Control system, control method, and program

Abstract

To suppress occurrence of delay in communication of a device.SOLUTION: The control system includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire time information related to a communication time that is a time from when one of a management server that manages information used for a mobile body that autonomously moves and the apparatus transmits the information to when the other receives the information, and a control unit configured to control a specific apparatus so as to shorten the communication time related to communication between the specific apparatus and the management server when the time information associated with the specific apparatus satisfies a predetermined condition.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 19A

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a control system, a control method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, there has been a technology for controlling an autonomously moving vehicle depending on the communication situation of the vehicle. Patent Document 1 discloses that when a communication delay occurs when receiving assistance information related to equipment of an autonomously moving vehicle or the like from an external terminal, the longer the delay time, the lower the vehicle speed limit of the equipment and the greater the rate of change of the vehicle speed limit, thereby realizing safe driving. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-18563 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, Patent Document 1 does not disclose a method for controlling devices to suppress delays in device communication, and the technology described in Patent Document 1 was not able to suppress delays in device communication. The present invention aims to suppress delays in device communications. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In order to solve the above problem, the control system of the present invention is a control system comprising: a management server that manages information used by an autonomously moving vehicle; an acquisition means that acquires time information regarding communication time, which is the time from when one of the devices sends information to when the information is received by the other device; and a control means that controls a specific device so as to shorten the communication time related to communication between the specific device and the management server when the time information associated with the specific device satisfies a predetermined condition. [Effects of the Invention]

[0006] According to the present invention, it is possible to suppress delays in device communication. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the overall configuration of a mobile object control system. [Figure 2] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a screen image displayed on a user terminal when a user inputs location information. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a screen image displayed on a user terminal when a user views the current location of a moving object. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the functional configuration of a control device, a user terminal, a mobile object, a storage device, and a sensor node. [Figure 5] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a moving body. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the hardware configuration of a control device, a user terminal, a mobile object, a storage device, and a sensor node. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining area information. [Figure 8] 10 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of each process performed when information indicating a communication time of a mobile body calculated by a control device is stored in a storage device. FIG. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of a determination process. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of a calculation process. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of a storage process. [Figure 12] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the contents of a status information management table. [Figure 13] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the contents of a transmission information management table. [Figure 14] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the contents of a statistical information management table. [Figure 15] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a modification of the example shown in FIG. 8. [Figure 16] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of each process performed when a mobile body sets a planned communication position according to a communication time. [Figure 17] (A) is a diagram showing the travel route and planned communication location set for a moving body, and (B) and (C) are diagrams showing an example of a range selected by the control device as the area for which delay information is requested from the storage device. [Figure 18] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a portion of a delay information management table. [Figure 19] 10A and 10B are flowcharts showing the flow of the shortening process. [Figure 20] FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a method for changing a planned communication location in step 1907 of the shortening process. [Figure 21] FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a method for changing communication settings in step 1909 of the shortened processing. [Figure 22] FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of each process performed from when a moving object starts moving from a departure point until it arrives at a destination. [Figure 23] FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of a change process. [Figure 24] FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of each process performed when information detected by a sensor node is stored in a storage device. [Figure 25] FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of a reduction process. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0008] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a mobile object control system 1. As shown in FIG. A mobile object control system 1, which is an example of an information processing system, controls a mobile object by transmitting information necessary for the movement of the mobile object to the mobile object. Therefore, the mobile object control system 1 can also be regarded as a control system. The mobile object control system 1 includes a control device 10, a user terminal 11, a mobile object 12, a storage device 14, and a sensor node 15.

[0009] The control device 10 is a server that controls the mobile object 12 by transmitting information necessary for the movement of the mobile object 12 to the mobile object 12. Therefore, the control device 10 can also be regarded as a management server that manages information used by the autonomously moving mobile object 12. The user terminal 11, which is an example of a device, is a terminal used by a user of the mobile object 12. The user terminal 11 may be, for example, a smartphone. The mobile object 12, which is an example of a device, moves autonomously. Examples of the mobile object 12 include a vehicle that travels on the ground and a drone that travels in the air or underwater. Note that the mobile object 12 may be of any type as long as it moves autonomously. The storage device 14 is a server that stores information used by the mobile unit 12 . The sensor node 15 is an example of a device that detects information. An example of the sensor node 15 is a roadside unit.

[0010] The control device 10 and the storage device 14 are realized, for example, by a computer. The control device 10 and the storage device 14 may each be configured by a single computer, or may be realized by distributed processing using multiple computers. The control device 10 and the storage device 14 may also be configured by a single computer. That is, the control device 10 and the storage device 14 may be the same device. The control device 10 and the storage device 14 may also be realized on virtual hardware provided by cloud computing.

[0011] The control device 10, user terminal 11, mobile object 12, storage device 14, and sensor node 15 are connected to one another via a network. The type of this network is not particularly limited as long as it allows data transmission and reception, and may be, for example, the Internet, a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), etc. Furthermore, the communication line used for transmitting and receiving data may be either wired or wireless. 1, the number of user terminals 11, the number of moving bodies 12, and the number of sensor nodes 15 provided in the mobile body control system 1 are all one, but this is not limited to this. The number of user terminals 11, the number of moving bodies 12, and the number of sensor nodes 15 provided in the mobile body control system 1 may be any number.

[0012] Next, the services provided by the mobile object control system in embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described. In the description, first, the screen images (FIGS. 2(A) and 2(B)) displayed on the user terminal 11 when the user inputs location information will be described. Next, the screen images (FIGS. 3(A) and 3(B)) displayed on the user terminal 11 when the user views the current location of the mobile object 12 will be described. These descriptions will show how services are provided to users in the mobile object control system. In this explanation, for ease of understanding, the map display will be explained as a two-dimensional plane, but in this embodiment, the user can specify a three-dimensional position including "height", so "height" information can also be input.

[0013] FIG. 2(A) is an image diagram showing an input screen when a user inputs location information, and FIG. 2(B) is an image diagram showing a selection screen for selecting an autonomous moving body to use. When a user accesses the network 16 on the display screen of the user terminal 11 and selects a service for the mobile body control system, the web page of the control device 10 is displayed. The web page first displays an input screen 40 for setting the departure point, intermediate points, and destination when moving the mobile body 12. The input screen 40 has a list display button 46 for displaying a list for selecting the autonomous moving body to use. When the user presses this button, a list display screen 47 shown in FIG. 2(B) is displayed. The user first selects the autonomous moving body to use on the list display screen 47. Upon selection, the screen automatically transitions to the input screen 40. The user then inputs the location to be set as the departure point into the "Departure Point" input field 41. The user also inputs the location to be set as the intermediate point into the "Intermediate Point 1" input field 42. It should be noted that a route point can be added. By pressing an Add Route Point button 44, an input field 48 for "Route Point 2" is additionally displayed, and the route point to be added can be input. The user also inputs the location to be set as the destination in the "Destination Point" input field 43. The user then presses the Confirm button 45 to request movement of the mobile object 12. In the example of FIG. 2, "AAA" is set as the departure point, "BBB" as the route point 1, and "CCC" as the destination point. The text to be input into the input fields is intended to be a text that can specify any location, such as an address, but it is also possible to input location information that indicates a specific location, such as latitude / longitude information or a store name.

[0014] FIG. 3(A) shows a confirmation screen 50 when the current location of the mobile object 12 is displayed on the display screen of the web page of the user terminal 11 after a request to move the mobile object 12 is made. The user can recognize the current location of the mobile object 12 from the position of the current location 56 on the screen. The user can also update the screen display information to display the latest status by pressing an update button 57. The user can also change the departure point, transit point, and arrival point by pressing a stop / destination change button 54. More specifically, the user can change the desired location by inputting the desired location in the "Departure Point" input field 51, the "Transit Point 1" input field 52, and the "Destination Point" input field 53, respectively. 3(B) shows a map display screen 60 that is switched from the confirmation screen 50 when the map display button 55 in FIG. 3(A) is pressed. On this screen, the current location of the mobile object 12 on the map display can be confirmed based on the position of the current location 62. The user can also return the display screen to the confirmation screen 50 by pressing the back button 61. As described above, the user can move the mobile object 12 from one predetermined location to another by operating the user terminal 11. Possible examples of use of this service include a taxi dispatch service and a drone delivery service.

[0015] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the functional configuration of the control device 10, the user terminal 11, the mobile object 12, the storage device 14, and the sensor node 15. The user terminal 11 includes an operation unit 111 , a control unit 112 , a display unit 113 , a storage unit 114 , and a transmission / reception unit 115 . The operation unit 111 is operated to accept information input to the user terminal 11. Examples of the operation unit 111 include a touch panel and buttons. The control unit 112 controls the operation of the user terminal 11 . The display unit 113 displays information. The storage unit 114 stores information. The transmitting / receiving unit 115 transmits and receives information to and from external devices.

[0016] The control device 10 includes a calculation unit 101 , a control unit 102 , a storage unit 103 , and a transmission / reception unit 104 . The calculation unit 101 calculates a communication time, which is the time required for communication between the control device 10 and the device. The time required for communication between the control device 10 and the device is the time from when one of the control device 10 and the device transmits information to when the other receives the information. The control unit 102 controls the operation of the control device 10. The control unit 102 identifies an area corresponding to the location of a device, such as the mobile object 12, when communication with the control device 10 is performed. The control unit 102 then associates information indicating the identified area with information indicating the communication time calculated by the calculation unit 101 for communication of the device in the identified area. The control unit 102 then transmits the associated information to the storage device 14 via the transceiver unit 104. In addition, upon receiving a request from a device, such as the mobile object 12, the control unit 102 acquires information regarding the device's communication time from the storage device 14 and transmits the acquired information to the device that has requested the information. Note that, hereinafter, information indicating the area identified by the control unit 102 as the location of the device when communication with the control device 10 is performed may be referred to as area information. The storage unit 103 stores information. The transmitting / receiving unit 104 transmits and receives information to and from external devices.

[0017] The moving object 12 includes a detection unit 121 , a control unit 122 , a direction control unit 123 , a storage unit 124 , a transmission / reception unit 125 , and a drive unit 126 . The detection unit 121 has an imaging means such as an imaging element and a distance measurement function such as distance measurement based on the phase difference of light using a plurality of imaging elements. The detection unit 121 acquires detection information such as the surrounding terrain and obstacles such as building walls, and has a self-position estimation function that estimates its own position from the detection information. The detection unit 121 also has a self-position detection function such as a GPS (Global Positioning System) and a direction detection function such as a geomagnetic sensor. The control unit 122 controls the operation of the mobile object 12. The control unit 122 determines a route along which the mobile object 12 will move based on the information detected by the detection unit 121, and controls the mobile object 12 so that the mobile object 12 moves along the determined route. Furthermore, when it is determined that a delay will occur in communication with the control device 10, the control unit 122 controls the mobile object 12 so as to shorten the communication time with the control device 10. The direction control unit 123 controls the direction of the drive unit 126 to control the moving direction of the moving body 12 . The storage unit 124 stores information. The transmitting / receiving unit 125 transmits and receives information to and from external devices. The driving unit 126 is made up of a driving device such as a motor, and generates a propulsive force for the moving body 12 .

[0018] The storage device 14 includes a calculation unit 141 , a control unit 142 , a storage unit 143 , and a transmission / reception unit 144 . The calculation unit 141 calculates statistics of the communication time based on the communication time calculated by the calculation unit 101 of the control device 10. The control unit 142 controls the operation of the storage device 14. The control unit 142 generates information indicating whether a delay has occurred in communication of a device such as the mobile object 12, based on the results of calculations performed by the calculation unit 101 of the control device 10 and the calculation unit 141 of the storage device 14. Note that, hereinafter, information indicating whether a delay has occurred in communication of the device may be referred to as delay information. Furthermore, when the control device 10 requests delay information, the control unit 142 transmits the requested delay information to the control device 10 via the transmission / reception unit 144. The storage unit 143 stores information indicating the results calculated by the calculation unit 101 of the control device 10 and information indicating the results calculated by the calculation unit 141 of the storage device 14 in association with area information. The storage unit 143 also stores delay information. The contents of the information stored in the storage unit 143 will be described in detail later. The transmitting / receiving unit 144 transmits and receives information to and from devices external to the storage device 14 .

[0019] The sensor node 15 includes a detection unit 151 , a control unit 152 , a storage unit 153 , and a transmission / reception unit 154 . The detection unit 151 detects the situation within a predetermined range as the periphery of the sensor node 15. The situation within the periphery includes the presence or absence of moving objects 12, people, etc. in the periphery, whether the moving objects 12, people, etc. present in the periphery are moving, and the movement speed of the moving objects 12, people, etc. present in the periphery. The control unit 152 controls the operation of the sensor node 15 . The storage unit 153 stores information. The transmitter / receiver 154 transmits and receives information to and from devices external to the sensor node 15 .

