to accidents, it is difficult for the driver to determine what kind of accidents he or she should be careful of.

[0005] The above is one example of a problem to be solved by the present invention. An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing device capable of issuing a warning indicating the type of accident. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The invention described in the claims is an information processing device that includes an acquisition means for acquiring accident information for multiple vehicles that have encountered an accident event, including situational information at the time the accident event occurred and an accident type related to the accident event; an identification means for identifying at least some of the accident types whose composition ratio in the accident information after classification by the situation information is higher than their composition ratio in all accident information, as alert accident types in the situation; and a transmission means for transmitting warning information including an alert accident type corresponding to the request information to an in-vehicle terminal that has sent request information including location information.

[0007] The invention described in the claims is an information processing system comprising an information processing device and an in-vehicle terminal, wherein the information processing device comprises an acquisition means for acquiring accident information for a plurality of vehicles that have encountered an accident event, including situational information at the time the accident event was encountered and an accident type related to the accident event, an identification means for identifying at least some of the accident types whose composition ratio in the accident information after classification by the situation information is higher than their composition ratio in all accident information, as an alert accident type in the situation, and a transmission means for transmitting warning information to an in-vehicle terminal that has sent request information including location information, the warning accident type corresponding to the request information and a judgment condition related to the driving situation of a vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle terminal for issuing a warning including the alert accident type, and the in-vehicle terminal comprises a receiving means for receiving the warning information, a driving situation acquisition means for acquiring the driving situation of the vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle terminal, and a warning means for issuing the warning if the driving situation acquired by the driving situation acquisition means satisfies the judgment condition.

[0008] The invention described in the claims is an information processing method executed by an information processing device, and includes an acquisition process for acquiring accident information for multiple vehicles that have encountered an accident event, including situational information at the time the accident event was encountered and an accident type related to the accident event; an identification process for identifying at least some of the accident types whose composition ratio in the accident information after classification by the situation information is higher than their composition ratio in all accident information, as alert accident types in the situation; and a transmission process for transmitting warning information including the alert accident type corresponding to the request signal to an in-vehicle terminal that has sent request information including location information.

[0009] The invention described in the claims is a program executed by an information processing device having a computer, which causes the computer to function as an acquisition means for acquiring accident information for multiple vehicles that have encountered an accident event, including situational information at the time the accident event occurred and an accident type related to the accident event; an identification means for identifying at least some of the accident types whose composition ratio in the accident information after classification by the situational information is higher than their composition ratio in all accident information, as alert accident types in the situation; and a transmission means for transmitting warning information including the alert accident type corresponding to the request signal to an in-vehicle terminal that has sent request information including location information. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 illustrates an information processing system according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] The internal configuration of the server is shown below. [Figure 3] The internal configuration of the in-vehicle terminal is shown. [Figure 4] An example of classification of accident types by location is shown below. [Figure 5] An example of classification of accident types by date and time is shown below. [Figure 6] An example of classification of accident types by time period on a weekday is shown below. [Figure 7] An example of applying residual analysis to the analysis of accident types by time of day on weekdays is shown below. [Figure 8] Other examples of classification of accident types by situation are shown below. [Figure 9] 10 is a flowchart of a process for providing warning information. [Figure 10] An example of the display screen when a warning is output is shown below. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, an information processing device includes an acquisition means for acquiring accident information for a plurality of vehicles that have encountered an accident event, including situational information at the time of the accident event and an accident type related to the accident event; an identification means for identifying at least some of the accident types whose composition ratio in the accident information after classification by the situational information is higher than their composition ratio in all the accident information, as alert accident types in the situation; and a transmission means for transmitting warning information including an alert accident type corresponding to the request information to an in-vehicle terminal that has sent request information including location information.

[0012] The information processing device acquires accident information for multiple vehicles that have encountered an accident event, including situation information at the time the accident event occurred and an accident type related to the accident event. Next, at least some of the accident types whose composition ratio in the accident information after classification by situation information is higher than their composition ratio in all accident information are identified as alert accident types for the situation. Then, the device transmits warning information including the alert accident type corresponding to the request information to the in-vehicle terminal that has transmitted the request information including the location information. This allows the in-vehicle terminal to receive the warning information including the alert accident type and output a warning that clearly identifies the accident type.

[0013] In one aspect of the information processing device, the identification means identifies, as the alert accident type, an accident type whose proportion in the classified accident information is higher than its proportion in all the accident information by a predetermined value or more. In this aspect, it is possible to identify an accident type that occurs with a significantly higher probability than an average occurrence probability.

