Vehicle reservation information system

Abstract

To provide a reservation vehicle guidance system that can guide users who have reserved a vehicle by accessing a dispatch center via long-range wireless communication using a communication terminal device to their reserved vehicle at a designated meeting location. [Solution] The communication terminal device 200 notifies the control device 302 of the reserved vehicle 300 of the user information and the near-field communication ID via the dispatch center. When the reserved vehicle reaches the area of ​​the designated location, the control device 302 searches for the near-field communication ID. Upon detecting the ID, it detects the distance between the user and the reserved vehicle via near-field communication, transmits the distance and the appearance information of the reserved vehicle to the communication terminal device, and displays the distance and the appearance information of the reserved vehicle on the monitor 206 of the communication terminal device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a reserved vehicle guidance system for guiding a reserved vehicle at a designated place for a meeting.

Background Art

[0002] As a system for reserving a vehicle such as a taxi, there is known a reservation system that provides a service in which a user accesses a dispatching center by long-distance wireless communication using a communication terminal device to reserve a vehicle and meets the reserved vehicle at a designated place.

[0003] For example, in Patent Document 1 below, in order to facilitate the user when reserving a vehicle, a vehicle dispatching guidance system that transmits the GPS information of an empty taxi to the user's communication terminal device and displays the GPS information of the taxi on a monitor is described.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

[0005] 〔Problems to be Solved by the Invention〕 For example, when calling a vehicle to a designated place in front of a large station or a busy street, there are many similar vehicles, and it may be difficult for the user to identify the reserved vehicle.

[0006] In particular, in an area where high-rise buildings and the like are densely located in the vicinity, the error of position detection by GPS becomes large, so it is difficult to accurately identify the position of the vehicle by GPS. Therefore, the above problem is likely to occur.

[0007] The present invention provides a reserved vehicle guidance system that enables users to easily identify their reserved vehicle even when many similar vehicles are present at the designated location where the reserved vehicle is to be picked up.

[0008] [Means for solving the problem and the effects of the invention] According to the present invention, a reservation vehicle guidance system (100) is provided that allows a user to access a dispatch center (400) via long-range wireless communication using a communication terminal device (200) to reserve a vehicle (300), and then guides the user to the reserved vehicle at a designated meeting place.

[0009] The communication terminal device (200) is configured to notify the control device (302) of the reserved vehicle (300) of the user's information and the ID of the near-field communication via the dispatch center (400). The control device (302) of the reserved vehicle is configured to search for the ID of the near-field communication when the reserved vehicle reaches the area of ​​the designated location (S20), and upon detecting the ID of the near-field communication (S30), detect the distance (D) between the user and the reserved vehicle via near-field communication (S40), and transmit the distance and appearance information of the reserved vehicle to the communication terminal device (S50). The communication terminal device is configured to display the distance and appearance information of the reserved vehicle on the monitor (206).

[0010] According to the above configuration, the user's information and the near-field communication ID are notified to the reserved vehicle's control unit. When the reserved vehicle reaches the designated area, the near-field communication ID is retrieved. Once the near-field communication ID is detected, the distance between the user and the reserved vehicle is detected via near-field communication. The distance and the appearance information of the reserved vehicle are transmitted to the communication terminal device, and the distance and the appearance information of the reserved vehicle are displayed on the monitor of the communication terminal device.

[0011] Therefore, by looking at the monitor, the user can find out the distance between the user and the reserved vehicle, as well as the appearance of the reserved vehicle. Consequently, compared to a situation where the user is not notified of the distance between the user and the reserved vehicle, and the appearance of the reserved vehicle, the user can easily identify the reserved vehicle even when there are many similar vehicles at the designated location to call the reserved vehicle.

[0012] Other objects, features, and associated advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent from the description of embodiments of the present invention, which will be described with reference to the following drawings. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0013] [Figure 1] This is a schematic diagram showing a vehicle reservation guidance system according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart showing the reservation search control routine in the embodiment. [Figure 3] Figure (A) shows the situation in which the distance D between the reservation holder and the vehicle and the reservation holder's orientation relative to the vehicle's longitudinal direction are detected, and Figure (B) shows the relationship between the reservation holder and the vehicle after coordinate transformation as displayed on the monitor of the communication terminal device. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0014] The vehicle reservation guidance system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the attached diagrams.

[0015] As shown in Figure 1, the vehicle reservation guidance system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a communication terminal device 200 such as a smartphone operated by the user, a dispatch vehicle 300 such as a taxi, and a dispatch center 400 that dispatches vehicles based on the user's reservation. There may be multiple vehicles dispatched.

