In-vehicle device

Abstract

To provide an on-vehicle device enabling even a vehicle incapable of using a communication system provided by an information providing service to receive the service.SOLUTION: The in-vehicle device is connected to a wireless communication device capable of communicating with a plurality of devices including an information providing device using a plurality of communication systems, and includes a detection unit configured to detect a specific device incapable of communicating with the information providing device by collating an output of each sensor provided in a vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle device with a dynamic map received from the information providing device, a communication system selection unit configured to select a communication system usable with the specific device by attempting communication with the specific device using the plurality of communication systems, and a transfer unit configured to transfer data received from the information providing device by the wireless communication device to the specific device using the communication system selected by the communication system selection unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This disclosure relates to an in-vehicle device. This application claims priority to Japanese Application No. 2021-157352, filed on September 28, 2021, and incorporates by reference all of the contents of that Japanese application. [Background technology]

[0002] Information provision services that provide driving assistance information to vehicles based on information transmitted from information collection devices equipped with cameras and sensors such as LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) installed in vehicles and on roads (hereinafter referred to as "infrastructure sensors"), information obtained from services that provide various types of traffic information, and pre-prepared high-precision maps are becoming more widespread. Systems that provide such services are called road-vehicle cooperative systems.

[0003] 1, the road-vehicle cooperative system 50 includes an information providing server 60 that provides the above-described services, a group of infrastructure sensors including a LiDAR 64 and a camera 66, and vehicles 80, 82, and 84 that, when present within a cooperative vehicle range 74 that can communicate with the information providing server 60, transmit information obtained by their own sensors to the information providing server 60 and use the driving assistance information from the information providing server 60 for their own driving assistance. Such vehicles 80, 82, and 84 are referred to as cooperative vehicles.

[0004] Since a vehicle is a movable object (hereinafter referred to as a "moving object"), communication between the cooperative vehicle and the information providing server 60 is performed wirelessly. In addition, the LiDAR 64, the camera 66, and the like also transmit information similar to that transmitted to the information providing server 60 wirelessly.

[0005] The wireless communication method may change depending on the frequency band allocated to such services. Furthermore, wireless communication technology is advancing at a rapid pace. Therefore, multiple wireless communication methods may coexist at times. For example, the information providing server 60 communicates with cooperative vehicles using only LTE (Long Term Evolution). On the other hand, the infrastructure device equipped with the LiDAR 64 and camera 66 communicates with cooperative vehicles using C-V2X (Cellular Vehicle to Everything) in addition to LTE.

[0006] In such a situation, the following problems may arise. For example, vehicle 76 is capable of C-V2X communication but does not have LTE communication capabilities. In this case, vehicle 76 cannot receive information from information providing server 60. Furthermore, there may be cases where the C-V2X communication capabilities of the infrastructure equipment become unavailable for some reason. In that case, vehicle 76 will not be able to receive information from the infrastructure equipment either. If there are vehicles traveling on the road that cannot receive information provided by the road-to-vehicle coordination system in this way, there is a problem in that the driving assistance provided by the road-to-vehicle coordination system will not be fully effective.

[0007] One proposal to solve these problems is disclosed in Patent Document 1. The vehicle related to the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1 has both the function of communicating with a telematics server via a telematics base station and the function of communicating with the telematics server via cellular communication using tethering with the smartphone of the vehicle's user. By comparing the communication quality of both functions and selecting the one with the better communication quality to communicate with the telematics server, it is said that telematics services can be used more conveniently. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0008] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-150327 Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] An in-vehicle device according to a first aspect of this disclosure is an in-vehicle device connected to a wireless communication device capable of communicating with a plurality of devices including an information providing device via a plurality of communication methods, and includes a detection unit that detects a specific device that cannot communicate with the information providing device, a communication method selection unit that selects a communication method that can be used between the specific device and the information providing device, and a transfer unit that transfers data received from the information providing device by the wireless communication device to the specific device using the communication method selected by the communication method selection unit. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of the configuration of a road-vehicle cooperation system according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an in-vehicle system that can cooperate with the road-vehicle cooperation system according to the first embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the vehicle gateway, which is an in-vehicle device according to the first embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a computer constituting the hardware that realizes the vehicle gateway shown in FIG. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control structure of a computer program for implementing the vehicle gateway shown in FIG. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a control structure of a program routine realizing the process of determining a communication I / F (Interface) shown in FIG. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a control structure of a program routine realizing the process of selecting a communication I / F with a non-cooperation vehicle shown in FIG. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a control structure of a program routine for implementing the data amount adjustment process in accordance with the transfer I / F bandwidth shown in FIG. [Figure 9]FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a control structure of a program routine that realizes the process of correcting the position of a moving object in accordance with the transfer delay shown in FIG. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing an outline of the configuration of a road-vehicle cooperation system according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the vehicle gateway according to the second embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a control structure of a computer program realizing the vehicle gateway according to the second embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the configuration of control information used in the second embodiment. [Figure 14] FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a control structure of a program routine that realizes the process of correcting the position of a moving object in accordance with the transfer delay shown in FIG. [Figure 15] FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a control structure of a program routine for implementing the control information update and control information addition processes shown in FIG. [Figure 16] FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a control structure of a computer program for implementing the third embodiment of this disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] [Problem this disclosure aims to solve] However, the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1 cannot solve the problem, for example, when the information providing service cannot be received using any of the communication methods available to the vehicle. There is a need for a technology that allows the information providing service to be used even when the communication method used by the information providing service is unavailable.

[0012] Therefore, an object of this disclosure is to provide an in-vehicle device that enables a service to be received even in a vehicle that cannot use a communication method provided by an information providing service.

[0013] [Effect of this disclosure] As described above, according to this disclosure, it is possible to provide an in-vehicle device that enables a service to be received even in a vehicle that cannot use the communication method provided by the information providing service.

[0014] [Description of the embodiments of the present disclosure] In the following description and drawings, the same components are designated by the same reference numerals, and therefore detailed descriptions thereof will not be repeated. Note that any one or more of the following features may be combined.

[0015] (1) An in-vehicle device according to a first aspect of this disclosure is an in-vehicle device connected to a wireless communication device capable of communicating with multiple devices including an information providing device via multiple communication methods, and includes: a detection unit that detects a specific device that cannot communicate with the information providing device by comparing the outputs of each sensor provided in the vehicle in which the in-vehicle device is mounted with a dynamic map received from the information providing device; a communication method selection unit that selects a communication method that can be used with the specific device by attempting to communicate with the specific device using the multiple communication methods; and a transfer unit that transfers data received from the information providing device via the wireless communication device to the specific device using the communication method selected by the communication method selection unit. (Corresponding to paragraph 0017 of the original application)

[0016] This in-vehicle device allows a vehicle that cannot use the communication method provided by the information service to receive data transferred from the in-vehicle device and receive the information service (paragraph 0018 of the original application).