[0014] In another aspect of the information processing device, the situation information includes location information of the vehicle, date and time information, weather information, or the age or gender of the driver of the vehicle. In this aspect, it is possible to identify a warning accident type in relation to various situations.

[0015] In another aspect of the information processing device, the transmission means transmits warning information including the alert accident type to the in-vehicle terminal based on a plurality of the situation information. In this aspect, the information processing device can transmit warning information including the alert accident type taking into account a plurality of situations.

[0016] In another aspect of the information processing device, the information processing device further includes a storage means for storing the predetermined alert accident type in association with the situation information. In this aspect, the information processing device can acquire the alert accident information associated with each situation information by referring to the storage means.

[0017] In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an information processing system comprising an information processing device and an in-vehicle terminal, wherein the information processing device comprises an acquisition means for acquiring accident information for a plurality of vehicles that have encountered an accident event, including situational information at the time the accident event was encountered and an accident type related to the accident event; an identification means for identifying at least some of the accident types whose composition ratio in the accident information after classification by the situation information is higher than their composition ratio in all accident information as an alert accident type in the situation; and a transmission means for transmitting warning information to an in-vehicle terminal that has sent request information including location information, the warning accident type corresponding to the request information and a judgment condition related to the driving situation of a vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle terminal for issuing a warning including the alert accident type, and the in-vehicle terminal comprises a receiving means for receiving the warning information, a driving situation acquisition means for acquiring the driving situation of the vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle terminal, and a warning means for issuing the warning if the driving situation acquired by the driving situation acquisition means satisfies the judgment condition.

[0018] In the above information processing system, the information processing device acquires accident information for multiple vehicles that have encountered an accident event, including situation information at the time the accident occurred and an accident type related to the accident event. Next, at least some of the accident types whose composition ratio in the accident information after classification by situation information is higher than their composition ratio in all accident information are identified as alert accident types for the situation. Then, to the in-vehicle terminal that has transmitted request information including location information, warning information is transmitted that includes the alert accident type corresponding to the request information and a judgment condition related to the driving situation of the vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle terminal for issuing a warning including the alert accident type. Meanwhile, the in-vehicle terminal receives the warning information and acquires the driving situation of the vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle terminal. Then, if the driving situation acquired by the driving situation acquisition means satisfies the judgment condition, a warning is issued. This enables the in-vehicle terminal to receive warning information including the alert accident type and output a warning that clearly identifies the accident type.

[0019] In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, an information processing method executed by an information processing device includes: an acquisition step of acquiring accident information for a plurality of vehicles that have encountered an accident event, the accident information including situation information at the time of the accident event and an accident type related to the accident event; an identification step of identifying at least some of the accident types whose composition ratio in the accident information after classification by the situation information is higher than their composition ratio in all the accident information as alert accident types in the situation; and a transmission step of transmitting warning information including the alert accident type corresponding to the request signal to an in-vehicle terminal that has transmitted request information including location information. This makes it possible for the in-vehicle terminal to receive the warning information including the alert accident type and output a warning that clarifies the accident type.

[0020] In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a program executed by an information processing device including a computer causes the computer to function as: an acquisition means for acquiring accident information for a plurality of vehicles involved in an accident event, the accident information including situation information at the time of the accident event and an accident type related to the accident event; an identification means for identifying at least some of the accident types whose composition ratio in the accident information after classification by the situation information is higher than their composition ratio in all accident information as a warning accident type in the situation; and a transmission means for transmitting, to an in-vehicle terminal that has transmitted request information including location information, warning information including the warning accident type corresponding to the request signal. By executing this program on a computer, the above-mentioned information processing device can be realized. This program can be stored and handled in a storage medium. [Example]

[0021] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. [System Configuration] Fig. 1 shows the configuration of an information processing system to which the present invention is applied. The information processing system includes a server 10 and an on-board terminal 20 mounted on a vehicle 3. The server 10 and the on-board terminal 20 are configured to be able to communicate wirelessly. Note that for the sake of convenience, only one vehicle 3 is shown in Fig. 1, but in reality, on-board terminals 20 mounted on multiple vehicles 3 communicate with the server 10.

[0022] 2 shows the configuration of the server 10. The server 10 includes a communication unit 11, a control unit 12, a storage unit 13, an accident database (hereinafter, "database" will be referred to as "DB") 13, a warning accident type DB 15, and a judgment condition DB 16.

