In-vehicle communication device

Abstract

A vehicle-mounted communication device with a low processing load for received messages.　This vehicle-mounted communication device is provided with: a reception unit (32) that receives, from an other-vehicle (12), an other-vehicle message including information about an other-vehicle location; a host vehicle information acquisition unit (1) that acquires, as information about a host vehicle, host vehicle information including at least a host vehicle location, a host vehicle speed, and a host vehicle traveling direction; a message processing area determination unit (4) that determines a message processing area on the basis of the host vehicle information; a message processing necessity determination unit (5) that acquires other-vehicle messages from the reception unit (32), and outputs, as a selected other-vehicle message, an other-vehicle message for which the other-vehicle location is within the message processing area, while discarding other-vehicle messages for which the other-vehicle location is outside of the message processing area; and a message processing unit (6) that processes the selected other-vehicle message output from the message processing necessity determination unit (5).

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present application relates to an in-vehicle communication device. [Background technology]

[0002] In situations where there are many vehicles, such as when driving in a large city with heavy traffic or during traffic jams, a large number of inter-vehicle communication messages are transmitted. On the receiving side, the number of received messages increases, and the load of message verification, which is processing of the received messages, and processing of the warning application increases. This may result in missed or delayed processing of important messages, and applications such as warnings may not operate at the appropriate time, making it impossible to notify the driver of the possibility of contact. Therefore, in order to reduce the load of verification processing of received information, a communication device has been proposed that determines the importance of a received message based on the contents of the received message, a packet type flag added to the message, the frequency of reception from the same sender, the reception power, etc., and determines whether or not verification is necessary depending on the importance, and verifies messages that are determined to require verification, while not verifying messages that are determined not to require verification (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2012-100024 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The communication device shown in Patent Document 1 determines the importance of the other vehicle information contained in the received message by analyzing the details of the other vehicle information contained in the received message, and then judges whether or not verification is necessary, which has the problem that the effect of reducing the processing load is small.

[0005] The present application has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has an object to provide an in-vehicle communication device that imposes a small processing load on received messages. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The in-vehicle communication device disclosed in the present application includes a receiving unit that receives an other-vehicle message including other-vehicle position information indicating the position of the other vehicle from the other vehicle, a host vehicle information acquiring unit that acquires host vehicle information including at least the host vehicle position, the host vehicle speed, and the host vehicle traveling direction as information about the host vehicle, a message processing area determining unit that determines a message processing area based on the host vehicle information, a message processing necessity determining unit that acquires the other-vehicle message from the receiving unit, outputs the other-vehicle message whose other-vehicle position is within the message processing area as a selected other-vehicle message, and discards the other-vehicle message whose other-vehicle position is outside the message processing area, and a message processing unit that processes the selected other-vehicle message output from the message processing necessity determining unit. The vehicle information acquisition unit is provided with a map information acquisition unit that acquires map information around the vehicle, and the message processing area determination unit determines a message processing area based on the vehicle information and the map information. The message processing area determination unit determines a message processing area to be a traveling road on which the vehicle is traveling and an intersecting road that is a road that intersects with the traveling road, and excludes roads that do not intersect with the traveling road from the message processing area. Effect of the Invention

[0007] The in-vehicle communication device disclosed in the present application includes a receiving unit that receives an other-vehicle message including other-vehicle position information indicating the position of the other vehicle from the other vehicle, a host vehicle information acquiring unit that acquires host vehicle information including at least the host vehicle position, the host vehicle speed, and the host vehicle traveling direction as information about the host vehicle, a message processing area determining unit that determines a message processing area based on the host vehicle information, a message processing necessity determining unit that acquires the other-vehicle message from the receiving unit, outputs the other-vehicle message whose other-vehicle position is within the message processing area as a selected other-vehicle message, and discards the other-vehicle message whose other-vehicle position is outside the message processing area, and a message processing unit that processes the selected other-vehicle message output from the message processing necessity determining unit. The message processing area determination unit determines a message processing area based on the vehicle information and the map information, and the message processing area determination unit determines a message processing area including a travel road on which the vehicle is traveling and an intersecting road that intersects with the travel road, and excludes roads that do not intersect with the travel road from the message processing area. Therefore, the processing load of received messages can be reduced. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a wireless communication system including an in-vehicle communication device according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an in-vehicle communication device according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a message processing area in the first embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a message processing area in the first embodiment. [Diagram 5] 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of a message processing necessity determination unit and a message processing unit in the first embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an in-vehicle communication device according to a second embodiment. [Figure 7] 11 is a flowchart for explaining operations of a host vehicle information acquisition unit, a map information acquisition unit, and a message processing area determination unit in the second embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a message processing area in the second embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a message processing area in the second embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a message processing area in the second embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a message processing area in the second embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a message processing area in the second embodiment. [Figure 13] 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of an in-vehicle communication device according to a first embodiment and a second embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Hereinafter, an in-vehicle communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, the same reference numerals in each drawing indicate the same or corresponding parts.