[0017] (2) The transfer unit may include a data amount adjustment unit that adjusts the amount of data in accordance with the communication bandwidth of the communication method selected by the communication method selection unit, and a transmission unit that transmits the data, the amount of which has been adjusted by the data amount adjustment unit, to the specified device using the selected communication method (paragraph 0023 of the original application).

[0018] Even when the amount of data to be transferred is larger than the communication bandwidth, the amount of data is adjusted according to the communication bandwidth. Therefore, even in a vehicle that cannot use the communication method provided by the information provision service, this in-vehicle device can receive at least a portion of the data transferred from the in-vehicle device and receive the information provision service. (Paragraph 0024 of the original application)

[0019] (3) The data may be assigned a value indicating the number of times the data has been transferred, and the in-vehicle device may further include an adding unit that adds a predetermined increment to the value indicating the number of times the data has been transferred when the transferring unit transfers the data (paragraph 0047 of the original application).

[0020] Each time data is transferred, reception delays and transfer delays accumulate, resulting in errors in the data. Therefore, by recording the number of transfers and attaching them to the data, the receiving vehicle can utilize functions to estimate errors, discard data, and otherwise process the data as accurately as possible. As a result, even a destination vehicle that cannot communicate directly with the information providing device can receive information services using data as accurate as possible, just as if the data were received in real time. (Paragraph 0048 of the original application)

[0021] (4) The in-vehicle device may further include a data discarding unit that discards the data in response to a transfer count value indicating the number of times the data has been transferred, the transfer count value being equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value (paragraph 0049 of the original application).

[0022] By discarding data when the amount of data transfer is equal to or greater than a threshold, it is possible to reduce the risk of using accumulated data containing errors for driving assistance. As a result, even if a vehicle that cannot directly communicate with the information providing device receives the information service using data that is as accurate as possible, it will be able to receive the information service in the same way as if the data were received in real time. (Paragraph 0050 of the original application)

[0023] [Details of the embodiments of the present disclosure] Specific examples of an in-vehicle device and an operating method thereof according to embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the present disclosure is not limited to these examples, but is defined by the claims, and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the claims.

[0024] 1. First embodiment 1 Configuration (1) Overall system configuration Referring to FIG. 1, the road-vehicle cooperative system 50 includes the information providing server 60, infrastructure equipment having a LiDAR 64 and a camera 66, and a cooperative vehicle range 72 that, unlike the conventional cooperative vehicle range 74, includes vehicles 76 that do not have LTE communication capabilities.

[0025] In this example, vehicle 76 has the same functions as vehicle 80 and vehicle 82. However, unlike vehicle 80 and vehicle 82, vehicle 76 does not have LTE as a communication I / F. Therefore, vehicle 76 cannot communicate directly with information providing server 60, and even in the case of infrastructure equipment having LiDAR 64 and camera 66, if the C-V2X communication function of the infrastructure equipment breaks down, vehicle 76 will not be able to receive information from this infrastructure equipment.

[0026] However, this embodiment differs from the conventional technology in that the vehicle 84 has the function of detecting a vehicle 76 that is unable to perform cooperative processing with the information providing server 60, the function of selecting a communication I / F that can be used between the vehicle 84 and the vehicle 76, and the function of transferring a dynamic map received via LTE as part of a driving assistance service from the information providing server 60 to the vehicle 76 via the selected communication I / F.

[0027] Furthermore, the vehicle 84 differs from the prior art in that it has a function to reduce the amount of data on the dynamic map if necessary depending on the bandwidth available at the communication I / F with the vehicle 76, a filtering function to transfer the dynamic map to the vehicle 76 if the time (transfer delay) from when the information providing server 60 sends the dynamic map to when the vehicle 84 receives it and then when the vehicle 84 transfers the dynamic map to the vehicle 76 is sufficiently short, and discards the dynamic map without transferring it if the delay time is equal to or greater than a threshold, and a position correction function to correct the position of a moving object on the dynamic map depending on the transfer delay.

[0028] (2) Hardware configuration of the in-vehicle system Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic hardware configuration of the in-vehicle system 110. Referring to Fig. 2, the in-vehicle system 110 includes an HMI (Human-Machine Interface) controller 132 connected to an in-vehicle LAN (Local Area Network), an exterior-vehicle communication controller 130 connected to the in-vehicle LAN like the HMI controller 132, an integrated antenna 140 connected to the exterior-vehicle communication controller 130 and functioning as an antenna for a fifth-generation mobile communication system (so-called "5G"), an intelligent transport system (so-called "ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems)"), a GPS (Global Positioning System), which is a type of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), and Wi-Fi, an autonomous driving controller 134 connected to the HMI controller 132 and the exterior-vehicle communication controller 130 by the in-vehicle LAN, a driving system controller 136 connected to the in-vehicle LAN, and a gigabit-class in-vehicle network (not shown) that interconnects the exterior-vehicle communication controller 130, the HMI controller 132, the autonomous driving controller 134, and the driving system controller 136.

[0029] The HMI controller 132 is connected to a monitor 142 and a plurality of ECUs (Electronic Control Units) 144 and 146 .

[0030] In addition to the millimeter wave radar 112, the in-vehicle camera 114, and the LiDAR 116, the autonomous driving controller 134 is also connected to an autonomous driving ECU 148.

[0031] The driving system controller 136 is connected to a plurality of ECUs 150, 152, 154, and 156 for controlling the driving of the vehicle.

[0032] The exterior communication controller 130, the HMI controller 132, the automatic driving controller 134, and the driving system controller 136 are essentially computers, and have similar configurations. The specific hardware configurations of these will be described later with reference to FIG.

[0033] (3) Functional configuration of the vehicle gateway 200 Fig. 3 shows the functional configuration of the in-vehicle gateway 200 functioning as an in-vehicle device, which is realized by cooperation of the components of the in-vehicle system 110 shown in Fig. 2. Referring to Fig. 3, the in-vehicle gateway 200 is used by connecting to a communication device 202 for communicating with the information providing server 60 and other devices via a plurality of communication I / Fs.