[0020] In addition, the transceiver unit 104 of the control device 10, the transceiver unit 115 of the user terminal 11, the transceiver unit 125 of the mobile body 12, the transceiver unit 144 of the storage device 14, and the transceiver unit 154 of the sensor node 15 can all be considered as acquisition means for acquiring information. Note that acquiring information includes not only receiving information from another device but also generating information in one's own device. Therefore, a means for generating information in one's own device can also be considered as an acquisition means for acquiring information.

[0021] Furthermore, the transceiver 104 of the control device 10, the transceiver 115 of the user terminal 11, the transceiver 125 of the mobile object 12, the transceiver 144 of the storage device 14, and the transceiver 154 of the sensor node 15 can all be regarded as output means for outputting information. Examples of outputting information include transmitting information to another device and displaying information on the device itself. In addition, the memory unit 103 of the control device 10, the memory unit 114 of the user terminal 11, the memory unit 124 of the mobile body 12, the memory unit 143 of the storage device 14, and the memory unit 153 of the sensor node 15 can all be considered as memory means for storing information. In addition, the control unit 102 of the control device 10, the control unit 112 of the user terminal 11, the control unit 122 of the mobile object 12, the control unit 142 of the storage device 14, and the control unit 152 of the sensor node 15 can all be considered as control means for controlling the equipment.

[0022] Next, a description will be given of the configuration of the moving body 12. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of the moving body 12. In this example, the moving body 12 is assumed to be a running body that has wheels and runs on the ground. In the example shown in Fig. 5, at least two or more drive units 126 and direction control units 123 are provided on the moving body 12. The direction control unit 123 changes the direction of movement of the moving body 12 by changing the direction of the drive unit 126 through rotational driving of the shaft, and the drive unit 126 moves the moving body 12 forward and backward through rotation of the shaft. Note that the configuration shown in Fig. 5 is one example and is not limited to this. Any structure that can achieve the same effect, such as the adoption of an omniwheel in a movement direction changing structure, may be used.

[0023] 6 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of the control device 10, user terminal 11, mobile object 12, storage device 14, and sensor node 15. The control device 10, user terminal 11, mobile object 12, storage device 14, and sensor node 15 each have a CPU 21, RAM 22, ROM 23, NETIF 24, VRAM 25, CRT 26, KBC 27, KB 28, HDD 29, FDD 30, and FD 31. The components shown in FIG. 6 are connected via a bus 20. In the following description, when the control device 10, user terminal 11, mobile object 12, storage device 14, and sensor node 15 are not particularly distinguished from one another, they may be simply referred to as devices.

[0024] The CPU 21 controls the device. The RAM 22 functions as a program area, a program execution area, and a data area. The ROM 23 stores the CPU 21's operating procedures. The ROM 23 also includes a program ROM storing the operating system (OS), which is the system program, and a data ROM storing information necessary for operating the system. The NETIF 24 is an interface for communicating with external devices. The VRAM 25 develops images to be displayed on the screen of the CRT 26 and controls the display. The CRT 26 is a display device such as a monitor. The KBC 27 is a controller for controlling input signals from the external input device 28. The KB 28 is an external input device such as a keyboard or mouse that accepts user operations. The HDD 29 is a hard disk drive used to store application programs and various data. The FDD 30 is an external input / output device for inputting and outputting data from removable data recording devices such as a floppy disk drive or CD-ROM drive. The FD 31 is a removable medium such as a magnetic recording medium or an optical recording medium (for example, a CD-ROM) that is read by the FDD 30 . In this embodiment, the CPU 21 loads a program from the ROM 23 or the HDD 29 into the RAM 22 and executes it, thereby realizing each process performed by the device.

[0025] Next, a description will be given of the area information held in the control device 10 and the information holding device 14. Figures 7(A) and 7(B) are diagrams for explaining the area information. Each region identified from the region information is a region on the Earth, divided into predetermined three-dimensional regions defined by latitude, longitude, and altitude. Each region information includes information identifying which region on Earth each divided region belongs to, thereby identifying the region identified from the region information. Here, one divided region 100 will be described. Region 100 is defined as a region centered at coordinate 101, with latitude 20 degrees north, longitude 140 degrees east, and height H, with a latitudinal width of D, a longitudinal width of W, and a vertical width of T. Regions are not limited to those divided around specific coordinates; for example, they may be centered around a corner of the region or the center of the bottom surface of the region. Furthermore, the shape of each divided region is not limited to a rectangular parallelepiped, but may be an approximately rectangular parallelepiped. Considering the division of regions on the surface of a sphere such as the Earth, the region may have a larger top surface than a bottom surface. Furthermore, the dimensions that serve as the basis for dividing an area are not limited to the three dimensions of latitude, longitude, and height, but may be two dimensions such as a plane rectangular coordinate system.

[0026] Information identifying each area including the above-mentioned one area 100 is stored as area information in the storage unit 143 of the storage device 14 in association with information such as communication time. The area information and information associated with the area information are input to the storage device 14 by being transmitted from the control device 10. Furthermore, the area information and information associated with the area information are shared with the mobile object 12 and the control device 10 by being requested by the mobile object 12 via the control device 10.

[0027] Next, the flow of processing performed in the mobile object 12, the control device 10, and the storage device 14 will be described. Fig. 8 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of each process performed when information indicating the communication time of the mobile object 12 calculated by the control device 10 is stored in the storage device 14. The process shown in Fig. 8 is performed, for example, at predetermined time intervals. The predetermined time may be any time, but is, for example, one second. The process shown in Fig. 8 may also be performed on the condition that the mobile object 12 is moving.

[0028] First, the control unit 102 of the control device 10 requests information about the moving object 12 from the moving object 12 (step (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "S") 801). At this time, the control unit 102 transmits, together with the request, information indicating the current time in the control device 10 to the moving object 12 via the transceiver unit 104. When the control unit 122 of the mobile body 12 receives a request for information from the control device 10, it corrects the time at the mobile body 12 using the information indicating the time acquired along with the request (S802), thereby synchronizing the time at the mobile body 12 with the time at the control device 10. The control unit 122 of the moving object 12 performs a determination process (S803). Details will be described later, but in this determination process, it is determined which information the moving object 12 will transmit to the control device 10. The transmitting / receiving unit 104 of the mobile object 12 transmits the information determined in the determination process to the control device 10 (S804).

[0029] Note that the mobile object 12 may transmit information indicating the time at the mobile object 12 to the control device 10, and the control device 10 may then correct the time to synchronize the time at the mobile object 12 with the time at the control device 10. Alternatively, a device other than the control device 10 or the mobile object 12 may transmit information indicating the time to the mobile object 12 and the control device 10. Then, the time may be corrected by either the mobile object 12 or the control device 10 to synchronize the time at the mobile object 12 with the time at the control device 10. 8 is not limited to being triggered by a request for information from the control device 10 to the mobile object 12. For example, the processing shown in FIG. 8 may be started when the mobile object 12 requests the control device 10 to synchronize the time.

[0030] The control unit 102 of the control device 10 performs a calculation process using the information acquired from the mobile object 12 (S805). As will be described in detail later, the calculation unit 101 of the control device 10 calculates the communication time of the mobile object 12 in this calculation process. The transmitting / receiving unit 104 of the control device 10 transmits information indicating the communication time of the mobile object 12 calculated by the calculation unit 101 to the storage device 14 (S806). The storage device 14 performs a storage process based on the information acquired from the control device 10 (S807). Details will be described later, but information indicating the results calculated by the calculation unit 101 of the control device 10 and information indicating the results calculated by the calculation unit 141 of the storage device 14, etc., are stored in the storage unit 143 of the storage device 14 in the storage process.

[0031] 8 is not limited to the mobile object 12, the control device 10, and the storage device 14. Instead of the mobile object 12, the user terminal 11 or the sensor node 15 may perform the process shown in FIG.

[0032] 9 is a flowchart showing the flow of the determination process, which is a process for a device such as the mobile object 12 to determine which information to transmit to the control device 10. The control unit 122 of the mobile object 12 determines whether or not the extraction conditions are satisfied (S901). The extraction conditions are conditions used by the control unit 122 to determine whether or not to extract target information to be transmitted by the mobile object 12 to the control device 10. When the extraction conditions are satisfied, the control unit 122 extracts the target information to be transmitted by the mobile object 12 to the control device 10. In this embodiment, the extraction conditions are set such that the control unit 122 is able to extract all of speed information, position identification information, and time information. The speed information is information indicating the moving speed of the target device that is the target of the determination process. The position identification information is information for identifying the position of the target device. The time information is information indicating the current time. The target device is the device that is the target of the determination process. When the determination process is performed by the mobile object 12, the target device is the mobile object 12.

[0033] If the extraction condition is satisfied (Yes in S901), the control unit 122 extracts target information to be transmitted to the control device 10. More specifically, the control unit 122 extracts extractable information from among speed information, location identification information, time information, communication information, identification information, and area status information. The communication information is information related to the communication of the target device. Examples of the information related to the communication of the target device include information indicating the communication method used by the target device, information indicating a telecommunications carrier that provides communication services to the target device to enable communication of the target device, and information indicating the communication standard used by the target device. Examples of communication methods include cellular communication, wired communication, and Wi-Fi communication. Examples of communication standards include 3G, 4G, and 5G. The identification information is information for identifying the target device. Examples of the identification information include information indicating the type of the target device, information indicating the product name of the target device, and information indicating the functions of the target device. The area status information is information related to the status of the area corresponding to the location of the target device. Examples of the situation in the area corresponding to the location of the target device include the weather in the area corresponding to the location of the target device, the temperature and humidity in the area corresponding to the location of the target device, the degree of crowding in the area corresponding to the location of the target device, etc. When the target device is a moving object 12, the speed information, location identification information, time information, and area situation information are information generated by detection by the detection unit 121 of the moving object 12. The communication information and identification information are information that is set in advance in the moving object 12. The control unit 122 determines the extracted information as information to be transmitted to the control device 10 (S903).

[0034] Furthermore, there are cases where the control unit 122 is unable to extract at least one of the speed information, the position identification information, and the time information, i.e., the extraction conditions are not satisfied (No in S901). In this case, the control unit 122 determines that error information for identifying that an error has occurred in the information extraction is the information to be transmitted to the control device 10 (S904). The information determined by the control unit 122 as the information to be transmitted in step 903 or step 904 is transmitted from the mobile unit 12 to the control device 10 in step 804 of FIG.

[0035] The target for performing the determination process is not limited to the moving body 12. For example, the user terminal 11, the sensor node 15, or the like may perform the determination process and transmit the information determined in the determination process to the control device 10.

[0036] When the user terminal 11 performs the determination process, the speed information, the position identification information, the time information, and the area situation information are information generated by detection by a detection unit (not shown) of the user terminal 11. In addition, the communication information and the identification information are information that is set in advance in the user terminal 11. Furthermore, when the sensor node 15 performs the determination process, the speed information, position identification information, time information, and area situation information are information generated by the detection unit 151 of the sensor node 15 through detection. Furthermore, since the sensor node 15 does not move during communication, the movement speed determined from the speed information generated in the sensor node 15 is 0. Furthermore, the communication information and identification information are information that is preset in the sensor node 15.

[0037] 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of the calculation process, in which the control device 10 calculates the communication time of a device such as the mobile object 12. When the control unit 102 of the control device 10 acquires the information transmitted from the device in step 804 of Fig. 8, it determines whether the acquired information is error information (S1001). If the information acquired by the control unit 102 is error information (Yes in S1001), the calculation process ends. In this case, the calculation unit 101 does not calculate the communication time, and neither the transmission of information from the control device 10 to the storage device 14 nor the storage process shown in Fig. 8 is performed.

[0038] Furthermore, if the acquired information is not error information (No in S1001), the control unit 102 generates reception time information that identifies the time when the information transmitted from the device was received (S1002). The calculation unit 101 calculates the communication time of the device from the time information transmitted from the device and the reception time information generated by the control unit 102 (S1003). More specifically, the calculation unit 101 calculates the communication time of the device from the difference between the time indicated in the time information as the time when the device transmitted information and the time indicated in the reception time information as the time when the control device 10 received the information.

[0039] Based on the location identification information transmitted from the device, the control unit 102 identifies the location of the device when the device transmitted information to the control device 10, in other words, the location of the device when the device was communicating with the control device 10. Then, the control unit 102 generates area information indicating the area corresponding to the location identified as the location of the device when communicating (S1004). The control unit 102 associates the generated area information, communication time information indicating the communication time calculated by the calculation unit 101, and information transmitted from the device (S1005). The information transmitted from the device includes speed information, position identification information, time information, communication information, identification information, and area status information. Each piece of information correlated at this time is transmitted from the control device 10 to the storage device 14 in step 806 of FIG. 8. Note that the information transmitted from the control device 10 to the storage device 14 in step 806 of FIG. 8 may be referred to as transmission information hereinafter.