[0010] Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a wireless communication system including an in-vehicle communication device 10 according to the first embodiment. An in-vehicle communication device 10 is mounted on an own vehicle 11 and another vehicle 12, and the own vehicle 11 performs wireless communication with a plurality of other vehicles 12. The in-vehicle communication device 10 has a function of vehicle-to-vehicle communication. The in-vehicle communication device 10 mounted on the own vehicle 11 generates a transmission message from own vehicle information such as the own vehicle position, the own vehicle traveling direction, and the own vehicle speed, and transmits the transmission message to the other vehicle 12. The in-vehicle communication device 10 also receives an other vehicle message from the other vehicle 12, and uses the information of the other vehicle 12 included in the other vehicle message in various applications. The applications include, for example, an application that determines the possibility of contact with the other vehicle 12 and notifies the driver.

[0011] 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an in-vehicle communication device 10 according to embodiment 1. The in-vehicle communication device 10 includes a host vehicle information acquisition unit 1, a message generation unit 2, a transmission / reception unit 3, a message processing area determination unit 4, a message processing necessity determination unit 5, and a message processing unit 6. The transmission / reception unit 3 includes a transmission unit 31 and a reception unit 32, and the message processing unit 6 includes a verification processing unit 61 and an application processing unit 62.

[0012] The vehicle information acquisition unit 1 acquires vehicle information including at least the vehicle position, vehicle speed, and vehicle traveling direction as information about the vehicle 11 from a sensor, and outputs the information to the message generation unit 2 and the message processing area determination unit 4. The vehicle information may include acceleration, angular velocity, and the like. The vehicle position is acquired from, for example, a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receiver, the vehicle speed is acquired from, for example, a vehicle speed sensor, the acceleration is acquired from, for example, an acceleration sensor, and the angular velocity is acquired from, for example, a gyro sensor.

[0013] The message generation unit 2 creates a transmission message from the host vehicle information that is the output of the host vehicle information acquisition unit 1. The message generation unit 2 further creates signature data, adds it to the transmission message, and outputs it to the transmission unit 31 of the transmission / reception unit 3. The transmission unit 31 transmits the transmission message of the host vehicle 11.

[0014] The receiving unit 32 of the transmitting / receiving unit 3 receives from the other vehicle 12 an other vehicle message including other vehicle position information indicating the position of the other vehicle 12, and outputs it to the message processing necessity determination unit 5. The message processing area determination unit 4 determines a message processing area based on the host vehicle information, and outputs it to the message processing necessity determination unit 5. The message processing necessity determination unit 5 acquires the other vehicle message from the receiving unit 32, acquires the message processing area information from the message processing area determination unit 4, outputs the other vehicle message whose other vehicle position is within the message processing area as a selected other vehicle message to the message processing unit 6, and discards the other vehicle message whose other vehicle position is outside the message processing area.

[0015] The message processing unit 6 processes the selected other vehicle message output from the message processing necessity determination unit 5. The message processing unit 6 includes a verification processing unit 61 and an application processing unit 62. The verification processing unit 61 verifies the validity of the selected other vehicle message to which a signature is attached, and only the selected other vehicle message whose validity has been verified is output to the application processing unit 62. The application processing unit 62 processes applications such as an alarm based on the selected other vehicle message.