[0034] The in-vehicle gateway 200 includes a dynamic map receiving unit 220 that receives a dynamic map, which is driving assistance information, from the information providing server 60 via the communication device 202, a timer 232, a reception delay measuring unit 222, and a dynamic map storage unit 224. The in-vehicle gateway 200 further includes a specific device detection unit 226 that identifies a device that is included in the dynamic map but cannot communicate with the information providing server 60, a communication method selection unit 228 that selects a communication I / F that can be used with the device identified by the specific device detection unit 226 (a specific device, or a device or vehicle that cannot cooperate, and therefore referred to as a non-cooperative device or non-cooperative vehicle), and a priority table 230 that stores the priority of the communication I / F, which the communication method selection unit 228 refers to when selecting a communication I / F. The priority table stores available communication I / Fs in order of priority assigned to them according to some criteria. Examples of the criteria include available bandwidth, maximum communication speed, communication delay time, the number of simultaneous communications possible, and the prevalence rate of the communication I / F. By selecting a communication interface based on a priority determined from some perspective, the relay effect intended by the system designer can be achieved. For example, by selecting a communication interface with as large a bandwidth as possible, the amount of data that can be relayed increases, allowing for effective use of dynamic maps from the information providing server 60.

[0035] The vehicle gateway 200 further includes a data amount adjustment unit 234 for adjusting the amount of data, such as by deleting part of the data of the dynamic map stored in the dynamic map storage unit 224 if necessary, based on the available bandwidth of the communication I / F selected by the communication method selection unit 228, thereby reducing the data amount of the dynamic map; a transfer delay calculation unit 236 for estimating the delay time (transfer delay) until the dynamic map is transferred to the specified device detected by the specified device detection unit 226, by referring to the timer 232; and a calculation unit 236 for calculating the delay time (transfer delay) until the dynamic map is transferred to the specified device detected by the specified device detection unit 226, when the elapsed time from the timestamp added to the dynamic map to the current time measured by the timer 232 is equal to or greater than a first threshold value. The communication device includes a filtering unit (238) that performs a filtering process to discard the dynamic map without transferring it if there is a transfer delay; a correction unit (240) that corrects the position of an object whose position changes as a function of time, such as a vehicle on the dynamic map, based on the transfer delay predicted by the transfer delay calculation unit (236) for the dynamic map not filtered by the filtering unit (238), and overwrites the dynamic map; and a data transfer unit (242) that controls the communication device (202) to transfer the dynamic map corrected by the correction unit (240) to the specific device detected by the specific device detection unit (226) using the communication I / F selected by the communication method selection unit (228).

[0036] (4) Hardware configuration of HMI controller 132 In this embodiment, the in-vehicle gateway 200 is mainly realized by the HMI controller 132 shown in FIG. 2 through communication with each of the other components. The hardware configurations of the exterior communication controller 130, the automatic driving controller 134, and the driving system controller 136 shown in FIG. 2 are substantially the same as those of the HMI controller 132. Here, an example of the hardware configuration of a computer system that realizes the HMI controller 132 will be described. The in-vehicle gateway 200 may be realized by a program executed by another controller, for example, the automatic driving controller 134, or may be realized as independent hardware. When the in-vehicle gateway 200 is realized as independent hardware, the in-vehicle system 110 may initially include the in-vehicle gateway 200 as a component thereof, or the in-vehicle system 110 may be configured to be able to add the in-vehicle gateway 200 later.

[0037] 4, computer system 350 realizing HMI controller 132 includes a computer 370 having a DVD drive 402 capable of loading a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) 378, a touch panel 372 for interacting with a user, and a speaker 380 and a microphone 382 for realizing audio interaction with the user, all connected to computer 370. Touch panel 372 corresponds to monitor 142 shown in Fig. 2. Of course, this is just one example of a configuration for when user interaction is required, and any general hardware and software that can be used for user interaction (for example, a general pointing device such as a keyboard or trackball) can be used.

[0038] 4, computer 370 includes, in addition to DVD drive 402, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 390, a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) 392, a bus 410 connected to CPU 390, GPU 392, and DVD drive 402, a ROM (Read-Only Memory) 396 connected to bus 410 and storing a boot-up program and the like for computer 370, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 398 connected to bus 410 and storing instructions constituting programs, system programs, working data, and the like, and an SSD (Solid State Drive) 400, which is non-volatile memory, connected to bus 410. SSD 400 is used to store programs executed by CPU 390 and GPU 392, data used by the programs executed by CPU 390 and GPU 392, and the like. Computer 370 further includes a network I / F 408 that provides connection to a network 386 that enables communication with other terminals, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port 406 to which a USB memory 384 can be attached / detached and that provides communication between USB memory 384 and various components within computer 370, and an input / output I / F 412 that is connected to a bus 410 and that communicates with various devices such as ECU 144 and ECU 146 shown in FIG. 2.

[0039] The computer 370 further includes a touch panel controller 394 connected to the touch panel 372 and the bus 410 for controlling the touch panel 372 in accordance with commands from the CPU 390, and an audio I / F 404 connected to the microphone 382, ​​the speaker 380 and the bus 410 for reading out audio signals, video signals and text data generated by the CPU 390 and stored in the RAM 398 or the SSD 400 in accordance with instructions from the CPU 390, and performing voice synthesis, analog conversion and amplification processes to drive the speaker 380, and digitizing the analog audio signal from the microphone 382 and storing it at an arbitrary address in the RAM 398 or the SSD 400 specified by the CPU 390.

[0040] (5) Program Structure Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing the control structure of a computer program that is stored in the SSD 400 shown in Fig. 4 and that is executed by the CPU 390 to implement the functions of the in-vehicle gateway 200 (see Fig. 3) according to this embodiment. This program is loaded into the RAM 398 when executed by the CPU 390.

[0041] 5, this program includes step 450, which initializes the storage area to be used immediately after the program is started, the port to be used, and the like; step 452, which follows step 450 and waits until a dynamic map is received from the information providing server 60; and step 454, which, in response to the reception of the dynamic map, determines whether or not there are any non-cooperative vehicles in the vicinity within the driving area of ​​the vehicle equipped with the in-vehicle gateway 200 by comparing the outputs of the sensors of the vehicle with the received dynamic map, and branches the control flow depending on the determination result. If the determination in step 454 is negative, control returns to step 452. Note that the dynamic map received in step 452 is provided with a timestamp indicating the time when the information providing server 60 generated the dynamic map or the time when the information providing server 60 transmitted the dynamic map.

[0042] This program further includes step 456, in response to a positive determination in step 454, of comparing the outputs of each sensor of the vehicle with the received dynamic map to identify a vehicle that cannot cooperate; step 458, which determines a communication interface with the identified vehicle that cannot cooperate; step 460, which adjusts the amount of data, such as deleting some of the data of the dynamic map if necessary, depending on the bandwidth available at the communication interface determined in step 458; step 462, which executes a filtering process using the output of a built-in timer to compare the time difference (transfer delay) between the timestamp attached to the dynamic map and the current time with a threshold value and decides whether to discard the dynamic map based on the result of the comparison; and step 464, which returns the flow of control to step 452 when it is determined in step 462 that the dynamic map should be discarded.