[0016] The communication terminal device 200 includes a control device 202, an input device 204, a monitor 206, a long-range wireless communication device 208, and a short-range wireless communication device 210. The long-range wireless communication device 208 can communicate with a communication center (not shown) via long-range wireless communication and can communicate with a dispatch center 400 via the internet 212 using long-range wireless communication with a dispatch application. The short-range wireless communication device 210 can communicate with the vehicle 300's short-range wireless communication device 306 (described later), peripheral devices such as wireless earphones, and other communication terminal devices via short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth®.

[0017] The control device 202 of the communication terminal device 200 includes a microcomputer. The microcomputer includes a CPU, ROM, RAM, read / write non-volatile memory (N / M), and an interface (I / F), among other things. The ROM stores the dispatch application.

[0018] Vehicle 300 includes a control device 302, which contains multiple ECUs (Electronic Control Units). An ECU is an electronic control unit primarily composed of a microcomputer. Although not shown in Figure 1, each ECU's microcomputer includes a CPU, ROM, RAM, read / write non-volatile memory (N / M), and an interface (I / F). The CPU implements various functions by executing instructions (programs, routines) stored in the ROM.

[0019] The control device 302 is connected to a long-range wireless communication device 304 and a short-range wireless communication device 306. The long-range wireless communication device 304 can communicate with the dispatch center 400 directly or via the internet 212 using long-range wireless communication. The short-range wireless communication device 306 can communicate with communication terminal devices and peripheral equipment, including the communication terminal device 200, within a communication range Dlim (a positive constant) using short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth®.

[0020] The short-range wireless communication device 306 can detect the distance between the communication terminal device and the vehicle 300 based on the relationship between the distance to the communication terminal device and the attenuation amount of the radio wave. In particular, in the embodiment, the short-range wireless communication device 306 includes a first pair of antennas spaced apart in the front-rear direction of the vehicle 300 and a second pair of antennas spaced apart in the lateral direction of the vehicle, and detects the orientation of the communication terminal device with respect to the front-rear direction of the vehicle based on the phase difference of the radio waves received by each pair of antennas.

[0021] In addition, a camera sensor 312, a radar sensor 314, and a setting operator 316 are connected to the control device 302. Note that, instead of or in addition to the radar sensor 314, LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) may be used. The setting operator 316 is operated by the driver to perform settings related to the control of the vehicle.

[0022] In addition, a touch panel type display 318 and a speaker 320 for displaying the status of the control by the control device and the like are connected to the control device 302. The display 318 may be, for example, a multi-information display on which meters and various types of information are displayed, or may be the display of the navigation device 326 described later.

[0023] Furthermore, a driving operation sensor 322, a vehicle state sensor 324, and a navigation device 326 are connected to the control device 302. The driving operation sensor 322 includes a driving operation amount sensor, a braking operation amount sensor, and the like. The vehicle state sensor 324 includes a vehicle speed sensor for detecting the vehicle speed V of the vehicle 300, a longitudinal acceleration sensor, a lateral acceleration sensor, and the like.

[0024] The navigation device 326 includes a GNSS transceiver for detecting the position of the vehicle 300, a storage device for storing map information and road information, and a communication device for acquiring the latest information of the map information and road information from the outside.

[0025] The dispatch center 400 is equipped with a control device 402, a long-range wireless communication device 404, and a database 406. The long-range wireless communication device 404 can communicate with communication terminal devices such as the communication terminal device 200 via long-range wireless communication, and can also communicate with the long-range wireless communication devices of dispatched vehicles, including the long-range wireless communication device 304 of the vehicle 300.

[0026] Database 406 stores vehicle information such as the dispatched vehicle's reference number, license plate number, and driver, as well as dispatch-related information such as the vehicle's current location and whether or not it is available for dispatch. When a dispatch request is received from a person wishing to make a reservation via long-distance wireless communication, the control device 402 presents the person wishing to make a reservation with the available vehicles stored in database 406 and dispatches the vehicle reserved by the person wishing to make a reservation.

[0027] When a user of the communication terminal device 200 wishes to request a ride, they launch the ride-hailing application on the communication terminal device 200 and access the dispatch center 400 via the internet 212. The user uses the input device 204 to enter information such as the user's (reservationer's) name, telephone number, and designated pick-up location into the application's reservation form. The control device 202 transmits the user's name, telephone number, designated location, and other information, along with the user's near-field communication ID, to the dispatch center 400. The user reserves their desired vehicle from the available vehicles presented by the dispatch center.

[0028] When the control device 302 of the reserved vehicle 300 receives information from the dispatch center 400, such as the user's name, telephone number, and designated pickup location, as well as the user's short-range wireless communication ID, it displays the necessary information on the display 318 and notifies the driver via the speaker 320. When the driver accepts the dispatch request, they touch the display on the display 318, and this is transmitted to the dispatch center 400 via long-range wireless communication.