[0016] Next, the operation of the message processing area determination unit 4 will be described. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a message processing area 20a determined by the message processing area determination unit 4. Fig. 3 shows a case where the forward direction of the host vehicle 11 is the upward direction in Fig. 3. The message processing area 20a shown in Fig. 3 is a rectangular region indicated by diagonal lines, and one side of the rectangle is parallel to the front-rear direction of the host vehicle 11. Fig. 3 shows the message processing area when the host vehicle 11 is stopped, and the host vehicle 11 is located in the center of the message processing area 20a.

[0017] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of another message processing area 20b determined by the message processing area determination unit 4. In FIG. 4, the message processing area 20b when the vehicle 11 is traveling in the upward direction of FIG. 4 is shown as a shaded area, and the vehicle traveling direction, which is the traveling direction of the vehicle 11, is the upward direction of FIG. 4. In the message processing area 20b in FIG. 4, the size of the message processing area in the vehicle traveling direction as seen from the vehicle 11 is larger than the size of the message processing area in the opposite direction to the vehicle traveling direction as seen from the vehicle 11. Furthermore, the difference between the size of the message processing area in the vehicle traveling direction and the size of the message processing area in the opposite direction to the vehicle traveling direction may be increased as the vehicle speed increases. Since the possibility of contact with another vehicle 12 in the opposite direction to the vehicle traveling direction as seen from the vehicle 11 is lower than that of another vehicle 12 in the vehicle traveling direction as seen from the vehicle 11, the processing load of received messages can be reduced by reducing the size of the message processing area in the opposite direction to the vehicle traveling direction as seen from the vehicle 11. The overall size of the message processing area 20b in FIG. 4 may be set to the same size as the overall size of the message processing area 20a when the host vehicle 11 is stopped as shown in FIG.

[0018] In addition, the host vehicle information acquisition unit 1 may further acquire information on the vehicle total weight, the number of occupants, or the load, which is weight information of the host vehicle 11, as the host vehicle information. Information on the number of occupants can be acquired from a seating sensor, an in-vehicle camera, or the state of a seat belt. The load can be acquired by a load sensor. The message processing area determination unit 4 may acquire weight information of the host vehicle 11 from the host vehicle information acquisition unit 1, and increase the difference between the size of the message processing area in the host vehicle travel direction as seen from the host vehicle 11 and the size of the message processing area in the opposite direction to the host vehicle travel direction as seen from the host vehicle 11 as the value of the weight information increases. By increasing the difference between the size of the message processing area in the host vehicle travel direction as seen from the host vehicle 11 and the size of the message processing area in the opposite direction to the host vehicle travel direction as seen from the host vehicle 11 as the value of the weight information increases, when the weight of the host vehicle 11 becomes heavier, the braking distance of the host vehicle 11 becomes longer, and the possibility of contact with another vehicle 12 in the host vehicle travel direction increases, so that this can be dealt with.

[0019] The vehicle information acquisition unit 1 may further acquire information on the state of the road surface on which the vehicle 11 is traveling as the vehicle information. The information on the state of the road surface is acquired, for example, from a road surface condition sensor. The road surface state may be, for example, information on whether the road surface is dry or wet, paved or unpaved, or snowy. The message processing area determination unit 4 acquires information on the state of the road surface from the vehicle information acquisition unit 1, and when the state of the road surface is a snowy road, wet, or unpaved, the overall size of the message processing area 20a shown in FIG. 3 or the overall size of the message processing area 20b shown in FIG. 4 may be larger than when the state of the road surface is a dry paved road. By making the overall size of the message processing area larger when the road surface condition is snowy, wet or unpaved than when the road surface condition is a dry paved road, it is possible to cope with the fact that when the road surface condition on which the vehicle 11 is traveling is snowy, wet or unpaved, the braking distance of not only the vehicle 11 but also other vehicles 12 becomes longer than when the road surface condition is a dry paved road, and the possibility of contact with other vehicles 12 increases.

[0020] Next, the operation of the message processing necessity determination unit 5 and the message processing unit 6 will be described. Fig. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the message processing necessity determination unit 5 and the message processing unit 6. In step S01, the message processing necessity determination unit 5 acquires a different vehicle message received from another vehicle 12 by the receiving unit 32 of the transmitting / receiving unit 3, acquires the different vehicle position included in the different vehicle message, and proceeds to step S02. In step S02, the message processing necessity determination unit 5 acquires information on the message processing area from the message processing area determination unit 4, and proceeds to step S03.