[0043] This program further includes step 466, when the determination in step 464 is negative, correcting the position and speed of the moving object after the transfer delay based on the position and speed of the moving object on the dynamic map in accordance with the transfer delay and overwriting the corresponding data on the dynamic map, and step 468, transmitting the dynamic map corrected in step 466 to the non-cooperative vehicle identified in step 456 via the communication I / F determined in step 458, and returning control to step 452.

[0044] Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing a control structure of a program routine for realizing the process of determining a communication I / F with a cooperation-unavailable vehicle, which is executed in step 458 of Fig. 5. Referring to Fig. 6, this routine includes step 500 of comparing signals received from the cooperation-unavailable vehicle and surrounding vehicles, step 502 of determining whether data has been received from the cooperation-unavailable vehicle and branching the control flow depending on the determination result, and step 504 of selecting a communication I / F with the cooperation-unavailable vehicle and terminating execution of this routine when the determination in step 502 is negative. Details of step 504 will be described later with reference to Fig. 7.

[0045] This routine further includes step 506, in which, if the determination in step 502 is positive, the communication state of the communication I / F used when data was received from the cooperation-unavailable vehicle is observed, step 508, in which, based on the result of the observation in step 506, it is determined whether the target communication I / F satisfies the required end communication performance and the control flow is branched depending on the result, and step 510, in which, if the determination in step 508 is positive, the communication I / F used when data was received from the cooperation-unavailable vehicle is determined to be the communication I / F to be used for forwarding relay and execution of this routine is terminated. If the determination in step 508 is negative, control proceeds to step 504, and the same processing as when data has not been received from the cooperation-unavailable vehicle is performed.

[0046] Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing a control structure of a program routine executed in step 504 of Fig. 6. Referring to Fig. 7, this routine includes step 600 of switching to the communication I / F with the highest priority by referring to priority table 230 shown in Fig. 3 and observing the communication state with the cooperation-unavailable vehicle; step 602 of determining whether the communication I / F in question satisfies required end-point communication performance as a result of the observation in step 600 and branching the control flow according to the result; step 604 of determining whether there is an untried communication I / F in priority table 230 in response to a negative determination in step 602 and returning control to step 600 if the determination is positive; and step 606 of notifying an infrastructure device such as information providing server 60 that a dynamic map cannot be transferred to the cooperation-unavailable vehicle and terminating this routine if the determination in step 604 is negative. If the determination in step 604 is negative, no further processing is performed for the cooperation-unavailable vehicle being processed.

[0047] This routine further includes step 608, in which, if the determination in step 602 is affirmative, a search signal is transmitted to the non-cooperation vehicle via the current communication I / F and a response from the non-cooperation vehicle is confirmed, step 610, in which it is determined whether or not there is a response to the search signal transmitted in step 608 and the control flow branches depending on the result, and step 612, in which, if the determination in step 610 is affirmative, the current communication I / F is determined to be the communication I / F with the non-cooperation vehicle and execution of this routine is terminated. If the determination in step 610 is negative, control returns to step 600.

[0048] 8 is a flowchart showing a control structure of a program routine for realizing the process of adjusting the amount of data in accordance with the bandwidth of the communication I / F (hereinafter referred to as the "transfer I / F") used for transfer, which is executed in step 460 of FIG. 8. Referring to FIG. 8, this routine includes step 650 for checking the data communication bandwidth transmittable by the transfer I / F, step 652 for checking the amount of data (transfer data amount) of the dynamic map to be transferred, step 654 for determining whether the amount of transfer data is greater than the bandwidth of the transfer I / F and branching the control flow in accordance with the determination result, and step 656 for reducing the amount of data of low priority in the dynamic map and returning the control flow to step 654 when the determination in step 654 is negative. When the determination in step 654 is negative, execution of this routine ends.

[0049] The following are examples of standards and methods for reducing the amount of data.

[0050] A. Grouping Multiple moving objects that are close to each other within a certain distance are considered to be a single moving object. In other words, the data of multiple moving objects is replaced with data of a single moving object. Even if the reduced data is used for driving assistance, these moving objects can still be avoided. Therefore, the impact of this processing is small.

[0051] B. Limiting the number of attributes For each moving object, attributes with low priority (such as detailed attributes such as the type of moving object or whether it is an adult or a child) are removed. Generally, moving object attributes are stored in a tree-like data format, and information below a certain node is less important.

[0052] C) Limiting the detection area Areas other than those with high priority are deleted from the dynamic map. Examples of high priority areas include areas centered around intersections and areas with blind spots. Among these, for example, the priority of intersections may be changed depending on the frequency of traffic accidents.

[0053] Fig. 9 is a flowchart showing the control structure of a program routine that realizes the processing executed in step 466 of Fig. 5. Referring to Fig. 9, this routine includes step 700, which calculates the time stamp attached to the received dynamic map and the time immediately before the data is transferred from vehicle 84 (transfer delay), step 702, which determines whether the transfer delay calculated in step 700 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold and branches the control flow based on the result of the determination, and step 704, which, if the determination in step 702 is positive, predicts and updates, for each moving object on the dynamic map, a change in position corresponding to the elapsed time equivalent to the transfer delay based on the position and speed of the moving object, overwrites the dynamic map, and terminates execution of this routine. If the determination in step 702 is negative, execution of this routine terminates without correcting the dynamic map.

[0054] 2 operations The vehicle gateway 200 according to the first embodiment, the configuration of which has been described above, operates as follows. Referring to FIG. 3, the dynamic map receiving unit 220 waits for a dynamic map to be transmitted from the information providing server 60 (step 452 in FIG. 5). Upon receiving the dynamic map, the dynamic map is passed to the reception delay measuring unit 222. The reception delay measuring unit 222 receives the current time from the timer 232 and calculates the difference (reception delay) between the current time and the time when the information providing server 60 generated or transmitted the dynamic map. The reception delay measuring unit 222 adds the reception delay to the dynamic map and stores it in the dynamic map storage unit 224. The specific device detection unit 226 determines whether there is a non-cooperative vehicle among the surrounding vehicles that has not received information from the information providing server 60, based on communication between the dynamic map storage unit 224 and the surrounding vehicles via the communication device 202 (step 454 in FIG. 5). If no such vehicle is present, the other units shown in FIG. 3 do not perform any further processing. Of course, driving assistance processing is performed using the dynamic map stored in the dynamic map storage unit 224.

[0055] If there is a non-cooperation vehicle (the determination in step 454 is positive), the communication method selection unit 228 selects a communication I / F to be used with the non-cooperation vehicle in response to an instruction from the specific device detection unit 226 (step 458 in FIG. 5; details are shown in FIG. 6). If there is no usable communication I / F, the communication method selection unit 228 notifies an infrastructure device such as the information providing server 60 that it is not possible to transfer the dynamic map to the non-cooperation vehicle, and the in-vehicle gateway 200 does not perform any further processing.