[0023] The communication unit 11 performs wireless communication with the in-vehicle terminal 20. Specifically, the communication unit 11 receives an information request for warning information from the in-vehicle terminal 20. The communication unit 11 also transmits warning information generated in response to the information request to the in-vehicle terminal 20. The storage unit 13 is composed of RAM, ROM, etc., and stores programs corresponding to the processes executed by the server 10. The storage unit 13 also provides a working memory when the server 10 performs various processes.

[0024] The accident DB 14 stores information about accidents that have occurred in the past. The accident information may be information provided by an investigation agency, for example, or may be information created based on probe data acquired by communication from a large number of vehicles. As will be described later, the accident information includes situational information related to the circumstances when the accident occurred. Note that the accident information may include not only information about accidents that have occurred, but also information about attempted accidents that were avoided, near-miss information, and the like.

[0025] The alert accident type DB 15 stores alert accident type information generated based on accident information. The alert accident type information is information indicating an accident type that is likely to occur in a certain situation, and includes situation information and an alert accident type.

[0026] The judgment condition DB 16 stores judgment conditions. The judgment conditions are included in warning information transmitted to the in-vehicle terminal 20 in response to an information request. The judgment conditions are conditions used when determining whether or not to output a warning in the in-vehicle terminal 20, and are conditions related to the driving situation of the vehicle.

[0027] The control unit 12 controls the entire server 10. The control unit 12 is configured with a computer such as a CPU, and performs predetermined processing by executing a pre-prepared program. Specifically, the control unit 12 generates alert accident type information based on accident information stored in the accident DB 14, and stores the information in the alert accident type DB 15. The control unit 12 also generates judgment conditions to be included in warning information and transmitted to the in-vehicle terminal 20 based on probe data collected from a large number of vehicles, and stores the judgment conditions in the judgment condition DB 16.

[0028] In the above configuration, the accident DB14 is an example of an acquisition means of the present invention, the control unit 12 is an example of a determination means of the present invention, the communication unit 11 is an example of a transmission means of the present invention, and the alert accident type DB15 is an example of a storage means of the present invention.

[0029] 3 shows the configuration of the in-vehicle terminal 20. The in-vehicle terminal 20 includes a communication unit 21, a control unit 22, a storage unit 23, a driving history DB 24, a display unit 25, and an audio output unit 26. The communication unit 21 wirelessly communicates with the server 10. Specifically, the communication unit 21 transmits an information request to the server 10 and receives warning information from the server 10 that is transmitted in response to the information request.

[0030] The storage unit 23 is configured with RAM, ROM, etc., and stores programs corresponding to the processes executed by the in-vehicle terminal 20. The storage unit 23 also provides a working memory when the in-vehicle terminal 20 performs various processes.

[0031] The driving history DB 24 stores driving history information of the vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle terminal 20. In particular, the driving history DB 24 stores history information on the speed of the vehicle during past driving and sudden operations by the driver. Here, "sudden operations" refer to operations such as sudden acceleration, sudden deceleration, and sudden steering, and "sudden operation information" is history information such as the location, date and time when each operation was performed, the number of times, etc.

[0032] The display unit 25 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, and displays map data, messages, etc. When the in-vehicle terminal 20 is a navigation device or a mobile terminal that runs a navigation application, the display unit 25 displays a guidance image showing the vehicle's position and a guidance route on top of map data. The audio output unit 26 is, for example, a speaker, and outputs warning sounds as needed. The audio output unit 26 may use the vehicle's speaker. Note that, depending on the devices constituting the in-vehicle terminal 20, either the display unit 25 or the audio output unit 26 may not be provided. Even in this case, when providing guidance, the guidance is provided by either the display unit 25 or the audio output unit 26.

[0033] The control unit 22 controls the entire in-vehicle terminal 20. The control unit 22 is configured with a computer such as a CPU, and performs predetermined processing by executing a program prepared in advance. Specifically, the control unit 22 transmits an information request including the current location of the vehicle to the server 10. Furthermore, the control unit 22 determines whether or not to output a warning at the warning point based on warning information received from the server 10 in response to the information request, and then outputs the warning.

[0034] In the above configuration, the communication unit 21 is an example of a receiving means of the present invention, the control unit 22 and the driving history DB 24 are an example of a driving status acquisition means of the present invention, and the control unit 22, the display unit 25 and the audio output unit 26 are an example of a warning means of the present invention.

[0035] [Generating warning and accident type information] Next, a method for generating the alert accident type information will be described. The server 10 generates the alert accident type information based on the accident information stored in the accident DB 14.