[0021] In step S03, the message processing necessity determination unit 5 checks whether the other vehicle position included in the other vehicle message is within the message processing area, and proceeds to step S04 if the other vehicle position is within the message processing area, and proceeds to step S06 if the other vehicle position is not within the message processing area. In step S04, the message processing necessity determination unit 5 determines that the acquired other vehicle message needs to be processed, outputs the acquired other vehicle message to the message processing unit 6 as a selected other vehicle message, and proceeds to step S05. In step S05, the message processing unit 6 executes a verification process in the verification processing unit 61 for the selected other vehicle message that is the output of the message processing necessity determination unit 5, executes an application process in the application processing unit 62, and ends the process. In addition, in step S06, the message processing necessity determination unit 5 determines that the acquired other vehicle message does not need to be processed, discards the acquired other vehicle message, and ends the process. In this way, by having the message processing necessity determination unit 5 determine whether or not to process other vehicle messages using the simple criterion of whether or not the other vehicle's position is within the message processing area, the determination process can be performed with a small processing load, and other vehicle messages that are determined not to require processing are not processed in the message processing unit 6, thereby reducing the processing load of the in-vehicle communication device 10.

[0022] As described above, the in-vehicle communication device 10 includes a receiving unit 32 that receives other vehicle messages including other vehicle position information indicating the position of the other vehicle 12 from the other vehicle 12, a host vehicle information acquisition unit 1 that acquires host vehicle information including at least the host vehicle position, the host vehicle speed and the host vehicle traveling direction as information about the host vehicle 11, a message processing area determination unit 4 that determines a message processing area based on the host vehicle information, a message processing necessity determination unit 5 that acquires other vehicle messages from the receiving unit 32, outputs other vehicle messages whose other vehicle positions are within the message processing area as selected other vehicle messages and discards other vehicle messages whose other vehicle positions are outside the message processing area, and a message processing unit 6 that processes the selected other vehicle messages output from the message processing necessity determination unit 5, thereby reducing the processing load of received messages.

[0023] Embodiment 2 Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an in-vehicle communication device 10a according to embodiment 2. When the in-vehicle communication device 10a according to embodiment 2 shown in Fig. 6 is compared with the in-vehicle communication device 10 according to embodiment 1 shown in Fig. 2, the message processing area determination unit 4 has been replaced with a message processing area determination unit 4a, and a map information acquisition unit 7 has been added. The other configurations of the in-vehicle communication device 10a according to embodiment 2 are the same as those of the in-vehicle communication device 10 according to embodiment 1.

[0024] The map information acquisition unit 7 acquires map information of the surroundings of the vehicle 11 and outputs it to the message processing area determination unit 4a. The map information is acquired, for example, from a map data storage device mounted on the vehicle 11. The map information acquisition unit 7 may acquire map information from an external source via communication or the like. The message processing area determination unit 4a determines the message processing area based on the vehicle information acquired from the vehicle information acquisition unit 1 and the map information acquired from the map information acquisition unit 7.

[0025] 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operations of the host vehicle information acquisition unit 1, the map information acquisition unit 7, and the message processing area determination unit 4a in the embodiment 2. In step S11, the host vehicle information acquisition unit 1 acquires host vehicle information including at least the host vehicle position, the host vehicle speed, and the host vehicle traveling direction as information about the host vehicle 11 from a sensor, outputs the host vehicle information to the message processing area determination unit 4a, and proceeds to step S12.

[0026] In step S12, the map information acquisition unit 7 checks whether the map data storage device has map information about the surroundings of the vehicle 11, and proceeds to step S13 if the map data storage device has map information about the surroundings of the vehicle 11, and proceeds to step S15 if the map information about the surroundings of the vehicle 11 does not exist. In step S13, the map information acquisition unit 7 acquires map information about the surroundings of the vehicle 11 from the map data storage device, outputs the acquired map information to the message processing area determination unit 4a, and proceeds to step S14. In step S14, the message processing area determination unit 4a determines a message processing area from the vehicle information acquired from the vehicle information acquisition unit 1 and the map information acquired from the map information acquisition unit 7, outputs the information on the message processing area to the message processing necessity determination unit 5, and ends the process. In step S15, the message processing area determination unit 4a determines a message processing area only from the vehicle information acquired from the vehicle information acquisition unit 1, outputs the information on the message processing area to the message processing necessity determination unit 5, and ends the process. The process of the message processing area determination unit 4a in step S15 may be the same as the process of the message processing area determination unit 4 shown in the first embodiment.