[0029] The control device 402 of the dispatch center 400 transmits, via long-range wireless communication, a notification of the completion of the dispatch reservation, along with external information such as the license plate number, vehicle name, and color of the dispatched vehicle, to the communication terminal device 200. The communication terminal device 200 displays the notification of the completion of the dispatch reservation, the designated location for the dispatch (meeting place), and the license plate number of the dispatched vehicle on the monitor 206. If the user is not at the designated location for the dispatch, they move to the designated location; if they are at the designated location, they remain there and wait.

[0030] The driver of vehicle 300 moves the vehicle to the designated location for dispatch, and upon reaching the area of ​​the designated location (the designated location or its surroundings), visually searches for a person who is believed to be the person who made the dispatch reservation. If there are many people and the person who made the dispatch reservation cannot be identified, the setting control device 16 turns on the search switch. The ROM of the ECU of the control device 302 stores a reservation person search control program corresponding to the flowchart shown in Figure 2. When the search switch is on and the navigation device 326 determines that vehicle 300 has reached the area of ​​the designated location for the reservation, the reservation person search control is executed according to the flowchart shown in Figure 2.

[0031] Next, the reservation search control in the embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in Figure 2. The reservation search control according to the flowchart shown in Figure 2 is repeatedly executed at predetermined time intervals by the CPU of the ECU0 of the control device 202.

[0032] First, in step S10, the CPU determines whether the vehicle speed V is 0, that is, whether the vehicle 300 is stopped. If a negative determination is made, step S10 is repeated; if a positive determination is made, the control proceeds to step S20.

[0033] In step S20, the CPU uses the short-range wireless communication device 306 to search for the user's short-range wireless communication ID. As mentioned above, the short-range wireless communication device 306 can communicate with other short-range wireless communication devices within the communication range Dlim. Therefore, if the user is within the communication range Dlim from the short-range wireless communication device 210, the short-range wireless communication device 210 can detect the user.

[0034] In step S30, the CPU determines whether the reservation holder has been detected by the short-range wireless communication device 306, that is, whether the reservation holder is within the communication range Dlim from the short-range wireless communication device 306. If a negative determination is made, the control proceeds to step S80; if a positive determination is made, the control proceeds to step S40.

[0035] In step S40, the CPU detects the distance D between the reservation holder (user U) possessing the communication terminal device 200 and the vehicle 300, as shown in Figure 3(A), based on the attenuation of the radio waves of the short-range wireless communication. The CPU also detects the orientation of the reservation holder relative to the vehicle's longitudinal direction, based on the phase difference of the radio waves received by each pair of antennas. The orientation is the angle α formed by the imaginary line connecting the vehicle 300's reference position and the reservation holder with respect to the vehicle's longitudinal direction, as shown in Figure 3(A). The angle between the vehicle 300's longitudinal direction and the Earth's bearing, for example, north, can be detected by the navigation device 326. Therefore, the angle β (not shown) formed by the imaginary line connecting the vehicle 300's reference position and the reservation holder with respect to the Earth's bearing north can be detected.

[0036] In step S50, the CPU transmits information about the distance D between the reservation holder and the vehicle 300, and the orientation (angle β) of the reservation holder relative to the vehicle's longitudinal direction, which was detected in step S40, to the dispatch center 400 via long-range wireless communication using the long-range wireless communication device 304.

[0037] Furthermore, when the control device 402 of the dispatch center 400 receives information on the distance D and angle β between the reservation holder and the vehicle 300 from the long-range wireless communication device 304, it performs a coordinate transformation so that the relationship between the reservation holder and the vehicle 300 is a relationship in terms of Earth's bearings. In addition, the control device 402 transmits the coordinate transformation information of the relationship between the reservation holder and the vehicle 300 to the communication terminal device 200 via long-range wireless communication.

[0038] When the control device 202 of the communication terminal device 200 receives information about the relationship between the reservation holder and the vehicle 300 after coordinate transformation, it displays a diagram of that relationship on the monitor 206, as shown in Figure 3(B). The monitor 206 also displays the license plate number, color, and name of the vehicle 300. Therefore, by looking at the monitor 206, the reservation holder can recognize which vehicle the reserved vehicle 300 is, in which direction, and at what distance.

[0039] In step S60, the CPU determines whether the passenger has approached and arrived at the vehicle 300 reserved by the passenger. If the determination is negative, the control returns to step S10; if the determination is positive, the control proceeds to step S70.

[0040] In step S70, the CPU notifies the dispatch center 400 via long-range wireless communication that the passenger has arrived at vehicle 300, and terminates this control. As a result, the dispatch center 400 terminates the dispatch control for vehicle 300.