[0036] (First Example) First, a first embodiment for generating alert accident type information will be described. Fig. 4(A) shows a large number of accidents classified by location where the accident occurred and by accident type. The server 10 classifies a large number of accident information stored in the accident DB 14 by location and accident type to generate accident information as shown in Fig. 4(A). In this case, the "location" is an example of situation information of the present invention.

[0037] In the example of FIG. 4(A), the number of accidents at each location is categorized by accident type, such as "person-to-vehicle," "head-on collision," and "rear-end collision." The server 10 first adds up the number of accidents for each type at each location to calculate a "total" for each location. The target accident information may be accident information collected by an investigation agency and updated at regular intervals (e.g., once a day), or accident information uploaded to the server 10 from a vehicle as probe information every time an accident occurs and updated, or a combination of both may be used.

[0038] Next, the server 10 calculates, for each location, the component ratio of each accident type in the total (hereinafter also referred to as "composition ratio by location") using the following formula.

number

[0039] Next, the server 10 calculates the composition ratio of each accident type in the total number of accidents (hereinafter also referred to as "overall composition ratio") using the following formula.

number

[0040] Next, the server 10 compares the location-specific composition ratio at each location with the overall composition ratio, and extracts cases (combinations of location and accident type) where the location-specific composition ratio is higher than the overall composition ratio. In Figure 4(B), the areas where the location-specific composition ratio is higher than the overall composition ratio are shown in gray. Cases where the location-specific composition ratio is higher than the overall composition ratio can be said to be cases where accidents occur with a higher than normal probability, and where accidents of that accident type are particularly likely to occur. Therefore, the server 10 designates points where the location-specific composition ratio is higher than the overall composition ratio as alert locations, and identifies those accident types as alert accident types. Then, the server 10 stores the combination of alert location and alert accident type as alert accident type information in the alert accident type DB 15.

[0041] Note that the "ZZZ point" shown in Figure 4(A) has a small total number of accidents, at three. For points with a small total number of accidents (for example, four or less), if two or more accidents of the same accident type have occurred, the accident type is designated as a "warning accident type." In this way, the server 10 extracts points where accidents of a certain accident type have occurred with a higher probability than the standard probability, and stores the extracted points in the "warning accident type DB 15" as "warning accident type information."

[0042] (Second Example) Next, a second embodiment for generating alert accident type information will be described. In the first embodiment, the situation information used when generating alert accident type information was "location," but in the second embodiment, "date and time" is used as the situation information. Figures 5(A) and (B) show a large number of accidents classified by date and time (weekday / holiday time zone). The server 10 classifies a large number of accident information items stored in the accident DB 14 by weekday and holiday time zone, and generates accident information such as that shown in Figures 5(A) and (B). In this case, "date and time" is an example of situation information of the present invention.

[0043] The server 10 generates the alert accident type information in the same manner as in the first embodiment. In the example of Fig. 5(A), the number of accidents in each time period is classified into multiple accident types. The server 10 first adds up the number of accidents for each accident type for each time period, and calculates the "total" for each time period.

[0044] Next, the server 10 calculates the component ratio of each accident type in the total for each location (hereinafter also referred to as "composition ratio by time period") using the following formula.

number

[0045] Next, the server 10 calculates the composition ratio of each accident type in the total number of accidents, i.e., the overall composition ratio, using the above-mentioned formula (2). This calculates the proportion (composition ratio) that each accident type accounts for in the total number of accidents. The overall composition ratio calculated for the example of Figure 5(A) is shown in Figure 6(B).

[0046] Next, the server 10 compares the time-slot composition ratio for each time slot with the overall composition ratio, and extracts cases (combinations of time slots and accident types) where the time-slot composition ratio is higher than the overall composition ratio. In Figure 6(A), the areas where the time-slot composition ratio is higher than the overall composition ratio are shown in gray. The server 10 designates the time slots where the time-slot composition ratio is higher than the overall composition ratio as alert time slots, and identifies the accident types as alert accident types. The server 10 then stores the combination of alert time slots and alert accident types as alert accident type information in the alert accident type DB 15. In this way, the server 10 extracts time slots where accidents of a certain accident type occur with a higher probability than the standard probability, and stores the extracted time slots in the alert accident type DB 15.

[0047] In the above method, time periods in which the component ratio by time period is higher than the overall component ratio are extracted as alert time periods. However, instead of comparing the magnitude of such component ratios, a determination can be made using a specialization coefficient. Figure 6(C) shows the component ratio by time period shown in Figure 6(A) divided by the overall component ratio shown in Figure 6(B). Now, a "specialization coefficient = 1.2" is set as an indicator of an increased risk of accidents. In Figure 6(C), cases with values ​​higher than the specialization coefficient = 1.2 are shown in gray as alert time periods. By using the specialization coefficient, it is possible to extract combinations of alert time periods and alert accident types even when a clear distinction is difficult to make by comparing the magnitude of the component ratios described above.