[0027] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the message processing area 20c in the second embodiment. The message processing area 20c shown in FIG. 8 is an example of the message processing area determined in step S14 in FIG. 7. In FIG. 8, the white parts indicate roads on which the vehicle travels, and the dotted parts indicate areas other than the roads, such as buildings. Road position information is acquired from map information, and the host vehicle 11 in FIG. 8 indicates the position of the host vehicle 11 on the map based on the host vehicle position information. The diagonal line part slanting upward to the right indicates the message processing area 20c. In FIG. 8, the message processing area 20c when the host vehicle 11 is traveling in the upward direction in FIG. 8 is shown, and the host vehicle traveling direction, which is the traveling direction of the host vehicle 11, is the upward direction in FIG. 8. In the message processing area 20c in FIG. 8, the size of the message processing area in the host vehicle traveling direction as seen from the host vehicle 11 is larger than the size of the message processing area in the opposite direction to the host vehicle traveling direction as seen from the host vehicle 11. Furthermore, the faster the vehicle speed is, the larger the difference between the size of the message processing area in the vehicle's travel direction and the size of the message processing area in the opposite direction to the vehicle's travel direction may be. The message processing area determination unit 4a sets the travel road, which is the road on which the vehicle 11 is traveling, and the cross road, which is the road that crosses the travel road, as the message processing area 20c. In FIG. 8, the road extending in the vertical direction in FIG. 8 on which the vehicle 11 is located is the travel road, and the road that crosses the travel road and extends in the horizontal direction in FIG. 8 is the cross road. Since there is a low possibility of collision with another vehicle 12 traveling on a road that does not cross the travel road, the processing load of the received message can be reduced by excluding the road that does not cross the travel road from the message processing area 20c.

[0028] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another example of the message processing area in the second embodiment. The message processing area 20d shown in FIG. 9 is an example of the message processing area determined in step S14 in FIG. 7. The diagonal lined area from top to bottom indicates the message processing area 20d, and the diagonal lined area from bottom to top indicates the congestion area 21. The map information acquisition unit 7 acquires map information including information on the congestion area 21 in step S13 in FIG. 7. In the example shown in FIG. 9, when the vehicle position is outside the congestion area 21, the travel road and the intersecting road excluding the congestion area 21 are set as the message processing area 20d. When the vehicle position is outside the congestion area 21, there is a low possibility of contact with another vehicle 12 inside the congestion area 21, so by excluding the congestion area 21 from the message processing area 20d, the processing load of the received message can be reduced.

[0029] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing another example of the message processing area in the second embodiment. The message processing area 20e shown in FIG. 10 is an example of the message processing area determined in step S14 in FIG. 7. The diagonal line portion slanting upwards to the right indicates the message processing area 20e. The diagonal line portion slanting downwards to the right indicates the congestion area. The map information acquisition unit 7 acquires map information including information on the congestion area in step S13 in FIG. 7. In the example shown in FIG. 10, a congestion area in a range closer than a predetermined distance from the host vehicle 11 on the travel road is shown as the host vehicle surrounding congestion area 21a, a congestion area in a range farther than a predetermined distance from the host vehicle 11 on the travel road is shown as the travel road congestion area 21b, and a congestion area on a cross road is shown as the cross road congestion area 21c. The host vehicle surrounding congestion area 21a is shown with a diagonal line slanting upwards to the right and a diagonal line slanting downwards to the right overlapping each other, indicating that the host vehicle surrounding congestion area 21a is included in the message processing area 20e. Since the possibility of contact with another vehicle 12 inside a surrounding congestion area 21a around the vehicle, which is within a range closer than a predetermined distance from the vehicle 11 on the traveling road, is not low, the surrounding congestion area 21a around the vehicle is included in the message processing area 20e. Since the possibility of contact with another vehicle 12 inside a traveling road congestion area 21b, which is within a range farther than a predetermined distance from the vehicle 11 on the traveling road, and another vehicle 12 inside a crossing road congestion area 21c on a crossing road, is low, the processing load of received messages can be reduced by excluding the traveling road congestion area 21b and the crossing road congestion area 21c from the message processing area 20e.