[0041] In step S80, the CPU determines whether the termination condition for the reservation search control has been met. If the determination is negative, the control returns to step S10; if the determination is positive, the control proceeds to step S90. The termination condition for the reservation search control may be determined to have been met when a time equal to or greater than the termination determination criterion time (a positive constant) has elapsed since the start of the reservation search in step S20, or when notification of reservation cancellation is received from the dispatch center 400.

[0042] In step S90, the CPU notifies the dispatch center 400 via long-range wireless communication that the passenger did not arrive at vehicle 300. The dispatch center 400 then notifies the passenger's communication terminal device 200 of the cancellation of the reservation via long-range wireless communication, and terminates this control.

[0043] As can be seen from the above explanation, according to the present invention, the user's information and the near-field communication ID are notified to the control device of the reserved vehicle, and when the reserved vehicle reaches the area of ​​the designated location, the near-field communication ID is searched for. When the near-field communication ID is detected, the distance between the user and the reserved vehicle is detected by near-field communication, and the distance and appearance information of the reserved vehicle are transmitted to the communication terminal device, and the distance and appearance information of the reserved vehicle are displayed on the monitor of the communication terminal device.

[0044] Therefore, by looking at the monitor, the user can find out the distance between the user and the reserved vehicle, as well as the appearance of the reserved vehicle. Consequently, compared to a situation where the user is not notified of the distance between the user and the reserved vehicle, and the appearance of the reserved vehicle, the user can easily identify the reserved vehicle even when there are many similar vehicles at the designated location to call the reserved vehicle.

[0045] In particular, according to the embodiment, the relationship between the reservation holder and the vehicle 300 is transformed to a relationship in terms of Earth's orientation, and information on the relationship between the reservation holder and the vehicle 300 after the coordinate transformation is transmitted to the communication terminal device 200 via long-range wireless communication. Furthermore, the relationship between the reservation holder and the vehicle 300 after the coordinate transformation is displayed on the monitor 206 of the communication terminal device 200. Therefore, compared to the case where the relationship between the reservation holder and the vehicle 300 after the coordinate transformation is not displayed, the user can identify the reserved vehicle even more easily.

[0046] Although the present invention has been described in detail above with respect to specific embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and that various other embodiments are possible within the scope of the present invention.

[0047] For example, in the above embodiment, the orientation of the communication terminal device relative to the vehicle's front-to-rear direction is detected based on the phase difference of the radio waves received by each pair of antennas. However, when another vehicle capable of using the vehicle reservation guidance system of the present invention is located within the area of ​​the designated reservation location, the orientation of the communication terminal device relative to the vehicle's front-to-rear direction may be determined with the cooperation of the other vehicle. In that case, there does not need to be two pairs of antennas.

[0048] For example, user information and the short-range wireless communication ID may be notified to the control devices of other vehicles via the dispatch center, and the distance between the terminal device and other vehicles may be detected by the other vehicles. Furthermore, the orientation of the communication terminal device may be determined based on the distance between the terminal device and other vehicles, the distance between the terminal device and the vehicle itself, and the distance between the vehicle itself and other vehicles. The distance between the vehicle itself and other vehicles may be determined based on the vehicle position information detected by the GNSS transceiver of each vehicle, or it may be determined by vehicle-to-vehicle communication between the vehicle itself and other vehicles.

[0049] Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, information regarding the distance D between the reservation holder and the vehicle 300, and the reservation holder's orientation relative to the vehicle's longitudinal direction, is transmitted from the vehicle's control device 302 to the dispatch center 400 via long-range wireless communication. The relationship between the reservation holder and the vehicle 300 is then transformed to reflect the relationship in terms of Earth's orientation, and the information regarding the relationship between the reservation holder and the vehicle after the coordinate transformation is transmitted to the communication terminal device 200 via long-range wireless communication. However, the coordinate transformation may be performed by the vehicle's control device 302, and the information regarding the relationship between the reservation holder and the vehicle after the coordinate transformation may be transmitted to the communication terminal device 200 via short-range wireless communication. [Explanation of symbols]

[0050] 100...Reservation vehicle guidance system, 200...Communication terminal device, 300...Vehicle, 400...Dispatch center

Claims

[Claim 1] In a vehicle reservation guidance system in which a user accesses a dispatch center via long-range wireless communication using a communication terminal device to reserve a vehicle and is guided to the reserved vehicle at a designated meeting place, A reservation vehicle guidance system comprising: a communication terminal device configured to notify the control device of the reserved vehicle of the user information and the ID of the near-field communication via the dispatch center; the control device of the reserved vehicle configured to search for the ID of the near-field communication when the reserved vehicle reaches the area of ​​the designated location, and upon detecting the ID of the near-field communication, to detect the distance between the user and the reserved vehicle via the near-field communication and to transmit the distance and appearance information of the reserved vehicle to the communication terminal device; and the communication terminal device configured to display the distance and appearance information of the reserved vehicle on a monitor.

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