[0040] The control unit 102 may transmit information relating to the communication time to the storage device 14 at predetermined intervals. More specifically, the control unit 102 may include, as communication time information, information indicating an average value of the communication time calculated by the calculation unit 101 for each communication between the device and the control device 10 during the predetermined period. The predetermined period may be any period, but is, for example, one minute.

[0041] 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of the storage process. The storage process is a process in which the storage device 14 stores the transmission information and the index calculated by the calculation unit 141. Note that, hereinafter, the transmission information that was transmitted from the control device 10 in the past and is already stored in the storage device 14 may be referred to as past transmission information. Also, hereinafter, the transmission information before being stored in the storage device 14, in other words, the transmission information transmitted from the control device 10 as a trigger for starting the current storage process, may be referred to as current transmission information. The control unit 142 of the storage device 14 determines whether or not there is related information related to the currently transmitted information in the information stored in the storage unit 143 (S1101). Examples of the related information include area status information indicating the status of an area identified from the area information included in the currently transmitted information. In addition, the storage device 14 may acquire area status information from a detection device (not shown) that detects the status of each area, and store the acquired area status information. If there is related information related to the currently transmitted information (Yes in S1101), the control unit 142 associates the related information with the currently transmitted information (S1102).

[0042] If there is no related information related to the current transmission information (No in S1101), or after step 1102, the process proceeds to the next step. The control unit 142 determines whether or not communication time information related to the communication time information included in the current transmission information exists in the information stored in the storage unit 143 (S1103). Note that, hereinafter, communication time information related to the communication time information included in the current transmission information may be simply referred to as related communication time information. Furthermore, examples of communication time information related to the communication time information included in the current transmission information include, for example, communication time information associated with transmission information that has an index that is the same as or similar to that of the current transmission information, among the past transmission information stored in the storage unit 143. Examples of transmission information showing an indicator identical to or similar to the current transmission information include past transmission information including speed information indicating a speed that is different from the moving speed of the device identified from the current transmission information by a predetermined range. Examples of transmission information showing an indicator identical to or similar to the current transmission information include past transmission information including area information indicating the same area as the area identified from the area information included in the current transmission information. Examples of transmission information showing an indicator identical to or similar to the current transmission information include past transmission information including time information indicating a time that is different from the time identified from the time information included in the current transmission information by a predetermined range. Examples of transmission information showing an indicator identical to or similar to the current transmission information include past transmission information including communication information indicating the same communication method, communication carrier, and communication standard used by the device as identified from the communication information included in the current transmission information. Examples of transmission information showing an indicator identical to or similar to the current transmission information include past transmission information including identification information indicating the same device type as the device type identified from the identification information included in the current transmission information. In addition, examples of transmitted information that show an indicator that is the same as or similar to the currently transmitted information include previously transmitted information that includes identification information that indicates the same situation as the situation identified from the area situation information included in the currently transmitted information.

[0043] If there is no related communication time information (No in S1003), the storage unit 143 stores the current transmission information (S1104), and the storage process ends. Furthermore, if related communication time information exists (Yes in S1003), the control unit 142 determines whether or not the communication time information included in the current transmission information satisfies the statistical condition (S1105). The statistical condition is a condition used by the control unit 142 to determine whether or not to cause the calculation unit 141 of the storage device 14 to calculate statistics of the communication time indicated in the communication time information included in the current transmission information and the communication time indicated in the related communication time information. In this embodiment, the statistical condition is defined as the difference between the communication time indicated in the communication time information included in the current transmission information and the communication time indicated in the related communication time information being within a predetermined time range. This predetermined time, which is the threshold of the statistical condition, is determined based on the communication time when a communication failure occurs due to communication concentration, the communication time when some abnormality occurs in a communication base station, the communication time specified from the degree of human congestion indicated in the area status information, etc. In other words, the threshold of the statistical condition is determined so that the communication time information indicating the communication time of a device when an abnormality occurs in the device's communication does not satisfy the statistical condition. Furthermore, the predetermined time may be a time determined as the communication time expected depending on the intended use of the device's communication. The predetermined time may also be determined taking into consideration that communication time may be shortened when communication speed improves due to an increase in base stations or the like. When the control unit 142 determines whether or not the statistical conditions are satisfied, the information to be compared with the communication time information included in the current transmission information may be referred to as information to be compared.

[0044] Furthermore, when there are a plurality of pieces of related communication time information, the calculation unit 141 may have already calculated statistics of the communication times indicated in each of the plurality of pieces of communication time information. In this case, the statistical condition is that the difference between the already calculated statistical value and the communication time indicated in the communication time information included in the current transmission information is equal to or less than a predetermined time. Note that, hereinafter, information indicating the statistical value calculated by the calculation unit 141 may be referred to as statistical information. Also, hereinafter, information indicating the statistical value calculated from the related communication time information may be referred to as related statistical information. When there are multiple pieces of related communication time information and related statistical information has already been generated, this related statistical information is the information to be compared. Also, when there is only one piece of related communication time information, this single piece of related communication time information is the information to be compared. Also, when there are multiple pieces of related communication time information, there may be cases where related statistical information has not been generated. In this case, the communication time information associated with the time information indicating the oldest date and time among the multiple pieces of related communication time information is the information to be compared.

[0045] If the communication time information included in the current transmission information does not satisfy the statistical condition (S1105), the control unit 142 determines whether or not the communication time information included in the current transmission information satisfies a deletion condition (S1106). The deletion condition is a condition used by the control unit 142 to determine whether or not to exclude the comparison target information from the target information used in the calculation of communication time statistics by the calculation unit 141. In this embodiment, the deletion condition is defined as a period during which the statistical condition is not satisfied in relation to the comparison target information being equal to or longer than a predetermined period. The control unit 142 extracts, from the information stored in the storage unit 143, communication time information associated with time information indicating the oldest date and time among the communication time information that does not satisfy the statistical condition in relation to the comparison target information as related communication time information. Then, the control unit 142 determines whether or not the period during which the statistical condition is not satisfied is equal to or longer than a predetermined period based on the difference between the date and time identified from the time information associated with the extracted past communication time information and the date and time identified from the time information included in the current transmission information. As described above, when there are multiple pieces of related communication time information and related statistical information has not been generated, the communication time information associated with the time information indicating the oldest date and time among the multiple pieces of related communication time information is the information to be compared. Therefore, the communication related to the communication time information associated with the time information indicating the oldest date and time among the communication time information that does not satisfy the statistical conditions in relation to the information to be compared as the related communication time information is the communication that occurred later than the communication related to the information to be compared.

[0046] If the deletion condition is not satisfied (No in S1106), the control unit 142 determines that the communication time identified from the communication time information included in the current transmission information is an abnormal value (S1107). In this case, the storage unit 143 stores the current transmission information (S1104), and the storage process ends. Furthermore, if the deletion condition is satisfied (Yes in S1106), the control unit 142 excludes (S1108) the information to be compared from the information to be used for the statistics of communication time calculated by the calculation unit 141. Note that, if both the related statistical information and the related communication information are stored in the storage unit 143, the control unit 142 excludes both the related statistical information and the related communication information from the information to be used for the statistics of communication time calculated by the calculation unit 141.

[0047] If the statistical condition is satisfied (Yes in S1105), or after step 1108, the control unit 142 determines whether the remaining storage capacity of the storage unit 143 satisfies the capacity condition (S1109). The capacity condition is a condition used by the control unit 142 to determine whether the storage unit 143 should store the current transmission information. In this embodiment, the capacity condition is defined as the remaining storage capacity of the storage unit 143 being equal to or greater than a predetermined capacity. If the capacity condition is met (S1109), the storage unit 143 stores the current transmission information (S1110).

[0048] If the capacity condition is not satisfied (No in S1109), or after step 1110, the calculation unit 141 calculates statistics of the communication time identified from the communication time information included in the current transmission information and the communication time identified from the related communication time information (S1111). If the related statistical information has already been calculated, the calculation unit 141 calculates new statistics based on this related statistical information and the communication time information included in the current transmission information. If the control unit 142 has determined in step 1108 that specific information is to be excluded from the information to be used in calculating the statistics, in step 1111 the calculation unit 141 calculates the statistics after excluding this specific information from the information to be used in calculating the statistics. Examples of statistical values ​​calculated by the calculation unit 141 include an average value, a median value, etc. Furthermore, while the information to be compared is excluded from the objects used in the calculation of statistics by the calculation unit 141, there are cases where specific communication time information indicating a communication time determined as an abnormal value in a past storage process is used in the calculation of statistics by the calculation unit 141. In this case, the control unit 142 determines the communication time indicated in this specific communication time information as a normal value.

[0049] The storage unit 143 stores statistical information indicating the statistical values ​​calculated by the calculation unit 141 (S1112). If related information is associated with the currently transmitted information in step 1102, the currently transmitted information and the related information are stored in storage unit 143 in an associated state in steps 1104 and 1110.

[0050] Next, the information stored in the storage unit 143 of the storage device 14 will be described. 12 is a diagram showing the contents of the situation information management table. The situation information management table is a table used by the storage unit 143 to manage area situation information. The situation information management table shows "area information," "date and time," "location," "weather," and "temperature" in association with each other. Note that "..." shown in the situation information management table indicates that an explanation will be omitted.

[0051] "Area Information" indicates the area of ​​the associated "Weather" and "Temperature" subject. The "date and time" indicates the date and time when the associated "weather" and "temperature" were detected. "Location" indicates the longitude, latitude, and altitude that corresponds to the location of the associated "Weather" and "Temperature" object. "Weather" indicates the weather. "Temperature" indicates the temperature.

[0052] The information shown in the situation information management table may be information detected by a detection unit (not shown) of the storage device 14. Also, the information shown in the situation information management table may be information detected by a detection unit 151 of the sensor node 15 and transmitted from the sensor node 15. In step 1102 of the storage process (see FIG. 11), the information specified as related information in the status information management table is associated with the currently transmitted information. The storage device 14 may transmit the area situation information to the control device 10. In this case, the control device 10 may include the area situation information as related information in the transmission information in the calculation process.

[0053] 13 is a diagram showing the contents of the transmission information management table. The transmission information management table is a table used by the storage unit 143 to manage transmission information. The transmission information management table shows "area information," "area size," "latitude," "longitude," "altitude," "time," "moving speed," "communication time," "weather," "crowd," "type," "communication carrier," "communication standard," and "abnormality," each associated with the other. Note that "..." shown in the transmission information management table indicates that an explanation is omitted.

[0054] "Area information" indicates information for identifying an area as area information included in the transmission information. The "area size" indicates the size of the area specified by the area information. The unit of the "area size" is, for example, "cubic meters (m 3 )" are some examples. "Latitude", "Longitude", and "Altitude" indicate the latitude, longitude, and altitude identified from the location identification information included in the transmitted information. "Time" indicates the date and time specified from the time information included in the transmission information. The "travel speed" indicates the travel speed determined from the speed information included in the transmission information. The unit of the "travel speed" is, for example, "km / h." The "communication time" indicates the communication time specified from the communication time information included in the transmission information. The "communication time" may be measured in units of "ms." "Weather" indicates the weather identified from the area condition information included in the transmission information or the area condition information associated with the transmission information as related information.

[0055] "Crowded" indicates the degree of crowding identified from the area situation information included in the transmitted information or the area situation information associated with the transmitted information as related information. "No" next to "Crowded" means that there is no crowding. "Yes" next to "Crowded" means that there is a crowding. "Type" indicates the type identified from the identification information included in the transmission information. "Vehicle" and "Bicycle" indicated in "Type" refer to the type of moving body 12. Furthermore, "Pedestrian" indicated in "Type" refers to the type of user who has the user terminal 11. In addition, the "Movement speed" associated with "Pedestrian" in the transmission information management table refers to the movement speed of the user terminal 11. Furthermore, "Infrastructure" indicated in "Type" refers to the type of sensor node 15. The "communications carrier" and "communications standard" indicate the communications carrier and communications standard identified from the communications information included in the transmission information. "Abnormal" indicates information indicating whether the control unit 142 of the storage device 14 determined the communication time indicated in the communication time information to be an abnormal value in step 1107 of the storage process (see FIG. 11). When "Abnormal" indicates "No", it means that the communication time indicated in the communication time information is not an abnormal value. When "Abnormal" indicates "Yes", it means that the communication time indicated in the communication time information is an abnormal value.