[0030] Fig. 11 is a diagram showing another example of a message processing area in the second embodiment. The message processing area 20f shown in Fig. 11 is an example of the message processing area determined in step S14 in Fig. 7. In the example shown in Fig. 11, the message processing area 20f is set to a range obtained by expanding a width that is predetermined for the travel road and intersecting roads. By setting the message processing area 20f to a range obtained by expanding a width that is predetermined for the travel road and intersecting roads, it is possible to process a message transmitted from another vehicle 12 entering the road from the periphery of the road.

[0031] FIG. 12 is a diagram showing another example of a message processing area in the second embodiment. The message processing area 20g shown in FIG. 12 is an example of a message processing area determined in step S14 in FIG. 7. In the example shown in FIG. 12, the vehicle 11 is traveling on the expressway 22. The expressway 22 may be a motorway. Since the expressway 22 does not intersect with general roads, in the example shown in FIG. 12, the expressway 22, which is the traveling road, and a connecting road that is connected to the expressway 22 at a junction are set as the message processing area 20g. In this way, when the vehicle 11 is traveling on the expressway 22, by setting the expressway 22, which is the traveling road, and the connecting road that is connected to the expressway 22 at a junction as the message processing area 20g, it is possible to exclude a transmitted message from another vehicle 12 traveling on a general road from being processed, and to reduce the processing load of a received message.

[0032] Furthermore, when the road on which the vehicle 11 is traveling has a median strip, the message processing area determination unit 4a may determine, as the message processing area, the travel direction lane in the travel direction of the vehicle on the road on which the vehicle 11 is traveling and a connecting road that is a road that intersects with or connects to the travel direction lane. By determining the travel direction lane and the connecting road as the message processing area, it is possible to exclude from processing messages sent from another vehicle 12 traveling in the opposite lane of the road on which the vehicle 11 is traveling, and it is possible to reduce the processing load of received messages.

[0033] Furthermore, when the road on which the vehicle 11 is traveling has a plurality of lanes traveling in the vehicle's travel direction, the message processing area determination unit 4a may determine the lane on which the vehicle 11 is traveling, adjacent lanes adjacent to the traveling lane, and connecting roads intersecting or connecting with the traveling lane or the adjacent lanes as the message processing area. Furthermore, when the traveling lane is the end lane that is the lane at the very end of the road, the message processing area may be an area expanded by a predetermined width from the end lane. By determining the traveling lane, the adjacent lanes, and the connecting roads as the message processing area, it is possible to exclude from the processing targets messages transmitted from other vehicles 12 traveling in lanes two or more lanes away from the traveling lane, and it is possible to reduce the processing load of received messages.

[0034] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of an in-vehicle communication device according to the first and second embodiments. The vehicle information acquisition unit 1, the message generation unit 2, the message processing area determination units 4, 4a, the message processing necessity determination unit 5, the message processing unit 6, and the map information acquisition unit 7 are realized by a processor 101 such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that executes a program stored in a memory 102. The memory 102 is also used as a temporary storage device in each process executed by the processor 101. In addition, a plurality of processing circuits may cooperate to execute the above functions. Furthermore, the above functions may be realized by dedicated hardware. When the above functions are realized by dedicated hardware, the dedicated hardware is, for example, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, or a combination of these. The above functions may be realized by a combination of dedicated hardware and software, or a combination of dedicated hardware and firmware. The memory 102 is, for example, a non-volatile or volatile semiconductor memory such as a RAM, a ROM, a flash memory, or an EPROM, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, or a combination of these. The in-vehicle network interface 106 is a wired communication interface for communicating with the ECU, sensors, and map data storage device mounted on the vehicle 11, and is a sensor interface, Ethernet (registered trademark), CAN (Controller Area Network), etc. Examples of the sensor include a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receiver, a vehicle speed sensor, an acceleration sensor, and a gyro sensor. The vehicle information acquisition unit 1 acquires vehicle information from the ECU or the sensor through the in-vehicle network interface 106, and the map information acquisition unit 7 acquires map information from the map data storage device through the in-vehicle network interface 106. The transmission / reception unit 3 is realized by the wireless communication device 103, and for example, the transmission unit 31 is realized by the wireless transmitter 104, and the reception unit 32 is realized by the wireless receiver 105.The processor 101, the memory 102, the wireless communication device 103, and the in-vehicle network interface 106 are connected to one another via a bus.