[0056] If a communication I / F is available for use, the communication method selection unit 228 notifies the data amount adjustment unit 234 of information about that communication I / F. The data amount adjustment unit 234 checks the available communication bandwidth of the selected communication I / F and the data amount of the dynamic map stored in the dynamic map storage unit 224 (steps 650 and 652 in FIG. 8). It then compares these (step 654 in FIG. 8) and adjusts the data amount of the dynamic map until the data amount of the dynamic map is equal to or less than the available communication bandwidth of the selected communication I / F (step 460 in FIG. 5 and steps 654 and 656 in FIG. 8).

[0057] When the data volume of the dynamic map has been sufficiently reduced, the data volume adjustment unit 234 passes the dynamic map to the filtering unit 238. The filtering unit 238 provides the timestamp attached to the dynamic map to the transfer delay calculation unit 236, requesting it to calculate the transfer delay. The transfer delay calculation unit 236 compares this timestamp with the time measured by the timer 232, calculates the transfer delay, and sends the calculated transfer delay back to the filtering unit 238. The filtering unit 238 compares this transfer delay with a predetermined threshold, and if the transfer delay is equal to or greater than the threshold, decides to discard the dynamic map without transferring it to the non-cooperation vehicle (step 462 in FIG. 5). In other words, if this process determines to discard the dynamic map (the determination in step 464 in FIG. 5 is affirmative), the filtering unit 238 does not provide the dynamic map to the correction unit 240. Therefore, neither the correction unit 240 nor the data transfer unit 242 operates. As a result, the dynamic map is not transferred to the non-cooperation vehicle, and the transfer process ends here.

[0058] On the other hand, if the transfer delay calculated by the transfer delay calculation unit 236 is smaller than the threshold value, the dynamic map is not discarded (the determination in step 464 in FIG. 5 is negative).

[0059] If the transfer delay calculated by the transfer delay calculation unit 236 (step 700 in FIG. 9) is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold (the determination in step 702 in FIG. 9 is affirmative), the correction unit 240 corrects the position of each moving object on the dynamic map (step 704 in FIG. 9) and provides the dynamic map to the data transfer unit 242. The data transfer unit 242 transfers this dynamic map to the cooperation-incapable vehicle detected by the specified device detection unit 226 via the communication I / F selected by the communication method selection unit 228 (step 468 in FIG. 5).

[0060] 3. Effects of the First Embodiment According to this first embodiment, the on-board device of a vehicle that relays driving assistance information to non-cooperative vehicles, such as vehicle 84, is required to have the various functions described above, or among them, the minimum functions required to relay the driving assistance information. However, a vehicle that receives relayed driving assistance information, such as vehicle 76, is not required to have the functions described above. Vehicle 76 simply needs to have the function to receive and use driving assistance information via one or more communication I / Fs, like vehicle 82 and vehicle 84. Therefore, the existence of a vehicle such as vehicle 84 allows many vehicles to enjoy the function.

[0061] Furthermore, if a vehicle receiving the relayed information has a vehicle like vehicle 84 nearby, it can automatically receive relayed driving assistance information from vehicle 84 even if communication with an infrastructure device such as information server 60 is interrupted for some reason. Therefore, even if communication is interrupted, the impact can be minimized and seamless service can be maintained. Furthermore, because the amount of data is adjusted during relaying, a portion of the dynamic map information can be relayed even if the bandwidth of the selected communication interface is narrow. By using this portion of the dynamic map, the vehicle receiving the relayed information can provide at least some driving assistance. Furthermore, filtering can avoid relaying outdated data, preventing the vehicle receiving the relayed information from providing driving assistance based on outdated data. This also saves bandwidth on the communication interface. Furthermore, because the dynamic map information is corrected based on the transfer delay, it is expected that the error in the relayed dynamic map will be smaller than when no correction is performed.

[0062] Second Embodiment 1 Configuration (1) Overall system configuration In the road-vehicle cooperation system 50 according to the first embodiment, correction, filtering, and the like of the dynamic map are all performed by the vehicle that relays the dynamic map, such as vehicle 84. However, this disclosure is not limited to such an embodiment. Correction, filtering, and the like of the dynamic map may also be performed by the vehicle that receives the relay. Furthermore, in the first embodiment, relaying is performed only once, and the vehicle that receives the relay does not further relay the dynamic map to other vehicles. However, this disclosure is not limited to such an embodiment. A vehicle that receives the relayed dynamic map may further relay the dynamic map to another vehicle. This second embodiment is such a road-vehicle cooperation system.

[0063] 10 , a road-vehicle cooperation system 750 according to the second embodiment includes an information providing server 60 similar to that of the first embodiment, and infrastructure equipment including a LiDAR 64 and a camera 66. The road-vehicle cooperation system 750 further differs from the first embodiment in that, instead of the vehicles 84 and 76 of the first embodiment, the road-vehicle cooperation system 750 includes vehicles 780, 782, and 784, which have the function of relaying a dynamic map over multiple stages as described above. In this embodiment, in addition to the vehicles 80 and 82 having the same function as those of the first embodiment, a cooperative vehicle range 770 is formed by vehicles that can receive a dynamic map from the information providing server 60 and infrastructure equipment via LTE, including the vehicle 780. Meanwhile, the vehicle 780 can communicate with others not only via LTE but also via C-V2X, and in this embodiment, the vehicle 780 also has the function of relaying a dynamic map received from the information providing server 60 or infrastructure equipment to the vehicle 782 via C-V2X.

[0064] In this embodiment, vehicle 782 can communicate with other vehicles using C-V2X, but does not have LTE communication capabilities. Furthermore, vehicle 782 cannot communicate with other vehicles using a communication I / F other than C-V2X. The same applies to vehicle 784, which receives a dynamic map relay from vehicle 782.

[0065] However, this disclosure is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, vehicle 782 may be capable of communication using a communication I / F other than LTE in addition to C-V2X. In that case, vehicle 784 may also have the function of communicating not only using C-V2X but also using the same communication I / F as vehicle 782. In short, each vehicle that performs a series of relay processes, such as vehicle 782 and vehicle 784, does not need to have a communication I / F that can communicate with information providing server 60, and only needs to be able to communicate with the vehicle that precedes the relay.

[0066] In addition to the vehicle 80 and the vehicle 82, the cooperative vehicle range 760 of the second embodiment is formed by vehicles such as the vehicle 780, the vehicle 782, and the vehicle 784 that have the function of relaying the dynamic map.