[0056] Of the transmission information shown in the transmission information management table, the transmission information with "Vehicle" or "Bicycle" in the "Type" column is the transmission information when the mobile body 12 performs the decision process. Also, of the transmission information shown in the transmission information management table, the transmission information with "Pedestrian" in the "Type" column is the transmission information when the user terminal 11 performs the decision process. Also, of the transmission information shown in the transmission information management table, the transmission information with "Infrastructure" in the "Type" column is the transmission information when the sensor node 15 performs the decision process. The information shown in the transmission information management table is not limited to the above example. For example, the transmission information management table may show a communication method identified from communication information included in the transmission information in association with each communication time information.

[0057] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the transmission information acquired by the control device 10 is transmission information for each mobile object 12, transmission information for each user terminal 11, and transmission information for each sensor node 15. In other words, in this embodiment, transmission information for each of the multiple devices provided in the mobile object control system 1 is acquired by the control device 10. Therefore, the same "type" indicated in the transmission information management table does not necessarily mean that it is the same device. As an example, each mobile object 12 indicated as "vehicle" in the transmission information management table may be a different mobile object 12.

[0058] 14 is a diagram showing the contents of the statistical information management table. The statistical information management table is a table used by the storage device 14 to manage statistical information. The statistical information management table shows "area information," "time period," "movement speed," "average communication time," "population," "type," "communications carrier," "communications standard," and "crowd," each associated with another. Here, the information on "area information," "time period," "movement speed," "average communication time," "population," "type," "telecommunications carrier," "communications standard," and "crowd," which are associated with each other in the statistical information management table, is regarded as statistical information.

[0059] The "area information" indicates area information associated with communication time information used to calculate the statistical value identified from the statistical information. In other words, the "area information" indicates area information indicating the area corresponding to the location of the device when the communication that is the subject of the statistics identified from the statistical information was performed. The "time period" indicates the time period to which the communication that is the subject of the statistics specified from the statistical information belongs. "Movement speed" indicates the movement speed of the device when communication that is the subject of statistics specified from the statistical information is performed. The "average communication time" indicates the average value of communication time as a statistical value determined from statistical information. Therefore, the information indicated in the "average communication time" can also be regarded as statistical information. The "parameter" indicates the number of pieces of communication time information used in the statistics identified from the statistical information. "Type" indicates the type of device that performed communication that is the subject of statistics, as identified from the statistical information. The "telecommunications carrier" and "telecommunications standard" indicate the telecommunications carrier and the telecommunications standard associated with the device that performed the communication that is the subject of the statistics, as identified from the statistical information. "Crowdiness" indicates the degree of crowding in the area of ​​the device when communication that is the subject of statistics specified from the statistical information took place.

[0060] Here, each piece of communication time information used to calculate one "average communication time" is communication time information included in transmission information that indicates the same indicators as "area information," "time period," "movement speed," "type," "communications carrier," "communication standard," and "crowd." In addition, in the storage process, the calculation unit 141 of the storage device 14 calculates communication time statistics using transmission information that indicates the same "area information," "time period to which the time belongs," "movement speed," "type," "communications carrier," "communication standard," and "crowd."

[0061] A specific example of the statistical information shown in the statistical information management table will be described. The "average communication time" of the statistical information 1401 is a statistical value calculated from transmission information indicating area information "VS11", time information belonging to the time period "14:00-14:59", movement speed "40", type "vehicle", carrier "AAA", communication standard "4G", and crowd "no". In other words, the "average communication time" of the statistical information 1401 is a statistical value calculated from each communication time information included in the transmission information of "210" in which the indicators indicated in "area information", "movement speed", "type", "carrier", "communication standard", and "crowd" are all the same. This number "210" is the value indicated in the "parameter". The "average communication time" in statistical information 1402 is a statistical value calculated from transmission information indicating area information "VS11", time information belonging to the time period "14:00-14:59", movement speed "41", type "vehicle", carrier "AAA", communication standard "4G", and crowd "none". The "average communication time" of statistical information 1403 is a statistical value calculated from transmission information indicating area information "VS11", time information belonging to the time period "14:00-14:59", movement speed "40", type "vehicle", telecommunications carrier "AAA", communication standard "5G", and crowd "none". The "average communication time" in statistical information 1404 is a statistical value calculated from transmission information indicating area information "VS11", time information belonging to the time period "14:00-14:59", movement speed "40", type "vehicle", carrier "BBB", communication standard "4G", and crowd "none".

[0062] It has been described that the calculation unit 141 of the storage device 14 calculates statistics of communication time for each telecommunications carrier in the storage process (see FIG. 11), but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, there are cases where the difference in the statistical values ​​of communication time for each telecommunications carrier is small, such as when the difference in the statistical values ​​of communication time for each telecommunications carrier is equal to or less than a predetermined value. In this case, the calculation unit 141 may calculate the statistical values ​​of communication time for multiple telecommunications carriers (for example, "AAA" and "BBB" which are "telecommunications carriers" shown in FIG. 13). Furthermore, when the number of pieces of communication time information used for statistics is small, such as when the number of pieces of transmission information transmitted from the control device 10 is equal to or less than a predetermined number, the calculation unit 141 may calculate the statistical values ​​of communication time for all telecommunications carriers. Furthermore, the information shown in the statistical information management table is not limited to the above-mentioned example, and the statistical information management table may also show, for example, the communication method.

[0063] Furthermore, although it has been described that the statistical values ​​indicated by the statistical information are statistical values ​​calculated from each piece of communication time information in which the indices indicated in "area information," "movement speed," "type," "communications carrier," "communication standard," and "crowd" are all included in the same transmission information, the present invention is not limited to this. The statistical values ​​indicated by the statistical information may be statistical values ​​calculated from each piece of communication time information in which at least one of the indices indicated in "area information," "movement speed," "type," "communications carrier," "communication standard," "crowd," and "communication method" are all included in the same transmission information.

[0064] Fig. 15 is a diagram showing a modified example of the example shown in Fig. 8. More specifically, Fig. 15 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of each process performed when information indicating the communication time of the mobile object 12 calculated by the mobile object 12 is stored in the storage device 14. The control unit 102 of the control device 10 requests information about the moving object 12 from the moving object 12 (S1501). At this time, the control unit 102 transmits information indicating the time in the control device 10 to the moving object 12 via the transmitting / receiving unit 104 together with the request. When the control unit 122 of the moving object 12 receives a request for information from the control device 10, it corrects the time (S1502) and performs a determination process (S1503). The contents of steps 1502 and 1503 are the same as those of steps 802 and 803 shown in FIG. 8. The mobile unit 12 performs a calculation process (see FIG. 10) (S1504) to generate transmission information including communication time information. The content of step 1504 is the same as the calculation process shown in FIG. 10, except that the processing is performed by the mobile unit 12. In addition, in the calculation process, the mobile unit 12 calculates the communication time from the difference between the time specified from the information received in step 1502 as the time when the control device 10 transmitted the information, and the time specified as the time when the mobile unit 12 received the information.

[0065] The mobile object 12 transmits the speed information, the position identification information, the time information, the communication information, the identification information, the area situation information, and the communication time information to the control device 10 (S1505). When the control device 10 receives information including communication time information from the mobile unit 12, it transmits the received information to the storage device 14 as transmission information (S1506). When the storage device 14 receives the transmission information including the communication time information from the control device 10, it performs a storage process (S1507). In this way, the communication time calculated by the mobile object control system 1 may be not only the communication time in an uplink when the mobile object 12 transmits information to the control device 10, but also the communication time in a downlink when the mobile object 12 receives information from the control device 10. In this case, the load on the control device 10 is reduced compared to a configuration in which the control device 10 calculates the communication time.

[0066] 15 may be performed by the user terminal 11 or the sensor node 15 instead of the mobile object 12. In other words, the user terminal 11 or the sensor node 15 may calculate the communication time with the control device 10.

[0067] Next, an example will be described in which the moving object 12 uses information about communication time to make settings related to autonomous movement. Fig. 16 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of each process performed when the mobile object 12 sets a planned communication position according to the communication time. The planned communication position is the planned position of the mobile object 12 when the mobile object 12 communicates with the control device 10. The process shown in Fig. 16 is started, for example, when the enter button 45 is pressed after at least the departure point and the arrival point have been entered on the input screen 40 (see Fig. 2(A)). In other words, the process shown in Fig. 16 is performed before the mobile object 12 starts moving. First, the control unit 122 of the moving object 12 sets a travel route based on the information input on the input screen 40, and generates travel route information indicating the set travel route (S1601). Note that the control unit 122 may include information indicating whether or not the moving object 12 is scheduled to stop in the travel route information. The control unit 122 of the moving object 12 sets a planned communication position from the departure point to the arrival point (S1602). This planned communication position is set to a position included in the set travel route. In addition, the planned communication position is set to a plurality of locations according to the travel route.

[0068] The control unit 122 of the mobile object 12 requests delay information from the control device 10 (S1603). The delay information is information indicating whether a delay will occur in communication between the device and the control device 10. At this time, the control unit 122 includes moving path information, scheduled time information, scheduled communication information, identification information, and scheduled status information in the information to be transmitted to the control device 10 as a request. The scheduled time information is information indicating the time when the device is scheduled to communicate with the control device 10 at the scheduled communication position. The scheduled communication information is information regarding communication scheduled when the device communicates with the control device 10 at the scheduled communication position. Examples of information regarding communication include information indicating a telecommunications carrier, information indicating a communication standard, and information indicating a communication method. The scheduled status information is information regarding the status of the area corresponding to the scheduled communication position. Note that information transmitted by the device to the control device 10 together with the request, such as scheduled time information, may be referred to as scheduled information hereinafter.

[0069] The control unit 122 generates travel route information, scheduled time information, scheduled communication information, identification information, and scheduled status information based on the departure time and travel route, and includes the generated information in the schedule information. The control unit 122 also includes the scheduled time information, scheduled communication information, identification information, and scheduled status information for each scheduled communication position in the schedule information. The control unit 122 may generate expected speed information and include it in the schedule information. The expected speed information is information indicating the expected moving speed of the device at the expected communication position.

[0070] When the control unit 102 of the control device 10 receives a request from the moving object 12, it selects the range of the area that is the subject of the requested delay information when requesting delay information from the storage device 14 (S1604). More specifically, based on the travel route information received from the moving object 12, the control unit 102 selects the range of the area that includes the travel route set for the moving object 12 as the range of the area that is the subject of the requested delay information. The control unit 102 of the control device 10 requests delay information for the range of the selected area from the storage device 14 (S1605). At this time, the control unit 102 includes the schedule information received from the mobile object 12 in the information to be transmitted to the storage device 14 as the request.

[0071] When the storage device 14 receives a request from the control device 10, it determines the delay information to be transmitted in accordance with the received request (S1606), and transmits the determined delay information to the control device 10 via the transceiver 144 (S1607). When the transmitter / receiver 104 of the control device 10 receives the delay information from the storage device 14, it transmits the received delay information to the mobile object 12 (S1608). Upon receiving the delay information from the control device 10, the mobile object 12 performs a shortening process (S1609). Although details will be described later, this shortening process controls the mobile object 12 so as to shorten the communication time from when the mobile object 12 departs from the departure point until when the mobile object 12 arrives at the destination.

[0072] Fig. 17(A) is a diagram showing a travel route and a planned communication position set for the mobile body 12. In Fig. 17(A), a route R, which is a travel route set for the mobile body 12, is indicated by a dashed line. In Fig. 17(A), a planned communication position P set for the mobile body 12 is indicated by a black square symbol. 17(A), a plurality of planned communication positions P are set on the route R. The control unit 102 of the mobile object 12 sets a position where information necessary for the movement of the mobile object 12 needs to be acquired from the control device 10 as each planned communication position P. Examples of information necessary for the movement of the mobile object 12 include information for identifying the presence or absence of objects such as parked vehicles and people on the route R, and information for identifying the presence or absence of oncoming vehicles and people when turning at an intersection and the moving speed of oncoming vehicles and people.

[0073] Fig. 17(B) is a diagram showing an example of a range selected by the control device 10 as a target area for delay information requested from the storage device 14. In Fig. 17(B), each selected area RA, which is an area selected by the control device 10 as a requested range for delay information, is indicated by a solid square line. 17(B), the control unit 102 of the control device 10 selects a range including not only the area corresponding to the route R but also the area not corresponding to the route R as the range for requesting delay information. More specifically, each selected area RA is selected so that the outline of all selected areas RA including the area corresponding to the route R is rectangular.

[0074] FIG. 17C is a diagram showing another example of a range selected by the control device 10 as a target area for which delay information is requested from the storage device 14. In FIG. 17(C), a range including only the area corresponding to route R is selected by the control unit 102 of the control device 10 as the range for requesting delay information. More specifically, each selected area RA is selected so that the area corresponding to route R is included in the selected area RA and the area not corresponding to route R is not included in the selected area RA.