[0035] Although the present application describes various exemplary embodiments, the various features, aspects, and functions described in one or more embodiments are not limited to application to a particular embodiment, but may be applied to the embodiments alone or in various combinations. Therefore, countless modifications not exemplified are assumed within the scope of the technology disclosed in this application, including, for example, modifying, adding, or omitting at least one component, and further, extracting at least one component and combining it with a component of another embodiment. [Explanation of symbols]

[0036] 1 Vehicle information acquisition unit, 2 Message generation unit, 3 Transmitting / receiving unit, 4, 4a Message processing area determination unit, 5 Message processing necessity determination unit, 6 Message processing unit, 7 Map information acquisition unit, 10, 10a In-vehicle communication device, 11 Vehicle, 12 Other vehicles, 20a, 20b, 20c, 20d, 20e, 20f, 20g Message processing area, 21 Congested area, 21a Congested area around vehicle, 21b Congested area on road to be traveled, 21c Congested area on intersecting road, 22 Expressway, 31 Transmitting unit, 32 Receiving unit, 61 Verification processing unit, 62 Application processing unit, 101 Processor, 102 Memory, 103 Wireless communication device, 104 Wireless transmitter, 105 Wireless receiver, 106 In-vehicle network interface.

Claims

1. a receiving unit for receiving a vehicle message including vehicle position information indicating a position of the vehicle from the vehicle; a host vehicle information acquisition unit that acquires host vehicle information including at least a host vehicle position, a host vehicle speed, and a host vehicle traveling direction as information about the host vehicle; a message processing area determination unit that determines a message processing area based on the vehicle information; a message processing necessity determination unit that receives the other vehicle message from the receiving unit, outputs the other vehicle message whose other vehicle position is within the message processing area as a selected other vehicle message, and discards the other vehicle message whose other vehicle position is outside the message processing area; a message processing unit that processes the selected other vehicle message output from the message processing necessity determination unit, A map information acquisition unit that acquires map information about a surrounding area of ​​the vehicle, the message processing area determination unit determines the message processing area based on the host vehicle information and the map information; The message processing area determination unit determines the message processing area to be a traveling road, which is the road on which the vehicle is traveling, and an intersecting road, which is a road that intersects the traveling road, and excludes roads that do not intersect the traveling road from the message processing area.

2. The message processing area determination unit: The size of the message processing area in the vehicle travel direction as viewed from the vehicle is made larger than the size of the message processing area in the opposite direction to the vehicle travel direction as viewed from the vehicle; The in-vehicle communication device according to claim 1, characterized in that the faster the vehicle speed is, the greater the difference between the size of the message processing area in the direction of travel of the vehicle as viewed from the vehicle and the size of the message processing area in the opposite direction to the direction of travel of the vehicle as viewed from the vehicle.

3. The host vehicle information acquisition unit acquires weight information, which is information on a total vehicle weight, a number of occupants, or a load of the host vehicle, The message processing area determination unit: The size of the message processing area in the vehicle travel direction as viewed from the vehicle is made larger than the size of the message processing area in the opposite direction to the vehicle travel direction as viewed from the vehicle; The vehicle-mounted communication device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the larger the value of the weight information, the larger the difference between the size of the message processing area in the direction of travel of the vehicle as viewed from the vehicle and the size of the message processing area in the opposite direction to the direction of travel of the vehicle as viewed from the vehicle.

4. The vehicle information acquisition unit acquires information on a state of a road surface on which the vehicle is traveling, The message processing area determination unit: The vehicle-mounted communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the overall size of the message processing area when the road surface condition is a snowy road, wet or unpaved is made larger than the overall size of the message processing area when the road surface condition is a dry paved road.