[0067] (2) Functional configuration of the in-vehicle gateway 800 Here, the functional configuration of the in-vehicle gateway 800 functioning as an in-vehicle device, which is realized by hardware such as that shown in Fig. 2, will be described in order to realize the functions of, for example, the vehicle 782. In the in-vehicle gateway 800 realizing this embodiment, in order to realize the filtering function and correction function described above, for example, the in-vehicle device of the leading vehicle (vehicle 780 in Fig. 10) that performs relay processing adds control information to the received dynamic map. The configuration of the control information will be described later with reference to Fig. 13.

[0068] 11, like the in-vehicle gateway 200 of the first embodiment, the in-vehicle gateway 800 includes a dynamic map receiving unit 220 that is connected to the communication device 202 and receives a dynamic map from the information providing server 60 via the communication device 202, and a timer 232. The in-vehicle gateway 800 further includes a control information extracting and generating unit 810 that extracts control information when control information is attached to the dynamic map received by the dynamic map receiving unit 220, and generates new control information when no control information is attached, and a control information storage unit 812 for storing the control information extracted or generated by the control information extracting and generating unit 810.

[0069] Referring to FIG. 13, the control information 900 stored in the control information storage unit 812 includes the time when the dynamic map was generated at the distribution source (for example, the information providing server 60 in the case of FIG. 10), the time when the vehicle-mounted gateway 800 received the dynamic map from the device preceding the relay, the time when the vehicle-mounted gateway 800 transmitted the dynamic map for relay to the subsequent device, the number of times the dynamic map was transferred until the vehicle-mounted gateway 800 received the dynamic map, and the number of times the dynamic map was corrected until the vehicle-mounted gateway 800 received the dynamic map.

[0070] As in the first embodiment, when the information providing server 60 transmits a dynamic map, it attaches the time when the dynamic map was generated or transmitted to the dynamic map as a timestamp. When the vehicle gateway 800 receives the dynamic map for the first time, the vehicle gateway 800 generates the control information shown in FIG. 13. At this time, the control information extracting and generating unit 810 substitutes the timestamp attached to the dynamic map for the generation time of the distribution source. The control information extracting and generating unit 810 also substitutes the same timestamp for the transmission time of the relay device. The control information extracting and generating unit 810 obtains the time when the dynamic map was received from the timer 232 and substitutes it for the reception time of the relay device.

[0071] As in the first embodiment, the "correction" in the correction count refers to the correction of the position of a moving object on a dynamic map performed by a device relaying the dynamic map. When the number of transfers and corrections increases, errors associated with transfers and corrections accumulate, potentially affecting the reliability of the dynamic map. Therefore, each relay vehicle adds 1 to the number of transfers of this control information when transferring the dynamic map to the next device. Each relay vehicle also adds 1 to the number of corrections when correcting the dynamic map. A vehicle receiving a relayed dynamic map discards the dynamic map if these counts are greater than a threshold. Of course, the number added does not have to be 1 in either case; any value that allows accurate calculation of the count may be used as the addendum. Furthermore, rather than simply determining whether to discard a dynamic map based on the number of transfers, it is also possible to estimate the error accumulated due to the number of transfers for each communication method and determine whether to discard the dynamic map based on that value. The same applies to the number of corrections. For example, in the case of corrections, the error increases for moving objects with high speeds. Therefore, the number of corrections to be discarded may be determined as a function of the maximum speed of the moving object on the dynamic map.

[0072] Returning to FIG. 11, the vehicle gateway 800 further includes a reception delay measurement unit 813 that calculates the difference between the generation time at the distribution source, which is stored in the control information storage unit 812, and the current time measured by the timer 232 as the reception delay, and a filtering unit 814 that performs a filtering process to discard the dynamic map received by the dynamic map receiving unit 220 without relaying it to a subsequent vehicle in response to at least one of the following three conditions being met: the reception delay calculated by the reception delay measurement unit 813 is equal to or greater than a first threshold value, the number of transfers in the control information is equal to or greater than a second threshold value, and the number of corrections in the control information is equal to or greater than a third threshold value.

[0073] The vehicle gateway 800 further includes a correction unit 816 that, when filtering processing by the filtering unit 814 has not been performed, calculates a forwarding delay based on the transmission time of the relay device stored in the control information and the current time measured by the timer 232, and if the calculated value is equal to or greater than a threshold, estimates the current position of each moving object based on the position and speed of each moving object on the dynamic map, corrects the dynamic map by overwriting the dynamic map with the estimation result, and adds 1 to the number of corrections in the control information, and a dynamic map storage unit 224 for storing the dynamic map output by the correction unit 816. If the forwarding delay is less than the threshold, the dynamic map is not corrected, and the number of corrections is not added.

[0074] Similar to the in-vehicle gateway 200 of the first embodiment, the in-vehicle gateway 800 further includes a specified device detection unit 226, a communication method selection unit 228, a priority table 230, a data amount adjustment unit 234, and a data transfer unit 242. The in-vehicle gateway 800 further includes a control information addition unit 818 for substituting the current time output by the timer 232 for the transmission time of the control information relay device when the data transfer unit 242 transfers the dynamic map, and for adding the control information to the dynamic map transferred by the data transfer unit 242 after adding 1 to the number of transfers.

[0075] (3) Program Structure The control structure of the computer program for realizing the above-described functions will be described with reference to Fig. 12. Referring to Fig. 12, this program includes step 450 for performing initial processing and step 452 for waiting until a dynamic map is received.

[0076] Furthermore, this program includes step 850, which, when the dynamic map is received in step 452, determines whether or not control information has been added to the received dynamic map and branches the work flow according to the determination result, step 852, which extracts the control information from the dynamic map when the determination in step 850 is positive, and step 854, which generates control information and initializes its contents when the determination in step 850 is negative.

[0077] This program further includes step 856, which is executed after steps 852 and 854, for setting the reception time of the control information, step 454, which follows step 856 and determines whether there are any vehicles that cannot cooperate in the vicinity and branches the billing flow according to the determination result, step 456, which identifies any vehicles that cannot cooperate in the vicinity when the determination in step 454 is positive, and step 458, which determines the communication I / F with the vehicles that cannot cooperate. When the determination in step 454 is negative, control returns to step 452.

[0078] This program further includes step 858 of calculating the transfer delay and determining whether to discard the dynamic map by performing filtering according to the transfer delay, and step 464 of determining whether to discard the dynamic map according to the result of step 858 and branching the work flow according to the determination result.