[0048] As another method, residual analysis can also be used. Figure 7 shows an example using residual analysis. First, in the example of Figure 5(A), the expected value is calculated using the following formula. (Expected value) = (total for each time period) × (composition ratio for all time periods) (4) An example of the expected value obtained is shown in FIG. 7(A).

[0049] Next, the residual is calculated using the following formula: (residual) = (measured value) - (expected value) (5) An example of the obtained residuals is shown in FIG. 7(B).

[0050] Then, using the actual measured value, expected value, column total (column total), and row total (row total), the adjusted residual is calculated using the following formula.

number

[0051] (Other Examples) In the first embodiment described above, "location" is used as the situation information, and in the second embodiment, "date and time (weekday / holiday time zone)" is used as the situation information, but other information can also be used as the situation information. As other examples of situation information, "weather" may be used as shown in FIG. 8(A), or "temperature" may be used as shown in FIG. 8(B). Furthermore, the driver's "gender" may be used as shown in FIG. 8(C), or the driver's "age" may be used as shown in FIG. 8(D). Note that, for the sake of convenience, numerical values ​​have been omitted from FIGS. 8(A) to 8(D).

[0052] [Warning information provision process] (Processing flow) Next, the process of providing warning information will be described. The server 10 provides warning information to the on-board terminal 20 in response to an information request from the on-board terminal 20. Figure 9 is a flowchart of the process of providing warning information. This process is executed by the server 10 and the on-board terminal 20.

[0053] First, the on-board terminal 20 transmits an information request to the server 10 (step S10). This information request requests information about alert points around the current location of the vehicle 3 equipped with the on-board terminal 20. The on-board terminal 20 transmits the current location information of the vehicle 3 to the server 10, including the current location information of the vehicle 3 in the information request. The current location information may be the coordinates (latitude and longitude) of the current location, a mesh ID of the map data to which the current location belongs, or an administrative boundary or postal code. Note that the server 10 may acquire information such as the latitude and longitude, mesh ID, administrative boundary, and postal code based on the current location information received from the on-board terminal 20, and use this information as the current location information. The on-board terminal 20 may transmit the information request to the server 10 at predetermined time intervals, or when the current location of the vehicle moves to an adjacent mesh of the map data. When transmitting the information request at predetermined time intervals, the user may be able to set the time interval.

[0054] When the server 10 receives an information request from the in-vehicle terminal 20, it identifies the surrounding area of ​​the vehicle 3 based on the current location information included in the information request or the current location information acquired by the server 10, and acquires the alert accident type information within the surrounding area (step S11). Specifically, if the current location information included in the information request is the coordinates of the current location, the server 10 determines a predetermined range based on the current location (for example, a range of a 10 km radius from the current location, or the range of the city, ward, town, or village that includes the current location) as the surrounding area of ​​the vehicle 3. Also, if the current location information included in the information request is a mesh ID, the server 10 determines the mesh to which the current location belongs, or the mesh to which the current location belongs and its adjacent meshes as the surrounding area.

[0055] Then, the server 10 refers to the alert accident type DB 15 and acquires alert accident type information belonging to the surrounding area, specifically, a combination of alert points and alert accident types. As a result, for example, alert accident type information such as "point AAA, rear-end collision" and "point BBB, accident when turning right" can be acquired as alert accident type information belonging to the surrounding area.

[0056] Next, the server 10 refers to the alert accident type DB 15 and acquires alert accident type information corresponding to the current situation (step S12). As described above, the alert accident type DB 15 stores alert accident type information by situation, such as date and time, weather, and temperature, in addition to alert accident types by location. Therefore, the server 10 acquires alert accident type information corresponding to situations, such as the current date and time, weather, and temperature, from the alert accident type DB 15.

[0057] Next, the server 10 determines, as a "warning point," a warning point that is considered to have a high risk of accident occurrence under the current circumstances, based on the location-specific warning accident type information acquired in step S11 and the situation-specific warning accident type information acquired in step S12 (step S13). For example, assume that it is known based on the time-of-day warning accident types stored in the warning accident type DB 15 that "rear-end collisions are more likely to occur in the evening." When the server 10 acquires "location AAA, rear-end collision" as the warning accident type information, if the current circumstances are evening, it determines location AAA as a warning point, and if not evening, it does not determine location AAA as a warning point. In this way, the server 10 determines a warning point based on the warning point indicated by the warning accident type information, taking into account the risk of accident occurrence due to the current circumstances, etc.