5. The map information includes information on congestion areas, 2. The in-vehicle communication device according to claim 1, wherein, when the vehicle position is outside the congestion area, the message processing area determination unit determines an area excluding the congestion area as the message processing area.

6. The map information includes information on congestion areas, The in-vehicle communication device according to claim 1, characterized in that the message processing area determination unit determines the message processing area to be an area excluding a driving road congestion area, which is the congestion area on the driving road that is farther than a predetermined distance from the vehicle, and a crossing road congestion area, which is the congestion area on the crossing road.

7. 2. The vehicle-mounted communication device according to claim 1, wherein the message processing area determination unit determines, as the message processing area, an area obtained by expanding a predetermined width of the travel road and the intersecting road.

8. A receiving unit that receives an other-vehicle message including other-vehicle position information indicating a position of the other vehicle from the other vehicle; a host vehicle information acquisition unit that acquires host vehicle information including at least a host vehicle position, a host vehicle speed, and a host vehicle traveling direction as information about the host vehicle; a message processing area determination unit that determines a message processing area based on the vehicle information; a message processing necessity determination unit that receives the other vehicle message from the receiving unit, outputs the other vehicle message whose other vehicle position is within the message processing area as a selected other vehicle message, and discards the other vehicle message whose other vehicle position is outside the message processing area; a message processing unit that processes the selected other vehicle message output from the message processing necessity determination unit, A map information acquisition unit that acquires map information about a surrounding area of ​​the vehicle, the message processing area determination unit determines the message processing area based on the host vehicle information and the map information; The in-vehicle communication device is characterized in that, when the vehicle is traveling on an expressway, the message processing area determination unit determines the expressway and connecting roads connected to the expressway as the message processing area, and excludes general roads from the message processing area.

9. A receiving unit that receives an other-vehicle message including other-vehicle position information indicating a position of the other vehicle from the other vehicle; a host vehicle information acquisition unit that acquires host vehicle information including at least a host vehicle position, a host vehicle speed, and a host vehicle traveling direction as information about the host vehicle; a message processing area determination unit that determines a message processing area based on the vehicle information; a message processing necessity determination unit that receives the other vehicle message from the receiving unit, outputs the other vehicle message whose other vehicle position is within the message processing area as a selected other vehicle message, and discards the other vehicle message whose other vehicle position is outside the message processing area; a message processing unit that processes the selected other vehicle message output from the message processing necessity determination unit, A map information acquisition unit that acquires map information about a surrounding area of ​​the vehicle, the message processing area determination unit determines the message processing area based on the host vehicle information and the map information; The message processing area determination unit, when the road on which the vehicle is traveling has a central divider, determines the message processing area to be the lane in the direction of travel of the vehicle on the road on which the vehicle is traveling and connecting roads that intersect or connect to the lane in the direction of travel, and excludes the opposite lane of the road on which the vehicle is traveling from the message processing area.

10. A receiving unit for receiving an other-vehicle message including other-vehicle position information indicating a position of the other vehicle from the other vehicle; a host vehicle information acquisition unit that acquires host vehicle information including at least a host vehicle position, a host vehicle speed, and a host vehicle traveling direction as information about the host vehicle; a message processing area determination unit that determines a message processing area based on the vehicle information; a message processing necessity determination unit that receives the other vehicle message from the receiving unit, outputs the other vehicle message whose other vehicle position is within the message processing area as a selected other vehicle message, and discards the other vehicle message whose other vehicle position is outside the message processing area; a message processing unit that processes the selected other vehicle message output from the message processing necessity determination unit, A map information acquisition unit that acquires map information about a surrounding area of ​​the vehicle, the message processing area determination unit determines the message processing area based on the host vehicle information and the map information; The message processing area determination unit, when the road on which the vehicle is traveling has multiple lanes running in the direction of travel of the vehicle, determines the lane on which the vehicle is traveling, adjacent lanes adjacent to the traveling lane, and connecting roads that intersect or connect to the traveling lane or the adjacent lanes as the message processing area, and excludes lanes that are two or more lanes away from the traveling lane from the message processing area.

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