[0075] 18 is a diagram showing a part of the delay information management table, which is a table used by the storage device 14 to manage delay information. 18A, the delay information management table shows "area information," "speed information," and "delay" in association with each other. The information associated with each other in the delay information management table may be collectively referred to as delay-related information. In a broad sense, delay-related information may also be considered as delay information. In the "area information" field, area information indicating the location of the device when the device communicates with the control device 10 is displayed. The "moving speed" indicates the moving speed of the device when the device communicated with the control device 10. "Delay" indicates delay information indicating whether or not a delay occurred in communication between the device and the control device 10. "No" indicated in "Delay" means that no delay occurred in communication between the device and the control device 10. Also, "Yes" indicated in "Delay" means that a delay occurred in communication between the device and the control device 10.

[0076] The delay information management table shown in FIG. 18(A) is a table in which the "communication time" in the transmission information management table (see FIG. 13) or the "average communication time" in the statistical information management table (see FIG. 14) is replaced with "delay." More specifically, when a "communication time" in the transmission information management table or the "average communication time" in the statistical information management table indicates a value less than a predetermined time, the "delay" in the delay information management table is replaced with "no." Furthermore, when a "communication time" in the transmission information management table or the "average communication time" in the statistical information management table indicates a value equal to or greater than a predetermined time, the "delay" in the delay information management table is replaced with "yes." The predetermined time may be any time, but is, for example, 200 ms. The control unit 142 of the storage device 14 generates a delay information management table including delay information from the transmission information management table and the statistical information management table.

[0077] A specific example of the delay information management table shown in FIG. 18(A) will be described. In the delay-related information 1801, "VS11" is shown as "area information", "40" is shown as "travel speed", and "none" is shown as "delay". In the delay-related information 1802, "VS11" is shown as "area information", "41" is shown as "travel speed", and "none" is shown as "delay". In the delay-related information 1803, "VS11" is shown as "area information", "42" is shown as "travel speed", and "present" is shown as "delay". In the delay-related information 1804, "VS11" is shown as "area information", "43" is shown as "travel speed", and "present" is shown as "delay".

[0078] The delay information management table shown in Fig. 18(B) differs from the delay information management table shown in Fig. 18(A) in that speed information is not shown. More specifically, the delay information management table shown in Fig. 18(B) is a table that includes delay information when the moving speed of the device when the device communicates with the control device 10 is 40 km / h. Note that the delay information management table shown in Fig. 18(B) is provided for each moving speed of the device when the device communicates with the control device 10.

[0079] A specific example of the delay information management table shown in FIG. 18(B) will be described. In the delay-related information 1805, "VS11" is shown as "area information" and "none" is shown as "delay." In the delay-related information 1806, "VS12" is shown as "area information" and "none" is shown as "delay." In the delay-related information 1807, "VS13" is shown as "area information" and "yes" is shown as "delay." In the delay-related information 1808, "VS14" is shown as "area information" and "yes" is shown as "delay."

[0080] As described above, the delay information management table is a table in which the "communication time" in the transmission information management table (see FIG. 13) or the "average communication time" in the statistical information management table (see FIG. 14) is replaced with "delay." Therefore, in both delay information management tables, just like the transmission information management table and the statistical information management table, "area information," "time" or "time period," "type," "communication carrier," "communication standard," "crowd," and "communication method" are associated and displayed.

[0081] When the control unit 142 of the storage device 14 receives a request for delay information from the control device 10, it references the requested selected area RA (see FIG. 17 ) and the schedule information received from the control device 10. The control unit 142 generates delay-related information from transmission information or statistical information associated with the same “time” or “time zone,” “type,” “communications carrier,” “communication standard,” “crowd,” and “communication method” as the indicators indicated by the schedule information, and “area information” indicating the selected area RA. The control unit 142 also generates delay-related information from transmission information or statistical information associated with the “area information” indicating the selected area RA and having at least one different indicator indicated by the schedule information. The control unit 142 then transmits a delay information management table including the generated delay-related information to the control device 10 via the transceiver 144. The control unit 142 may generate delay-related information for each piece of transmission information or for each piece of statistical information in advance before receiving a request for delay information from the control device 10. Then, when the control unit 142 receives a request for delay information from the control device 10, the control unit 142 may transmit to the control device 10 via the transmitting / receiving unit 144 a delay information management table including the delay-related information corresponding to the request from the delay-related information generated in advance.

[0082] Furthermore, when the schedule information includes planned speed information, the control unit 142 transmits to the control device 10 only delay information management tables that target the same speed as the travel speed identified from the planned speed information, such as the delay information management table shown in Fig. 18(B). When the schedule information does not include planned speed information, the control unit 142 transmits only delay information management tables that indicate delay-related information for each travel speed, such as the delay information management table shown in Fig. 18(A). Furthermore, when the control device 10 receives the delay information management table from the storage device 14, it transmits the received delay information management table to the moving object 12 (see steps 1607 and 1608 in Fig. 16).

[0083] 19(A) and 19(B) are flow charts showing the flow of the shortening process, which is a process in which the mobile object 12 shortens the communication time related to communication with the control device 10. The control unit 122 of the moving object 12 determines, among the areas including the expected communication position P, one area that has not been subjected to the determination in the current shortening process, as the object of the determination (S1901). The control unit 122 determines whether or not the change condition is satisfied (S1902). The change condition is a condition used by the control unit 122 to determine whether or not to change the communication mode of the mobile unit 12. In this embodiment, the change condition is defined as being that a delay is identified to occur in communication of the mobile unit 12 at the scheduled communication position. More specifically, the change condition is that "Yes" is indicated in the delay information associated with the same "time" or "time zone," "type," "communications carrier," "communication standard," "crowd," and "communication method" as the indicators indicated by the schedule information, and "area information" indicating the selected area RA. The control unit 122 determines whether or not the change condition is satisfied by referring to the delay information management table acquired from the storage device 14 via the control device 10.

[0084] Furthermore, if the change condition is satisfied (Yes in S1902), the control unit 122 determines whether or not the restriction condition is satisfied (S1903). The restriction condition is a condition used by the control unit 122 to determine whether or not to restrict a change in the communication mode of the mobile object 12. In this embodiment, the restriction condition is defined as a situation in which the situation identified as the situation when the mobile object 12 communicates with the control device 10 at the planned communication position in the future does not require a change in the communication mode of the mobile object 12.

[0085] An example of a situation in which the communication mode of the mobile unit 12 does not need to be changed is when the base stations used for communication by the mobile unit 12 at the planned communication location are sparsely populated. When the base stations used for communication by the mobile unit 12 at the planned communication location are densely populated, it is expected that the communication time will be shortened as the mode of communication between the mobile unit 12 and the base stations changes as the planned communication location changes. On the other hand, when the base stations are sparsely populated, even if the planned communication location changes, the mode of communication between the mobile unit 12 and the base stations does not change, and it is not expected that the communication time will be shortened. Therefore, a situation in which the base stations used for communication by the mobile unit 12 at the planned communication location are sparsely populated is defined as a restricting condition.

[0086] Furthermore, a situation in which the communication mode of the mobile object 12 does not need to be changed is, for example, a situation in which a predetermined number or more of on-street parking vehicles are detected in an area corresponding to the intended communication position. When there are many on-street parking vehicles in the area corresponding to the planned communication position, the mobile object 12 can communicate with the control device 10 while parked at the planned communication position, and therefore the impact of communication delays is small. Therefore, a situation in which a predetermined number or more of on-street parking vehicles are detected in the area corresponding to the planned communication position is defined as a limiting condition.

[0087] Furthermore, a situation in which the communication mode of the mobile object 12 does not need to be changed is, for example, a situation in which there is no intersection within a predetermined distance from the planned communication position. If there is no intersection near the planned communication position, there is a low possibility that an oncoming vehicle will pass on the path of the mobile object 12, and therefore the impact of communication delays is small. Therefore, a situation in which there is no intersection within a predetermined distance from the planned communication position is defined as a limiting condition. The predetermined distance range may include an area corresponding to the planned communication position and an area adjacent to the area corresponding to the planned communication position.

[0088] Furthermore, a situation in which the communication mode of the mobile object 12 does not need to be changed is, for example, a situation in which the time when the mobile object 12 is scheduled to communicate with the control device 10 at the planned communication location is within a predetermined time period. During times other than those when congestion is expected, such as during commutes to work or school, or during late night or early morning hours, there is a low possibility that oncoming vehicles or people will be present around the intended communication location, and therefore the impact of communication delays is small. Therefore, a restriction condition is set such that the time when the mobile object 12 is scheduled to communicate with the control device 10 at the intended communication location must be during a time period when there are no cars or people congested.

[0089] Furthermore, a situation in which the mode of communication of the mobile object 12 does not need to be changed is, for example, a situation in which the mobile object 12 is stopped at the planned communication location. When the mobile object 12 is stopped, the impact of communication delays is smaller than when the mobile object 12 is moving. Therefore, the situation in which the mobile object 12 is stopped is defined as a limiting condition.

[0090] The control unit 122 of the mobile object 12 identifies the situation when communicating with the control device 10 at the planned communication location from the schedule information, and determines from the identified situation whether or not the restriction condition is satisfied. The control unit 122 may also identify the situation when communicating with the control device 10 at the planned communication location from delay-related information associated with the same index as at least one index indicated by the schedule information. In other words, the delay information management table (see FIG. 18) indicates situations, such as "crowded," that can be identified as to whether or not the restriction condition is satisfied. The control unit 122 may also determine whether the limiting conditions are satisfied by receiving information indicating the detection results from a detection device that detects the presence or absence of each situation defined as the limiting conditions. In this case, the detection device may be the control device 10 or the storage device 14. Alternatively, the mobile object 12 may detect the presence or absence of a situation defined as the limiting condition.

[0091] If the restriction condition is not satisfied (Yes in S1903), the control unit 122 determines whether or not the position change condition is satisfied (S1904). The position change condition is a condition used by the control unit 122 to determine whether or not to change the planned communication position. In this embodiment, the position change condition is defined as the detection of on-street parking in an area corresponding to the planned communication position. Alternatively, the position change condition may be the absence of an intersection in the area corresponding to the planned communication position. In a location where on-street parking is possible, communication with the control device 10 is not required to realize movement of the mobile object 12. On the other hand, at an intersection, communication with the control device 10 is required for the mobile object 12 to obtain information such as the presence or absence of oncoming vehicles. Therefore, the location change conditions are set such that on-street parking is detected in the area corresponding to the planned communication location, that an intersection is not provided in the area corresponding to the planned communication location, and the like.

[0092] If the position change condition is satisfied (Yes in S1904), the control unit 122 determines whether or not a position determination condition exists in the area corresponding to the planned communication position (S1905). The position determination condition is a condition used by the control unit 122 to determine to which position the planned communication position should be changed. In this embodiment, the position determination condition is defined as such that, if a specific position with a predetermined situation exists in an area surrounding the area corresponding to the planned communication position, the planned communication position is changed to an area corresponding to this specific position. Examples of specific positions with a predetermined situation include a position where a dense number of base stations are used for communication. Examples of specific positions with a predetermined situation include a position where more than a predetermined number of on-street parking vehicles are detected, a position where the moving object 12 is determined to be stopped in the travel route information, a position where the road has a specific shape, etc. The communication time can be shortened by determining the position determination conditions so that the planned communication position is changed to a position where the communication time is expected to be shortened.

[0093] If a position determination condition exists in the area corresponding to the planned communication position (Yes in S1905), the control unit 122 changes the planned communication position to a position that satisfies the existing position determination condition (S1906). If the location determination condition does not exist in the area corresponding to the planned communication location (No in S1905), the control unit 122 changes the planned communication location based on a predetermined rule (S1907). A specific method for changing the planned communication location in step 1907 will be described in detail later.

[0094] If the location change condition is not satisfied (No in S1904), the control unit 122 determines whether or not the change validity condition is satisfied (S1908). The change validity condition is a condition used by the control unit 122 to determine whether or not a change in the settings related to communication of the mobile unit 12 is valid. In this embodiment, the change validity condition is that the delay information management table (see FIG. 18) acquired by the mobile unit 12 contains communication information different from the indicator indicated by the scheduled communication information and delay-related information associated with delay information indicating "none." If the change validity condition is satisfied (Yes in S1908), the control unit 122 changes the communication method of the mobile unit 12 (S1909). More specifically, the control unit 122 changes the communication setting of the mobile unit 12 to a setting identified from the communication information indicated in the delay-related information that satisfies the change validity condition in the delay information management table. The setting to be changed at this time is any one of the "communications carrier," "communication standard," and "communication method" indicated in the delay-related information. Specifically, the setting is any one of the "communications carrier," "communication standard," and "communication method" that are associated with the "time" or "time zone," "type," or "crowd" that are the same as the indicators indicated in the schedule information, the "area information" indicating the selected area RA, and the delay information of "none" in the delay-related information.