[0058] Next, the server 10 acquires judgment conditions relating to the degree of dangerous driving for each of the determined warning locations (step S14). The "judgment conditions" refer to the conditions under which dangerous driving should be judged at each location, and specifically include thresholds for the vehicle speed and the number of sudden operations (sudden acceleration, sudden deceleration, sudden steering, etc.). If the driving condition of the vehicle 3 exceeds this threshold, it is judged to be dangerous driving. As will be described later, the in-vehicle terminal 20 will output a warning when the driving of the vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle terminal 20 meets the judgment conditions, i.e., when it corresponds to dangerous driving.

[0059] The judgment conditions are stored in advance for each location in the judgment condition DB 16. For example, at locations where accidents frequently occur, such as sharp curves or intersections with poor visibility, the threshold values ​​as judgment conditions are set low. As an example, the vehicle speed threshold is set to 50 km / h at normal locations, and the vehicle speed threshold is set to 30 km / h at locations where accidents frequently occur. Therefore, the server 10 refers to the judgment condition DB 16 and acquires the judgment conditions (the vehicle speed threshold and the thresholds for the number of sudden accelerations, sudden decelerations, and sudden steering) for the warning location determined in step S13.

[0060] Then, the server 10 transmits warning information about the warning location to the in-vehicle terminal 20 (step S15). Here, the warning information includes the alert accident type information (i.e., location information and alert accident type) acquired in step S11 for the warning location, and the judgment condition acquired in step S14.

[0061] When the in-vehicle terminal 20 receives the warning information from the server 10, it determines whether or not a warning is necessary based on the judgment conditions and the driving state of the vehicle (step S16). Specifically, the in-vehicle terminal 20 acquires the current speed of the vehicle 3 and, by referring to the driving history DB 24, acquires the number of sudden operations (sudden acceleration, sudden deceleration, sudden steering) by the driver (for example, the number of times during driving of the past 100 km). Then, it compares these values ​​with each threshold included in the judgment conditions and determines whether or not the driving by the driver corresponds to dangerous driving. If it corresponds to dangerous driving, the in-vehicle terminal 20 determines that a warning is necessary, and if it does not correspond to dangerous driving, the in-vehicle terminal 20 determines that a warning is not necessary. This determination is made for each warning point included in the warning information, and whether or not a warning is necessary is determined for each warning point.

[0062] Then, at a warning point where it is determined that a warning is necessary, the in-vehicle terminal 20 outputs a warning (step S17). The warning is output by at least one of displaying a message on the display unit 25 of the in-vehicle terminal 20 and outputting a voice message by the voice output unit 26. FIG. 10 shows an example of a display screen when a warning is output. A map of the area around the current position of the vehicle 3 is displayed on the display screen of the display unit 25, and a current position mark 31 indicating the current position of the vehicle is shown on the map. In this example, a warning point is located ahead on the road currently being traveled, and its position is indicated by a mark 32. When the vehicle approaches within a predetermined distance from the warning point, a message 33 is displayed on the display screen, and a voice message with the same content is output from the voice output unit 26. The output message also indicates the type of accident requiring warning at the warning point (in this example, a "rear-end collision"). This allows the driver to specifically know what type of accident is likely to occur at that point.

[0063] In the above example, the date and time, climate, temperature, etc. are used as situation-specific alert accident type information, but if, for example, alert accident type information by driver's gender and age is stored in the alert accident type DB 15, this information may also be used. In this case, the in-vehicle terminal 20 includes information such as the driver's gender and age in the information request and transmits it to the server 10 in step S10. The server 10 obtains situation-specific alert accident type information such as the driver's gender and age in step S12, and uses it when determining the warning point in step S13.

[0064] (Decision based on the judgment conditions) Next, a specific example of the determination of whether or not a warning is required, which is performed in step S16, will be described. The server 10 stores, in the determination condition DB 16, determination conditions for each location, specifically, thresholds for dangerous driving. As described above, the thresholds include the vehicle speed, the number of sudden accelerations, the number of sudden decelerations, the number of sudden steering, etc. Here, the thresholds for each location are set based on probe data acquired by the server 10 from a large number of vehicles. Specifically, the speeds of a large number of vehicles at a certain location are tallied based on the road shape and the probe data, and the speed at which dangerous driving should be determined at that location is set as the threshold. In addition, the number of sudden accelerations, sudden decelerations, and sudden steering by a large number of drivers is tallied based on the probe data, and the number of times at which dangerous driving should be determined at that location is set as the respective thresholds.