[0079] This program further includes, when the determination in step 464 is negative, step 860 of correcting the position of the moving object according to the transfer delay, overwriting the dynamic map according to the result, and incrementing the number of corrections of the control information by 1, step 862 of adjusting the amount of data according to the bandwidth of the communication I / F, step 864 of incrementing the number of transfers of the control information by 1 and adding it to the dynamic map, and step 866 of transferring the dynamic map to the non-cooperation vehicle and returning control to step 452. When the determination in step 464 is positive, control returns to step 452.

[0080] Fig. 14 is a flowchart showing the control structure of a program routine that realizes the processing of correcting the position of a moving object in accordance with the transfer delay, which is performed in step 860 of Fig. 12. Referring to Fig. 14, this routine includes step 920 that calculates the transfer delay, step 922 that determines whether the transfer delay is equal to or greater than a threshold and branches the control flow, step 924 that, if the determination in step 922 is positive, predicts a fluctuation of the moving object on the dynamic map corresponding to the elapsed time and updates the position, and step 926 that adds 1 to the number of corrections in the control information and terminates execution of the routine. If the determination in step 922 is negative, nothing is done and execution of this routine terminates.

[0081] Fig. 15 is a flowchart showing a control structure of a program routine for realizing the process of updating the control information and adding it to the dynamic map, which is performed in step 864 of Fig. 12. Referring to Fig. 15, this routine includes a step 950 for incrementing the number of transfers of the control information by 1, a step 952 for setting the transmission time of the control information, and a step 954 for adding the control information to the dynamic map and terminating execution of the routine.

[0082] 2 operations 10 to 15, the road-to-vehicle cooperation system 750 according to the second embodiment operates as follows. It is assumed that a vehicle 780 is capable of communication via both C-V2X and LTE. Meanwhile, the information providing server 60 transmits dynamic maps only via LTE. It is also assumed that neither vehicle 782 nor vehicle 784 is capable of communication via LTE, but only via C-V2X.

[0083] In this state, it is assumed that the vehicle 780 receives a dynamic map from the information providing server 60. Referring to FIG. 11, the dynamic map receiving unit 220 receives this dynamic map and provides it to the control information extracting and generating unit 810. This dynamic map does not have control information attached to it, but does have a timestamp attached to it. Therefore, the control information extracting and generating unit 810 of the vehicle 780 generates control information and stores it in the control information storage unit 812. At the same time, the control information extracting and generating unit 810 notifies the reception delay measuring unit 813 that it has received the dynamic map. The control information extracting and generating unit 810 substitutes the timestamp attached to the dynamic map into the field for the generation time at the distribution source of the control information 900. The control information extracting and generating unit 810 further substitutes the current time for the reception time of the control information 900 by the relay device. Furthermore, the control information extracting and generating unit 810 substitutes 0 for both the number of transfers and the number of corrections of the control information 900. The control information extracting and generating unit 810 provides the dynamic map to the filtering unit 814.

[0084] In response to notification that the control information extraction and generation unit 810 has received a dynamic map from the dynamic map receiving unit 220, the reception delay measurement unit 813 measures the reception delay from the difference between the current time output by the timer 232 and the timestamp attached to the dynamic map, and provides the result to the filtering unit 814.

[0085] The filtering unit 814 compares the reception delay measured by the reception delay measurement unit 813 with a threshold value. If the reception delay is equal to or greater than the threshold value, the filtering unit 814 discards the dynamic map. Here, it is assumed that the reception delay is less than the threshold value. As a result, the filtering unit 814 does not discard the dynamic map but provides it to the correction unit 816.

[0086] If the reception delay is equal to or greater than the threshold, the correction unit 816 corrects the position of each moving object on the dynamic map based on its position and speed by an amount equivalent to the reception delay measured by the reception delay measurement unit 813, and overwrites the dynamic map with the corrected values, storing them in the dynamic map storage unit 224. If the reception delay is less than the threshold, the correction unit 816 stores the dynamic map in the dynamic map storage unit 224 without processing it.

[0087] The specified device detection unit 226 detects a non-cooperative vehicle (specified device) among surrounding vehicles in the same manner as in the first embodiment. Here, it is assumed that a vehicle 782 shown in FIG. 10 has been detected. The communication method selection unit 228 selects a communication I / F with the vehicle 782 while referring to the priority table 230. It is assumed here that C-V2X has been selected. The communication method selection unit 228 notifies the data amount adjustment unit 234 of information related to the selected communication I / F.

[0088] The data amount adjustment unit 234 compares the bandwidth of the selected communication I / F (here, C-V2X) with the data amount of the dynamic map stored in the dynamic map storage unit 224, and adjusts (reduces) the data amount of the dynamic map as needed so that the bandwidth is sufficient to transmit the data amount of the dynamic map. The data amount adjustment unit 234 provides the dynamic map with the data amount reduced in this manner to the data transfer unit 242. Note that if the data amount of the dynamic map is sufficiently small from the beginning, the data amount adjustment unit 234 provides the dynamic map to the data transfer unit 242 without adjusting the data amount.

[0089] When the data transfer unit 242 receives the dynamic map from the data amount adjustment unit 234, the control information addition unit 818 reads the control information from the control information storage unit 812 and writes the current time in the relay device transmission time field in the control information by referring to the timer 232. The control information addition unit 818 further adds 1 to the value in the number of transfers field in the control information. The control information addition unit 818 adds the control information updated in this way to the dynamic map to be transmitted by the data transfer unit 242. The data transfer unit 242 transfers the dynamic map with the added control information to the vehicle (vehicle 782) detected by the specified device detection unit 226.

[0090] Basically, the same processing is executed for the vehicle 782 as for the vehicle 780. However, in the case of the vehicle 782, the control information has already been added to the dynamic map received from the vehicle 780. Therefore, unlike the control information extraction / generation unit 810 of the vehicle 780, the control information extraction / generation unit 810 of the vehicle 782 extracts control information from the received dynamic map and stores it in the control information storage unit 812.

[0091] 10 is detected by the specified device detection unit 226 of the vehicle 782, the subsequent operation of the in-vehicle gateway 800 of the vehicle 782 is the same as the operation of the in-vehicle gateway 800 of the vehicle 780. Therefore, the dynamic map is relayed to the vehicle 784. If the vehicle 784 is not detected, the relay process ends at the stage of the vehicle 782.

[0092] 3. Effects of the Second Embodiment As described above, according to the second embodiment, the on-board device of the receiving vehicle during relaying corrects the dynamic map based on the actual reception delay. Unlike the first embodiment, the on-board device of the transmitting vehicle during relaying does not need to estimate the reception delay of the receiving vehicle and correct the dynamic map. In the second embodiment, correction can be made based on the actual reception delay, which has the advantage of improving the accuracy of the correction. Furthermore, relaying is not performed when the number of transfers of the dynamic map or the number of data corrections becomes large. Since errors accumulate when transferring or correcting the data of the dynamic map, not performing relaying in such cases reduces the risk of a dynamic map containing large errors being used by a vehicle at the relay destination.