[0095] If the change validity condition is not satisfied (No in S1908), the control unit 122 determines whether or not the route change condition is satisfied (S1910). The route change condition is a condition used by the control unit 122 to determine whether or not to change the travel route. The route change condition is defined as the existence of a route in which the difference between the time required for the mobile object 12 to travel from the departure point to the destination input on the input screen 40 (see FIG. 2(A)) and the time required when the already set travel route is used is within a predetermined time. If the route change condition is met (Yes in S1910), the control unit 122 changes the set travel route (S1911).

[0096] If the change condition is not satisfied (No in S1902), if the restriction condition is satisfied (Yes in S1903), if the route change condition is not satisfied (No in S1910), or after steps 1906, 1907, 1909, and 1911, the process proceeds to the next step. The control unit 122 determines whether or not there is any area among the areas corresponding to the planned communication position P that has not been subject to the determination starting from step 1902 in this shortening process (S1912). If there is an area that has not been subjected to the determination (Yes in S1912), the control unit 122 determines one area that has not been subjected to the determination in the current shortened process, among the areas corresponding to the expected communication position P, as a new area to be subjected to the determination (S1901). After this, the processing from step 1902 onwards is repeated. That is, in the shortened process, the processing from step 1902 onwards is repeated until all areas corresponding to all expected communication positions P have been subjected to the determination.

[0097] If there is no area that has not been subjected to the determination by the control unit 122 (No in S1912), the shortening process ends. If the travel route is changed in step 1911 of the shortening process, the process from step 1602 in Fig. 16 is performed again for the changed travel route. Also, if the communication mode of the mobile unit 12 is changed in any of steps 1906, 1907, and 1909 of the shortening process, the process from step 1603 in Fig. 16 may be performed again for the changed communication mode.

[0098] Furthermore, when the scheduled speed information that the moving body 12 transmits to the control device 10 includes scheduled speed information, the moving body 12 uses delay-related information in the delay information management table that is associated with the same travel speed as the travel speed identified from the scheduled speed information. As an example, the control unit 122 determines whether the change condition is satisfied based on whether "yes" or "no" is indicated in the delay information associated with the same travel speed as the travel speed identified from the scheduled speed information. Also, if the scheduled information does not include scheduled speed information, the mobile unit 12 identifies the moving speed of the mobile unit 12 at the scheduled communication position, and uses the delay-related information associated with the same moving speed as the identified moving speed.

[0099] Fig. 20 is a diagram for explaining a method for changing the planned communication location in step 1907 of the shortening process (see Fig. 19). More specifically, Fig. 20(A) is a diagram showing the relationship between the planned communication location P before the planned communication location is changed and an area where the change condition is satisfied, i.e., an area identified as an area where a delay will occur in communication of the mobile object 12. Fig. 20(B) is a diagram showing the relationship between the planned communication location P and an area where the change condition is satisfied after the planned communication location is changed. 20(A) shows the selected area RA in a manner that identifies whether it is an area identified as an area where a delay will occur in the communication of the mobile unit 12. More specifically, the selected area RA is shown as either a non-delay area r1, which is an area identified as an area where a delay will not occur in the communication of the mobile unit 12, or a delay area r2, which is an area identified as an area where a delay will occur in the communication of the mobile unit 12.

[0100] As shown in Fig. 20(A), three selected areas RA are delay areas r2. Two planned communication positions P overlap with the delay areas r2. Note that the delay areas r2 that overlap with the planned communication positions P may be referred to as overlapping areas hereinafter. Fig. 20(A) shows a first overlapping area S1 and a second overlapping area S2 as overlapping areas. In this case, the control unit 122 changes the planned communication position P based on a predetermined rule in step 1907 of the shortening process (see FIG. 19). In this embodiment, the rule for changing the planned communication position is to change the planned communication position to the non-delay area r1 that is closest to the planned communication position P before the change.

[0101] The control unit 122 changes the planned communication position P that was set in the first overlapping area S1 shown in Fig. 20(A) to a position that corresponds to the non-delay area r1 that is located to the left of the delay area r2 that was the first overlapping area S1 in the figure, as shown in Fig. 20(B). Note that the control unit 122 may also change the planned communication position P that was set in the first overlapping area S1 shown in Fig. 20(A) to a position that corresponds to the non-delay area r1 that is located to the right of the delay area r2 that was the first overlapping area S1 in the figure. Furthermore, the control unit 122 changes the planned communication position P that was set in the second overlapping region S2 shown in Fig. 20(A) to a position corresponding to the non-delayed region r1 located immediately above the delayed region r2 that was the second overlapping region S2, as shown in Fig. 20(B). In addition, because the region located immediately to the left of the delayed region r2 that was the second overlapping region S2 in the figure is the delayed region r2, the planned communication position P is not changed to the region located immediately to the left of the delayed region r2 that was the second overlapping region S2 in the figure. In this way, by changing the planned communication location based on a predetermined rule, large changes in the planned communication location are suppressed and the communication time is shortened.

[0102] Note that there may be cases where the entire selected area RA is a delay area r2, in other words, where no non-delay area r1 exists in the selected area RA. In this case, the mobile object 12 requests delay information related to areas surrounding the selected area RA from the storage device 14 via the control device 10. Then, upon acquiring the requested delay information, the mobile object 12 changes the planned communication position P from the delay area r2 to the non-delay area r1 based on the acquired delay information.

[0103] 20 illustrates an example in which communication settings are changed when the selected area RA is the only area corresponding to the route R. In this way, when the selected area RA is the only area corresponding to the route R, the time required for the storage device 14 or the control device 10 to determine whether there is a delay in the selected area RA is reduced. 17(B), the selected area RA may be a range that includes not only the area corresponding to the route R but also the area that does not correspond to the route R. In this case, if the non-delay area r1 does not exist in the area corresponding to the route R, the mobile object 12 does not need to request delay information related to the area surrounding the area corresponding to the route R from the storage device 14.

[0104] In the present embodiment, the storage device 14 transmits the delay information as a delay information management table, but the present invention is not limited to this. The storage device 14 may transmit the delay information in the form shown in Fig. 20(A), in other words, in a form in which the travel route and information identifying the presence or absence of a delay specified from the delay information are superimposed.

[0105] Fig. 21 is a diagram for explaining a method for changing communication settings in step 1909 of the shortened process (see Fig. 19). More specifically, Fig. 21(A) is a diagram showing the relationship between the planned communication position P and the area where the change condition is satisfied before the communication settings are changed. Fig. 21(B) is a diagram showing the relationship between the planned communication position P and the area where the change condition is satisfied after the communication settings are changed. As shown in Fig. 21(A), the selected area RA is indicated by either a non-delay area r1 or a delay area r2. The relationship between the planned communication position and the non-delay area r1 and delay area r2 shown in Fig. 21(A) is the same as the relationship shown in Fig. 20(A). In addition, "4G" is set as the communication standard for the mobile object 12.

[0106] In step 1909 of the shortening process (see FIG. 19 ), the control unit 122 changes the settings related to communication of the mobile unit 12. More specifically, the control unit 122 changes the communication standard of the mobile unit 12 from "4G" shown in FIG. 21(A) to "3G" as shown in FIG. 21(B). In this case, the area overlapping any of the planned communication positions P becomes a non-delay area r1. In addition, in the delay-related information for each area corresponding to each planned communication position, "none" is displayed for "delay" associated with the same "time" or "time zone," "type," "crowd," "communications carrier," "communication method," and communication standard "3G" as the indicators indicated by the schedule information. Therefore, when the communication standard of the mobile unit 12 is changed to "3G," the control unit 122 determines that no delay will occur in the communication of the mobile unit 12 at each planned communication position.

[0107] Furthermore, the control performed by the control unit 122 when it is determined that a delay will occur in communication at the planned communication position of the mobile object 12 is not limited to the above-described example. The control unit 122 may change the moving speed of the mobile object 12 at the planned communication position from the planned moving speed. In addition, as the moving speed of the device changes, the mode of communication between the device and the control device 10 may change, and the communication time may be shortened. The control unit 122 may change the delay-related information to a "moving speed" associated with the same "time" or "time zone," "type," "crowd," "communication carrier," "communication method," "communication standard," "communication standard," and "no" "delay" indicated by the indicators in the schedule information.

[0108] Furthermore, the control unit 122 may request delay information again when it is determined that a delay will occur in communication at the planned communication location of the mobile object 12. In this case, the storage device 14 may change the communication time threshold, which is the criterion for determining whether a delay has occurred in communication, to a longer time, and then generate delay information again, and transmit the generated delay information to the mobile object 12 via the control device 10. Then, the mobile object 12 may perform the delay reduction process again using the newly acquired delay information.

[0109] Furthermore, the route change condition is not limited to the above-described example. For example, the route change condition may be that there is a travel route in which the communication time is shorter than the communication time identified for the planned communication location determined before the start of the shortening process (see FIG. 19). In this case, the control unit 122 of the mobile object 12 acquires delay information for each area as a candidate for changing the planned communication location before or during step 1910 of the shortening process. Then, in step 1910 of the shortening process, the control unit 122 identifies the presence or absence of communication delay for each area as a candidate for changing the planned communication location based on the delay information, thereby identifying an area that satisfies the route change condition.

[0110] Fig. 22 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of each process performed from when the mobile object 12 starts moving from the departure point until it arrives at the destination. The process shown in Fig. 22 is performed at predetermined time intervals from when the mobile object 12 starts moving from the departure point until it arrives at the destination. The predetermined time may be any time, but is, for example, 5 seconds. First, the control unit 122 of the moving object 12 requests delay information from the control device 10 (S2201). Here, if the content of the schedule information has changed since the moving object 12 started moving, the control unit 122 of the moving object 12 may include new schedule information in the information to be transmitted as a request to the control device 10. Furthermore, if the content of the schedule information has not changed since the moving object 12 started moving, the control unit 122 may not need to include schedule information in the information to be transmitted as a request to the control device 10.

[0111] When the control unit 102 of the control device 10 receives a request from the mobile object 12, it selects the range of the area that is the subject of the requested delay information when requesting delay information from the storage device 14 (S2202). If new schedule information has been received from the mobile object 12, the control unit 102 selects the range of the area that is the subject of the requested delay information based on the received new schedule information. The control unit 102 of the control device 10 requests the storage device 14 for delay information corresponding to the range of the selected area (S2203). Furthermore, when the control unit 102 receives new schedule information from the mobile object 12, the control unit 102 includes the new schedule information received from the mobile object 12 in the information to be transmitted to the storage device 14 as a request.

[0112] When the storage device 14 receives a request from the control device 10, it determines the delay information to be transmitted in accordance with the received request (S2204), and transmits the determined delay information to the control device 10 via the transceiver 144 (S2205). When the transmitter / receiver 104 of the control device 10 receives the delay information from the storage device 14, it transmits the received delay information to the mobile object 12 (S2206). Upon receiving the delay information from the control device 10, the moving object 12 performs a change process (S2207). As will be described in detail later, this change process changes the communication mode of the moving object 12 that was set before the moving object 12 started moving. The processing in steps 2201 to 2206 in FIG. 22 is the same as the processing in steps 1603 to 1608 in FIG.

[0113] 23 is a flowchart showing the flow of the change processing, in which the control unit 122 of the mobile object 12 changes the communication mode of the mobile object 12 that was set before the change processing started. The control unit 122 of the moving object 12 determines, as a target of determination, one area that has not been determined in the current change process, among areas that include the expected communication position P (S2301).

[0114] The control unit 122 determines whether or not the change condition is satisfied (S2302). The change condition is a condition used by the control unit 122 to determine whether or not a situation related to a delay in communication of the mobile object 12 at the planned communication position has changed. In this embodiment, the change condition is defined as a change in the result of the determination by the control unit 122 as to whether or not the change condition is satisfied for the planned communication position compared to when the shortening process was last performed. An example of the determination method of the control unit 122 in step 2302 will be described. When the control unit 122 determines that the change condition is satisfied for the planned communication location in the last abbreviated location processing but determines that the change condition is not satisfied for the current change process, the control unit 122 determines that the change condition is satisfied. Furthermore, when the control unit 122 determines that the change condition is not satisfied for the planned communication location in the last abbreviated location processing but determines that the change condition is satisfied for the current change process, the control unit 122 determines that the change condition is satisfied. Furthermore, when the control unit 122 determines that the change condition is satisfied for the planned communication location in both the last abbreviated location processing and the current change process, the control unit 122 determines that the change condition is not satisfied. Furthermore, when the control unit 122 determines that the change condition is not satisfied for the planned communication location in both the last abbreviated location processing and the current change process, the control unit 122 determines that the change condition is not satisfied.