[0065] The server 10 also corrects each threshold value as necessary based on a situational risk coefficient. The situational risk coefficient indicates the degree to which the driving situation affects dangerous driving, and specific examples include "weather," "time of day," "traffic volume," "gender," and "age." For example, the probability of an accident generally increases when it is raining compared to when it is sunny, and the probability of an accident increases even more when it is snowing. Therefore, when determining the judgment conditions, the server 10 checks the current weather at the warning point, and, for example, sets the coefficient to "1" if it is sunny, "0.8" if it is raining, and "0.6" if it is snowing. The server 10 performs the correction by multiplying each threshold value by each situational risk coefficient. Therefore, if the original speed threshold at a certain point is set to 50 km / h (i.e., driving at a speed of 50 km / h or more is considered dangerous driving at that point), the speed threshold is 50 km / h if the weather is sunny, but the speed threshold is reduced to 40 km / h if it is raining, and to 30 km / h if it is snowing. In this way, the threshold values ​​are corrected by taking the weather into consideration. The server 10 also sets coefficients at several levels for other conditions such as "time of day," "traffic volume," "gender," and "age," and corrects each threshold value according to the current conditions.

[0066] In this way, the threshold value corrected based on the situation is transmitted to the in-vehicle terminal 20 as the judgment condition. The in-vehicle terminal 20 judges whether or not the driving is dangerous by performing an AND operation on the judgment result of speeding and the judgment result of the tendency of abrupt operations (sudden acceleration, sudden deceleration, sudden steering). Specifically, the in-vehicle terminal 20 first detects the speed of the vehicle 3 and judges whether or not it exceeds the speed threshold included in the judgment condition received from the server 10. The in-vehicle terminal 20 also makes a judgment based on the threshold value of abrupt operations included in the judgment condition. In this case, for example, the in-vehicle terminal 20 compares the number of sudden operations that occurred during the vehicle's most recent travel over a predetermined distance (e.g., 100 km) with the threshold value. That is, the in-vehicle terminal 20 compares the number of sudden accelerations, sudden decelerations, and sudden steering that occurred in the vehicle over the most recent predetermined distance with the threshold values ​​(number of times) of sudden accelerations, sudden decelerations, and sudden steering included in the judgment condition. Then, if any one of these exceeds the threshold value, it is judged that there is a tendency of abrupt operations.

[0067] Then, the in-vehicle terminal 20 determines that a warning should be output if the vehicle speed exceeds the speed threshold and there is a tendency for abrupt operation. In other cases, the in-vehicle terminal 20 determines not to output a warning. Note that if the vehicle speed does not exceed the speed threshold, the in-vehicle terminal 20 may not determine the tendency for abrupt operation. Also, if it is determined that the driver does not tend to make abrupt operations and is driving safely, the in-vehicle terminal 20 may not determine the speed. Also, if the cumulative driving distance of the driver is less than the above-mentioned predetermined distance (for example, 100 km), the in-vehicle terminal 20 may determine whether or not a warning should be issued based only on the result of the speeding determination. [Explanation of symbols]

[0068] 3 vehicles 10 Servers 12 Control Unit 14 Accident DB 15 Warning accident type DB 16 Judgment condition DB 20 In-vehicle terminal 22 Control Unit 24 Driving history DB

Claims

1. A terminal device, A transmission means for transmitting request information including location information of the terminal device, Receiving means for receiving warning information that includes at least one warning location and information indicating the type of accident corresponding to the warning location, in accordance with the requested information. A display control means that displays the warning location on a map based on the received warning information, and that displays the warning location in a different manner depending on the type of accident, When the terminal device approaches the warning point, the output means outputs a warning including the type of accident, by at least display or sound; A terminal device equipped with the following features.

2. A terminal device, A transmission means for transmitting request information including location information of the terminal device, Receiving means for receiving warning information that includes, in accordance with the request information, at least one warning location, information indicating the type of accident corresponding to the warning location, and a warning start distance set according to the type of accident for determining whether or not a warning should be output at the warning location. A display control means that displays the warning location on a map based on the received warning information, The terminal device includes an output means that outputs a warning including the accident type, either by display or by sound, when the warning start distance corresponding to the accident type is reached from the warning point, A terminal device equipped with the following features.

3. The display control means displays a list of the multiple warning locations included in the warning information on the map, along with their respective accident types. The terminal device according to claim 1 or 2.