[0093] Third Embodiment In the first embodiment, relaying is performed only once. However, this disclosure is not limited to such an embodiment. As in the second embodiment, relaying can be performed multiple times in the first embodiment by adding control information to the dynamic map.

[0094] In the first embodiment, the dynamic map is corrected by a vehicle at the upstream side of the relay and transmitted to a vehicle at the downstream side. In the second embodiment, the dynamic map is not corrected by a vehicle at the upstream side of the relay, but by a vehicle at the downstream side. However, among vehicles capable of relaying, there is a possibility that some vehicles can only receive data and some can also make corrections. If vehicles at the downstream side can also make corrections, the accuracy of the corrections can be increased as described above. Therefore, if corrections are possible at the downstream side vehicles, they should be made, and if corrections are not possible at the downstream side vehicles, it is desirable to have the corrections made at the upstream side vehicles and relayed to the downstream side. The third embodiment is such an example.

[0095] In terms of hardware, the in-vehicle device according to the third embodiment is common to the first and second embodiments. The only difference is the processing implemented by the programs shown in the flowcharts of Fig. 5 for the first embodiment and Fig. 12 for the second embodiment. The flowcharts corresponding to these in the third embodiment are shown in Fig. 16.

[0096] 16, this flowchart differs from that shown in Fig. 5 in that it includes, after step 460, step 980 for acquiring information regarding whether delay correction is possible at the transfer destination by some method such as communication with the transfer destination vehicle, step 982 for determining whether delay correction is possible at the transfer destination vehicle based on the information acquired in step 980 and branching the control flow in accordance with the determination, and step 984 for generating control information and adding the control information to the dynamic map when the determination in step 982 is positive, and control proceeds to step 468. When the determination in step 982 is negative, control proceeds to step 462, and in this case the subsequent processing is the same as in the first embodiment.

[0097] According to the third embodiment, when a subsequent vehicle performs delay correction, the previous vehicle does not perform delay correction. In this case, as described above, the delay correction performed in the subsequent vehicle results in higher accuracy of the resulting dynamic map. This saves computational resources used in the source vehicle, leaving more room for processing in the source vehicle. Furthermore, when delay correction cannot be performed in the subsequent vehicle, the same operation as in the first embodiment is performed. Although the computational resources of the source vehicle are used, the subsequent vehicle can use the dynamic map in exactly the same operation as when it receives a dynamic map from a normal information providing device. Therefore, the third embodiment can achieve both the advantages of the first and second embodiments.

[0098] Fourth Variant In the second and third embodiments, the on-board device of the first vehicle that relays the control information is attached to the dynamic map. However, this disclosure is not limited to such embodiments. The control information may be attached by an information providing server that generates the data.

[0099] In the second embodiment described above, both the number of corrections and the number of transfers are recorded, and both are compared to a threshold value, and data is discarded based on the result. However, this disclosure is not limited to such an embodiment. It may include only one of them. It may also be possible to use neither of them, and to use only the reception delay time as the discard criterion. Conversely, it may be possible to use the number of corrections or the number of transfers, without using the reception delay time as the discard criterion.

[0100] Furthermore, it should be noted that in each of the above embodiments, the number of vehicles to which the relay is to be performed is not limited to one, and may be multiple. When there are multiple vehicles to which the relay is to be performed, the data may be transferred individually from the relay vehicle, or may be transferred by multicast.

[0101] The embodiments disclosed herein should be considered to be illustrative and not restrictive in all respects. The scope of the present disclosure is not defined by the detailed description of the disclosure, but by the claims of the appended claims, and is intended to include all modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the wording of the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0102] 50, 750 Road-vehicle cooperation system 60 Information Server 64, 116 LiDAR 66 Camera 72, 74, 760, 770 Cooperative vehicle range 76, 80, 82, 84, 780, 782, 784 vehicles 110 In-Vehicle Systems 112 Millimeter wave radar 114 In-car camera 130 External vehicle communication controller 132 HMI Controller 134 Autonomous Driving Controller 136 Travel controller 140 Integrated Antenna 142 monitors 144, 146, 150, 152, 154, 156 ECU 148 Autonomous Driving ECU 200, 800 vehicle gateway 202 Communication equipment 220 Dynamic map receiver 222, 813 Reception delay measurement unit 224 Dynamic Map Memory Unit 226 Specific Device Detection Unit 228 Communication method selection unit 230 Priority Table 232 Timer 234 Data volume adjustment unit 236 Transfer Delay Calculation Unit 238, 814 Filtering section 240, 816 Correction section 242 Data Transfer Unit 350 Computer Systems 370 Computer 372 Touch Panel 378 DVD 380 Speaker 382 Microphone 384 USB memory 386 Network 390 CPU 392 GPU 396 ROM 398 RAM 400 SSD 402 DVD drive 404 Audio I / F 406 USB ports 408 Network Interface 410 Bus 412 Input / Output Interface 450, 452, 454, 456, 458, 460, 462, 464, 466, 468, 500, 502, 504, 506, 508, 510, 600, 602, 604, 606, 608, 610, 612, 650, 652, 654, 656, 700, 702, 704, 850, 852, 854, 856, 858, 860, 862, 864, 866, 920, 922, 924, 926, 950, 952, 954, 980, 982, 984 steps 810 Control Information Extraction and Generation Unit 812 control information storage unit 818 Control information addition section 900 Control Information

Claims

1. An in-vehicle device connected to a wireless communication device capable of communicating with a plurality of devices including an information providing device by a plurality of communication methods, a detection unit that detects a specific device that cannot communicate with the information providing device by comparing outputs of sensors provided in the vehicle equipped with the on-board device with a dynamic map received from the information providing device; a communication method selection unit that selects a communication method that can be used with the specific device by attempting to communicate with the specific device using the plurality of communication methods; a transfer unit that transfers data received from the information providing device by the wireless communication device to the specific device using the communication method selected by the communication method selection unit.

2. The transfer unit a data amount adjusting unit that adjusts the amount of data according to the communication bandwidth of the communication method selected by the communication method selecting unit; The in-vehicle device according to claim 1 , further comprising: a transmitting unit configured to transmit the data, the amount of which has been adjusted by the data amount adjusting unit, to the specific device using the selected communication method.

3. The data is assigned a transfer count value indicating the number of times the data has been transferred, 3. The in-vehicle device according to claim 1, further comprising an adder that adds a predetermined increment value to the transfer count value when the transfer unit transfers the data.

4. 4. The in-vehicle device according to claim 3, further comprising a data discarding unit that discards the data in response to the transfer count value attached to the data received by the wireless communication device being equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value.

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