[0115] If the change condition is satisfied (Yes in S2302), the control unit 122 determines whether or not the time condition is satisfied (S2303). The time condition is a condition used by the control unit 122 to determine whether or not there is sufficient time to change the communication mode of the mobile object 12 before the mobile object 12 reaches the planned communication position. In this embodiment, the time condition is set to prevent the communication mode from being changed even when the change in the communication mode of the mobile object 12 will not be completed in time for the mobile object 12 to reach the planned communication position. In addition, in this embodiment, the time condition is set such that the time specified to be required for the mobile object 12 to reach the planned communication position is equal to or longer than a predetermined time.

[0116] If the time condition is met (Yes in S2303), the control unit 122 determines whether the change condition is met (S2304). If the change condition is not satisfied (No in S2304), it is determined that a delay will occur in the communication of the mobile unit 12 in the last shortened process, whereas it is determined that a delay will not occur in the communication of the mobile unit 12 in the current change process. In this case, the control unit 122 returns the communication mode of the mobile unit 12 to the mode before the change in the shortened process (S2305). As an example, if the communication standard of the mobile unit 12 was changed from "4G" to "3G" in the shortened process (see FIG. 22), the control unit 122 returns the communication standard of the mobile unit 12 from "3G" to "4G."

[0117] Furthermore, if the change condition is satisfied (Yes in S2304), the last shortened process specified that no delay will occur in the communication of the mobile object 12, while the current change process specifies that a delay will occur in the communication of the mobile object 12. In this case, the control unit 122 performs shortened process (see FIG. 19) only for the expected communication position that is the determination target (S2306). Also, if the change condition is not satisfied (No in S2302), if the time condition is not satisfied (No in S2303), or after step 2305 or step 2306, the process proceeds to the next step. The control unit 122 determines whether or not there is any area among the areas including the expected communication position P that has not been subject to the determination starting from step 2302 in this shortening process (S2307).

[0118] If there is an area that has not been subject to the determination (Yes in S2307), the control unit 122 determines one area, among the areas including the expected communication position P, that has not been subject to the determination in the current shortening process, as a new object to be determined (S2301). After this, the processes from step 1902 onwards are repeated. That is, in the change process, the processes from step 2302 onwards are repeated until all areas corresponding to the expected communication position P have been subject to the determination. If there is no area that has not been subject to determination by the control unit 122 (No in S2307), the change process ends.

[0119] In the present embodiment, the shortening process is performed for all planned communication positions before the moving object 12 starts moving from the departure point, but the present invention is not limited to this. If the planned communication location is located at a location farther away from the departure point than a predetermined distance, shortening processing for this planned communication location does not have to be performed before the mobile object 12 starts moving. In this case, the storage device 14 does not have to transmit delay information for the planned communication location for which shortening processing is not performed. Then, after the mobile object 12 starts moving, if the planned communication location falls within a predetermined distance range from the location of the mobile object 12, the mobile object 12 may request delay information for this planned communication location from the storage device 14 via the control device 10. Then, based on the acquired delay information, the mobile object 12 may start shortening processing for the planned communication location that falls within the predetermined distance range.

[0120] Furthermore, if the content of the schedule information transmitted by the moving object 12 does not change between step 2201 in Fig. 22 and step 1603 in Fig. 16, the content of the delay information acquired by the moving object 12 also does not change between step 1608 in Fig. 16 and step 2206 in Fig. 22. In this case, the moving object 12 may perform the change process using the delay information that it has already acquired, without requesting delay information after starting to move.

[0121] Fig. 24 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of each process performed when information detected by the sensor node 15 is stored in the storage device 14. The process shown in Fig. 24 is started, for example, every time the detection unit 151 of the sensor node 15 detects information. When the detection unit 151 of the sensor node 15 detects the information, the control unit 152 requests delay information from the control device 10 (S2401). At this time, the control unit 152 includes location identification information, time information, communication information, identification information, and area situation information for identifying the location of the sensor node 15 in the information to be transmitted to the control device 10 as a request. At this time, the location identification information, time information, communication information, identification information, and area situation information transmitted by the sensor node 15 are all information indicating the current situation. Furthermore, since the sensor node 15 does not move, movement route information is not transmitted to the control device 10.

[0122] When the control unit 102 of the control device 10 receives a request from the sensor node 15, it selects an area that is the target of the requested delay information when requesting delay information from the storage device 14 (S2402). More specifically, the control unit 102 selects an area that corresponds to a position identified from the position identification information received from the sensor node 15 as the area that is the target of the requested delay information. The control unit 102 of the control device 10 requests the storage device 14 for delay information corresponding to the selected area (S2403). At this time, the control unit 102 includes the information received from the sensor node 15 in the information to be transmitted to the storage device 14 as a request.

[0123] When the storage device 14 receives the request from the control device 10, it transmits the delay information corresponding to the requested area to the control device 10 via the transmitting / receiving unit 144 (S2404). When the transmitter / receiver 104 of the control device 10 receives the delay information from the storage device 14, it transmits the received delay information to the sensor node 15 (S2405). When the sensor node 15 receives the delay information from the control device 10, it performs a reduction process (S2406). Although the details will be described later, this reduction process reduces the amount of information transmitted from the sensor node 15 in the communication between the sensor node 15 and the control device 10, thereby shortening the communication time for the communication between the sensor node 15 and the control device 10.

[0124] The sensor node 15 transmits to the control device 10, information that has undergone the reduction process and is not excluded from being transmitted to the control device 10 (S2407). At this time, the information that the sensor node 15 transmits to the control device 10 includes information detected by the detection unit 151 of the sensor node 15. When the control device 10 receives the information from the sensor node 15, it transmits the received information to the storage device 14 (S2408). When the storage device 14 receives the information from the control device 10, it stores the received information (S2409).

[0125] 25 is a flowchart showing the flow of the reduction process, which is a process in which the sensor node 15 reduces the amount of information transmitted to the control device 10. The control unit 152 of the sensor node 15 determines whether the change condition is satisfied (S2501). The control unit 152 refers to the delay information received from the storage device 14 via the control device 10, and determines whether the change condition is satisfied based on whether it is determined that a delay will occur in the communication of the sensor node 15. The method by which the control unit 152 determines whether the change condition is satisfied is the same as the method by the control unit 122, except that the information transmitted from the sensor node 15 to the control device 10 in step 2401 of Fig. 24 is used instead of the schedule information.

[0126] If the change condition is satisfied (S2501), the control unit 152 determines whether or not there is information that satisfies the transmission restriction condition (S2502). The transmission restriction condition is a condition used by the control unit 152 to determine whether or not there is information that is restricted from being transmitted from the sensor node 15 to the control device 10. In this embodiment, information of a type that is predetermined to have a low priority for transmission from the sensor node 15 to the control device 10 satisfies the transmission restriction condition. In addition, an example of the predetermined type of information is a saved operation log of the sensor node 15. If there is information that satisfies the transmission restriction condition (Yes in S2502), the control unit 152 excludes the information that satisfies the transmission restriction condition from the information to be transmitted to the control device 10 (S2503).

[0127] If there is no information that satisfies the transmission restriction condition (No in S2502), or after step 2503, the control unit 152 determines whether there is a process that satisfies the reduction condition (S2504). The reduction condition is a condition used by the control unit 152 to determine whether there is a process that can reduce the amount of information transmitted from the sensor node 15 to the control device 10. In this embodiment, a process that is predetermined as one that can reduce the amount of information transmitted from the sensor node 15 to the control device 10 is a process that satisfies the reduction condition. Furthermore, an example of the predetermined process is a process in which the detection unit 151 detects information.

[0128] If there is no process that satisfies the reduction condition (No in S2504), the reduction process ends. If there is a process that satisfies the reduction condition (Yes in S2504), the control unit 152 restricts the process that satisfies the reduction condition (S2505). An example of a method in which the control unit 152 restricts processing that satisfies the reduction condition will be described. When there is a specific area, such as an area that overlaps with an area detected by another sensor node 15 or an area where the accuracy of detection by the detection unit 151 is reduced, the control unit 152 excludes this specific area from the area to be detected by the detection unit 151. The control unit 152 may also reduce the frequency of detection by the detection unit 151. In this way, the amount of information transmitted from the sensor node 15 to the control device 10 is reduced by the amount of detection by the detection unit 151 per unit time, and as a result, the communication time for communication between the sensor node 15 and the control device 10 is shortened.

[0129] When the control unit 152 has excluded information that satisfies the transmission restriction conditions from the information to be transmitted, the control unit 152 may again include the excluded information as the information to be transmitted on the condition that a predetermined time has elapsed since the exclusion. When the control unit 152 has excluded information that satisfies the transmission restriction conditions from the information to be transmitted, the control unit 152 may again include the excluded information as the information to be transmitted on the condition that the change conditions are no longer satisfied.

[0130] Furthermore, the processing performed in the reduction process is not limited to the above example. When the change condition is satisfied in the reduction process, the control unit 152 may propose to the mobile object 12 a route that does not involve communication with the sensor node 15 that satisfies the change condition. In this case, the mobile object 12 may change its travel route based on the proposal received from the sensor node 15.

[0131] In this embodiment, the statistical values ​​such as the average communication time shown in the statistical information management table are described as being statistical values ​​for each device's movement speed, but this is not limiting. The statistical values ​​such as the average communication time shown in the statistical information management table may also be statistical values ​​for each range of device's movement speed. An example of a range of device's movement speed is a range from 40 km / h to 45 km / h. Similarly, the delay information shown in the delay information management table may be determined for each range of device's movement speed.

[0132] As described above, in this embodiment, the acquisition means acquires time information related to communication time. Examples of the time information include delay information. Then, when the time information associated with a specific device satisfies a predetermined condition, the control means controls the specific device to shorten the communication time related to communication between the specific device and the control device 10. Examples of the specific device include a device that has requested delay information. Examples of the time information associated with the specific device include delay information transmitted from the storage device 14 as falling within the range requested by the control device 10. Examples of the predetermined condition include a change condition. In this case, delays in device communication can be suppressed.

[0133] In the present embodiment, the storage device 14 transmits delay information in response to a request from the control device 10. However, this is not limiting. The storage device 14 may transmit information indicating communication time information, such as a transmission information management table, or information indicating statistical information, such as a statistical information management table, to an acquisition means of the control system in response to a request from the control device 10. The control means of the control system may then determine whether a communication delay will occur based on the acquired communication time information and statistical information, and, if it determines that a communication delay will occur, control a specific device to shorten the communication time related to the communication of the specific device. Therefore, communication time information and statistical information are also considered to be time information. Furthermore, determining that a communication delay will occur is also considered to be a predetermined condition.

[0134] The control of the control means is to change the area in which the specific mobile body 12 is scheduled to communicate with the control device 10, or to change the communication settings of the specific mobile body 12. An example of the specific mobile body 12 is the mobile body 12 that has requested delay information. An example of the area in which the specific mobile body 12 is scheduled to communicate with the control device 10 is the area corresponding to the planned communication location. Examples of communication settings include the telecommunications carrier, the communication method, and the communication standard. In this case, it is possible to prevent delays in communication of the specific mobile object 12 without changing the moving speed of the specific mobile object 12.

[0135] Furthermore, the time information associated with the specific mobile object 12 is time information associated with the area in which the specific mobile object 12 is located when the specific mobile object 12 communicates with the control device 10. An example of the area in which the specific mobile object 12 is located when the specific mobile object 12 communicates with the control device 10 is an area corresponding to the planned communication position. Furthermore, the movement route of the specific mobile object 12 includes a first area, which is a predetermined area, and a second area different from the first area. Furthermore, the time information includes first time information associated with the first area and satisfying a predetermined condition, and second time information associated with the second area and not satisfying a predetermined condition. The control by the control means is to change the area in which the specific mobile object 12 is scheduled to communicate with the control device 10 from the first area to a second area. An example of the first area is an area corresponding to the planned communication position before the change, and an example of the second area is an area corresponding to the planned communication position after the change. The first time information includes communication time information associated with the first area in the transmission information management table, statistical information associated with the first area in the statistical information management table, and delay information associated with the first area in the delay information management table. The second time information includes communication time information associated with the second area in the transmission information management table, statistical information associated with the second area in the statistical information management table, and delay information associated with the second area in the delay information management table. In this case, it is possible to prevent delays in communication of a specific mobile object 12 without changing the predetermined travel route.

[0136] Furthermore, the control means performs control or limits control according to a situation identified when a specific moving body 12 will communicate with the control device 10 in the future (see steps 1903, 1906, 1908, and 1909 in FIG. 19). The situation identified when a specific moving body 12 will communicate with the control device 10 in the future is a situation identified from travel route information, scheduled time information, scheduled communication information, identification information, scheduled situation information, etc. In this case, whether or not to suppress delays in communication of the specific mobile object 12 can be switched depending on the situation identified when the specific mobile object 12 communicates with the control device 10 in the future.