4. A post-incident information acquisition means that acquires information regarding whether or not an accident or near-miss occurred at the terminal device after the terminal device has passed the warning point, A post-transmission means that associates the acquired information with the warning location and transmits it to the server, The terminal device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising:

5. A terminal device, A transmission means for transmitting request information including location information of the terminal device, Receiving means for receiving warning information that includes, in accordance with the requested information, at least one warning location, information indicating the type of accident corresponding to the warning location, and determination conditions relating to the vehicle's driving status for determining whether or not a warning should be issued at the warning location. A display control means that displays the warning location on a map based on the received warning information, and that displays the warning location in a different manner depending on the type of accident, A means for acquiring the driving status of a vehicle equipped with the aforementioned terminal device, An output means that outputs a warning including the accident type, by at least one of display or sound, when the acquired driving conditions satisfy the judgment conditions, A terminal device equipped with the following features.

6. The aforementioned driving conditions include vehicle speed, as well as at least one of sudden acceleration, sudden deceleration, and sudden steering. The determination conditions include a threshold for the vehicle speed, and a threshold for a predetermined number of times at least one of the sudden acceleration, sudden deceleration, and sudden steering. The terminal device according to claim 5.

7. An information processing method performed by a terminal device, A transmission step that transmits request information including location information of the terminal device, A receiving step of receiving warning information that includes at least one warning location and information indicating the type of accident corresponding to the warning location, in accordance with the requested information. A display control step that, based on the received warning information, displays the warning location on a map and varies the display manner of the warning location according to the type of accident, An output step in which, when the terminal device approaches the warning point, outputs a warning including the type of accident by at least display or sound, An information processing method comprising the following:

8. A program executed by a terminal device equipped with a computer, A transmission means for transmitting request information including location information of the terminal device, Receiving means for receiving warning information that includes at least one warning location and information indicating the type of accident corresponding to the warning location, in accordance with the requested information, A display control means that displays the warning location on a map based on the received warning information, and that displays the warning location in a different manner depending on the type of accident, When the terminal device approaches the warning point, an output means outputs a warning including the type of accident, by at least display or sound. A program that causes the aforementioned computer to function.

9. An information processing method performed by a terminal device, A transmission step that transmits request information including location information of the terminal device, A receiving step of receiving warning information in accordance with the request information, which includes at least one warning location, information indicating the type of accident corresponding to the warning location, and a warning start distance set according to the type of accident for determining whether or not a warning should be output at the warning location. A display control step that displays the warning location on a map based on the received warning information, Output step: When the terminal device reaches the warning start distance corresponding to the accident type from the warning point, output a warning including the accident type by at least display or sound; Information processing methods including

10. A program executed by a terminal device equipped with a computer, A transmission means for transmitting request information including location information of the terminal device, Receiving means for receiving warning information that includes, in accordance with the request information, at least one warning location, information indicating the type of accident corresponding to the warning location, and a warning start distance set according to the type of accident for determining whether or not a warning should be output at the warning location. A display control means that displays the warning location on a map based on the received warning information, When the terminal device reaches the warning start distance corresponding to the accident type from the warning point, output means that outputs a warning including the accident type by at least display or sound, A program that causes the aforementioned computer to function.

11. An information processing method performed by a terminal device, A transmission step that transmits request information including location information of the terminal device, A receiving step of receiving warning information in accordance with the requested information, which includes at least one warning location, information indicating the type of accident corresponding to the warning location, and determination conditions relating to the vehicle's driving status for determining whether or not a warning should be issued at the warning location. A display control step that, based on the received warning information, displays the warning location on a map and varies the display manner of the warning location according to the type of accident, A driving status acquisition step for acquiring the driving status of a vehicle equipped with the aforementioned terminal device, An output step which, when the acquired driving conditions satisfy the judgment conditions, outputs a warning including the accident type by at least one of display or sound, Information processing methods including

12. A program executed by a terminal device equipped with a computer, A transmission means for transmitting request information including location information of the terminal device, Receiving means for receiving warning information that includes, in accordance with the requested information, at least one warning location, information indicating the type of accident corresponding to the warning location, and determination conditions relating to the vehicle's driving status for determining whether or not a warning should be issued at the warning location. A display control means that displays the warning location on a map based on the received warning information, and that displays the warning location in a different manner depending on the type of accident, A means for acquiring the driving status of a vehicle equipped with the aforementioned terminal device, If the acquired driving conditions satisfy the judgment conditions, an output means outputs a warning including the accident type, at least by display or sound. A program that causes the aforementioned computer to function.

13. A storage medium storing the program described in any one of claims 8, 10, or 12.

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