[0137] Furthermore, it is predetermined that the specific mobile object 12 will communicate with the control device 10 in a predetermined area after starting to move. An example of the predetermined area is an area corresponding to the planned communication location. Furthermore, the time information associated with the specific mobile object 12 is time information regarding the communication time related to communication between the mobile object 12 and the control device 10 when the situation is in the same category as the specific situation, among multiple categories divided according to the situation of the mobile object 12. Examples of the multiple categories divided according to the situation of the mobile object 12 include indicators such as "movement speed," "communication carrier," "communication standard," and "communication method" shown in the transmission information management table, statistical information management table, delay information management table, etc. Furthermore, an example of the specific situation is a situation identified for the specific mobile object 12 when it is located in the predetermined area in the future. More specifically, the specific situation is a situation identified from movement route information, scheduled time information, planned communication information, identification information, scheduled situation information, etc. In this case, the specific mobile body 12 can be controlled based on information about the communication history of the device, when the situation belongs to the same category as the situation identified for the specific mobile body 12.

[0138] In particular, in this embodiment, the specific situation is the situation of the moving speed of the specific moving body 12 when it is located in a predetermined area in the future. In this case, the specific moving body 12 can be controlled based on information on the communication history of the device, when the moving speed belongs to the same category as the moving speed specified for the specific moving body 12. In this embodiment, the specific situation is the situation of communication settings in the specific mobile body 12 when the specific mobile body 12 is located in a predetermined area in the future. In this case, the specific mobile body 12 can be controlled based on information on the communication history of the device, which is information on a situation that belongs to the same category as the situation of communication settings specified for the specific mobile body 12.

[0139] Furthermore, the status of the mobile object 12 includes a first status and a second status different from the first status, and the categories divided according to the status of the mobile object 12 include a first category to which the first status belongs and a second category to which the second status belongs. The time information includes information on the communication time related to the communication of the mobile object 12 when the status belongs to the first category, which satisfies a predetermined condition. The time information also includes information on the communication time related to the communication of the mobile object 12 when the status belongs to the second category, which does not satisfy a predetermined condition. The control means restricts control when the specific status changes from the first status to the second status (see step 2305 in FIG. 23). The first status is a status identified from schedule information transmitted from the mobile object 12 before the mobile object 12 starts moving (see step 1603 in FIG. 16). The first category includes an index that corresponds to the first situation among the indexes shown in the transmission information management table, statistical information management table, delay information management table, etc., such as "moving speed," "communications carrier," "communication standard," and "communication method." The second situation is a situation identified from the schedule information (see step 2201 in FIG. 22) transmitted from the mobile unit 12 after the mobile unit 12 starts moving. The second category includes an index that corresponds to the second situation among the indexes shown in the transmission information management table, statistical information management table, delay information management table, etc., such as "moving speed," "communications carrier," "communication standard," and "communication method." In this case, whether or not to suppress delays in communication of the specific mobile body 12 can be switched depending on changes in the situation identified when the specific mobile body 12 will communicate with the control device 10 in the future.

[0140] The control by the control means is a control to reduce the amount of communication per unit time between the device and the control device 10 (see steps 2502 and 2505 in FIG. 25). In this case, it is possible to prevent delays in communication of a specific mobile object 12 due to an increase in the amount of communication from a specific device to the control device 10.

[0141] In this embodiment, the moving object 12 performs the shortening process (see FIG. 19) and the changing process (see FIG. 23), but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the control device 10 may perform the shortening process or the change process. When the control device 10 changes the communication mode or the travel route of the mobile object 12 in the shortening process or the change process, the control device 10 may cause the mobile object 12 to change the communication mode or the travel route by transmitting information indicating the changes to the mobile object 12. In this case, the processing load on the mobile object 12 is reduced compared to a configuration in which the mobile object 12 performs the shortening process or the change process.

[0142] In addition, in this embodiment, it has been described that the sensor node 15 transmits the information detected by the detection unit 151 to the storage device 14 via the control device 10. Here, the sensor node 15 may also transmit the information detected by the detection unit 151 to the mobile object 12. Furthermore, the sensor node 15 may transmit the information detected by the detection unit 151 that is not stored in the storage device 14 only to the mobile object 12.

[0143] Furthermore, the object for determining whether a delay has occurred in communication between a device and the control device 10 is not limited to the storage device 14. The object for determining whether a delay has occurred in communication between a device and the control device 10 may be any of the control device 10, the user terminal 11, the mobile object 12, and the sensor node 15.

[0144] In the present embodiment, the control device 10 calculates the communication time, but the present invention is not limited to this. The communication time may be calculated by a device such as the mobile object 12 or the sensor node 15, without being calculated by the control device 10, or may be calculated by the storage device 14.

[0145] Also, in the present embodiment, when it is determined that a delay will occur in communication of the mobile body 12, the sensor node 15, etc., it has been described that the mobile body 12, the sensor node 15, etc. are controlled so as to shorten the communication time of the mobile body 12, the sensor node 15, etc. Here, the device for which the planned communication position is set, the device for which it is determined whether or not a delay will occur in communication with the control device 10, and the device for which control is performed to shorten the communication time may be the user terminal 11. In other words, when it is determined that a delay will occur in communication of the user terminal 11, the user terminal 11 may be controlled so as to shorten the communication time of the user terminal 11.

[0146] In addition, in the present embodiment, the device and the storage device 14 transmit and receive information via the control device 10, but this is not limiting. The device and the storage device 14 may transmit and receive information directly without going through the control device 10. In this case, the processing that was previously performed by the control device 10 may be performed by the storage device 14.

[0147] The present invention also includes cases where a software program that realizes the functions of each of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or device having a computer that can execute the program directly from a recording medium or via wired / wireless communication, and the program is executed. Therefore, the program code itself, supplied to and installed on a computer to implement the functional processes described above, also embodies the present invention. In other words, the computer program itself for implementing the functional processes of the present invention is also included in the present invention. In this case, the program may take any form, such as object code, a program executed by an interpreter, or script data supplied to an OS, as long as it has the program's functionality. Recording media for providing the program may include, for example, a hard disk, a magnetic recording medium such as a magnetic tape, an optical / magneto-optical storage medium, or a non-volatile semiconductor memory. Another possible method for providing the program is to store the computer program forming the present invention on a server on a computer network, and then download the computer program to a connected client computer. Furthermore, an operating system or the like running on a computer may perform some or all of the actual processing based on the instructions of the program code, and the functions of the above-described embodiments may be realized by this processing. Furthermore, program code read from a storage medium may be written to memory provided on a function expansion board inserted into a computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer. Then, a CPU or the like provided on the function expansion board or function expansion unit may perform some or all of the actual processing based on the instructions of the program code. Even in this case, the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized.

[0148] The disclosure of this embodiment includes the following configuration. (Configuration 1) an acquisition means for acquiring time information relating to a communication time, which is the time from when one of a management server that manages information used by the autonomously moving vehicle and the device transmits information to when the other receives the information; a control means for controlling a specific device so as to reduce the communication time between the specific device and the management server when the time information associated with the specific device satisfies a predetermined condition; A control system comprising: (Configuration 2) the device is a specific mobile object that moves autonomously, It is predetermined that the specific moving object communicates with the management server in a predetermined area after starting movement, 2. The control system according to configuration 1, wherein the control by the control means is a change in an area in which the specific mobile body is scheduled to communicate with the management server, or a change in settings related to communication in the specific mobile body. (Configuration 3) the time information associated with the specific mobile object is time information associated with an area in which the specific mobile object is located when the specific mobile object communicates with the management server; The specific moving body has a predetermined route of movement, The areas included in the path of movement include a first area that is the predetermined area and a second area that is different from the first area, The time information includes first time information associated with the first region and satisfying the condition, and second time information associated with the second region and not satisfying the condition, 3. The control system according to claim 2, wherein the control by the control means is a change of an area in which the specific mobile object is to communicate with the management server from the first area to the second area. (Configuration 4) the specific device is a specific mobile object that moves autonomously, A control system according to any one of configurations 1 to 3, wherein the control means performs the control or limits the control according to a situation identified when the specific mobile object communicates with the management server in the future. (Configuration 5) the specific device is a specific mobile object that moves autonomously, It is predetermined that the specific moving object communicates with the management server in a predetermined area after starting movement, A control system described in any of configurations 1 to 4, wherein the time information associated with the specific moving body is time information regarding the communication time between the moving body and the management server when the situation belongs to the same category as the specific situation identified for the specific moving body when it is located in the area in the future, out of multiple categories divided according to the situation of the moving body. (Configuration 6) The control system according to configuration 5, wherein the specific situation is the situation of the moving speed of the specific moving object when it is located in the area in the future. (Configuration 7) The control system according to configuration 5, wherein the specific situation is a setting situation regarding communication in the specific mobile object when the specific mobile object is located in the area in the future. (Configuration 8) The situation of the moving object includes a first situation and a second situation different from the first situation, The divisions include a first division to which the first situation belongs and a second division to which the second situation belongs, The time information includes information about the communication time related to communication of the mobile body when the situation belongs to the first category and satisfies the condition, and time information about the communication time related to communication of the mobile body when the situation belongs to the second category and does not satisfy the condition, 6. The control system according to claim 5, wherein the control means limits the control when the specific situation changes from the first situation to the second situation. (Configuration 9) 9. The control system according to any one of configurations 1 to 8, wherein the control by the control means is control to reduce the amount of communication per unit time between the specific device and the management server.

[0149] Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments and various modifications and changes are possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0150] 1...mobile object control system, 10...control device, 11...user terminal, 12...mobile object, 14...storage device, 15...sensor node

Claims

1. an acquisition means for acquiring time information relating to a communication time, which is the time from when one of a management server that manages information used by the autonomously moving vehicle and the device transmits information to when the other receives the information; a control means for controlling a specific device so as to reduce the communication time between the specific device and the management server when the time information associated with the specific device satisfies a predetermined condition; A control system comprising:

2. the device is a specific mobile object that moves autonomously, It is predetermined that the specific moving object communicates with the management server in a predetermined area after starting movement, 2. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the control by the control means is a change of an area in which the specific mobile object is to communicate with the management server, or a change of settings relating to communication in the specific mobile object.

3. the time information associated with the specific mobile object is time information associated with an area in which the specific mobile object is located when the specific mobile object communicates with the management server; The specific moving body has a predetermined route of movement, The areas included in the path of movement include a first area that is the predetermined area and a second area that is different from the first area, The time information includes first time information associated with the first region and satisfying the condition, and second time information associated with the second region and not satisfying the condition, 3. The control system according to claim 2, wherein the control by the control means is a change of an area in which the specific mobile object is to communicate with the management server from the first area to the second area.

4. the specific device is a specific mobile object that moves autonomously, 2. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the control means controls or limits the control depending on a situation specified when the specific mobile object communicates with the management server in the future.

5. the specific device is a specific mobile object that moves autonomously, It is predetermined that the specific moving object communicates with the management server in a predetermined area after starting movement, The control system described in claim 1, wherein the time information associated with the specific mobile body is time information regarding the communication time between the mobile body and the management server when the situation belongs to the same category as the specific situation identified for the specific mobile body when it is located in the area in the future, out of multiple categories divided according to the situation of the mobile body.

6. The control system according to claim 5 , wherein the specific situation is a situation of a moving speed of the specific moving object when the specific moving object is located in the area in the future.

7. The control system according to claim 5 , wherein the specific situation is a situation of communication settings in the specific mobile object when the specific mobile object is located in the area in the future.

8. The situation of the moving object includes a first situation and a second situation different from the first situation, The divisions include a first division to which the first situation belongs and a second division to which the second situation belongs, The time information includes information about the communication time related to communication of the mobile body when the situation belongs to the first category and satisfies the condition, and time information about the communication time related to communication of the mobile body when the situation belongs to the second category and does not satisfy the condition, The control system according to claim 5 , wherein the control means limits the control when the specific situation changes from the first situation to the second situation.

9. 2. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the control by the control means is a control to reduce the amount of communication per unit time between the specific device and the management server.

10. acquiring time information regarding a communication time, which is the time from when one of the management server and the device that manages information used by the autonomously moving vehicle transmits information to when the other receives the information; a step of controlling a specific device so as to reduce the communication time related to communication between the specific device and the management server when the time information associated with the specific device satisfies a predetermined condition; A control method comprising:

11. On the computer, a function of acquiring time information relating to a communication time, which is the time from when one of a management server and a device that manages information used by the autonomously moving vehicle transmits information to when the information is received by the other device; a function of controlling a specific device so as to reduce the communication time between the specific device and the management server when the time information associated with the specific device satisfies a predetermined condition; A program to make this happen.

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