Information processing device

Abstract

To make it possible to provide data about traveling of a vehicle in accordance with user's intention associated with the vehicle, according to an objective of the present disclosure.SOLUTION: An information processing device receives first data about traveling from a vehicle. Further, The information processing device acquires a predetermined condition indicating a first data range where provision to a third party is permitted, or the first data range where the provision to the third party is not permitted, as the predetermined condition set by a user. Then, the information processing device transmits, to a third party server, the data obtained by permitting the provision to the third party, the foregoing data extracted based on the predetermined condition out of the first data.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an information processing apparatus that collects data related to the running of a vehicle.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a sensor data management system. In the sensor data management system disclosed in Patent Document 1, a server that manages sensor data executes an anonymization process of individually anonymizing specified data items in the sensor data according to specified conditions in accordance with the definition content of an anonymization policy setting file. Further, any combination of data items of sensor data including the anonymized sensor data generated by the anonymization process is transmitted to another server.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] An object of the present disclosure is to enable providing data related to the running of a vehicle to a third party according to the intention of a user related to the vehicle.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] The information processing apparatus according to the present disclosure receives first data related to running from a vehicle, acquires a predetermined condition set by a user related to the vehicle, the predetermined condition indicating a range of the first data permitted to be provided to a third party or a range of the first data not permitted to be provided to the third party, The data from the aforementioned first data that has been extracted based on the predetermined conditions and is permitted to be provided to the third party is transmitted to the third-party server. It includes a control unit that performs the following actions. [Effects of the Invention]

[0006] According to this disclosure, data related to the vehicle's operation can be provided to third parties in accordance with the user's intentions regarding the vehicle. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0007] [Figure 1] Figure 1 is a diagram showing the data flow in the data provision system according to the embodiment. [Figure 2] Figure 2 shows an example of the table structure of driving data transmitted from the vehicle to the management server. [Figure 3] Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the management server. [Figure 4] Figure 4 shows an example of the table structure of the disallowance conditions database. [Figure 5] Figure 5 is a flowchart showing the information processing flow performed by the control unit when data is transmitted from the management server to a third-party server. [Figure 6] Figure 6 is a diagram showing the data flow in the modified data provision system. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0008] In recent years, efforts have been made to collect driving data (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "driving data") from many vehicles and to utilize the collected driving data as big data. However, users associated with each vehicle do not always consent to providing all of their driving data as big data. In other words, users associated with a vehicle may not consent to the provision of at least some of their driving data to third parties. Here, the third party is the party that utilizes the collected driving data as big data. Therefore, this disclosure provides a technology that enables the provision of driving data to third parties according to the intentions of the user associated with the vehicle.

[0009] The information processing device relating to this disclosure includes a control unit. The control unit receives first data from a vehicle. The first data is driving data. The first data may be acquired while the vehicle is in motion by various sensors mounted on the vehicle. The control unit also acquires predetermined conditions set by a user related to the vehicle. The predetermined conditions indicate the scope of the first data that the user has permitted to provide to a third party or the scope of the first data that the user has prohibited from providing to a third party. The user can set the predetermined conditions at any time. The control unit may also receive the predetermined conditions from a terminal (for example, an in-vehicle terminal mounted on the vehicle) into which the user has entered the predetermined conditions.

[0010] Furthermore, the control unit extracts data from the first data received from the vehicle that the user has authorized to provide to a third party (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "authorized data") based on predetermined conditions. In this case, if the predetermined conditions indicate the scope of the first data that the user has authorized to provide to a third party, the control unit extracts data from the first data that satisfies the predetermined conditions as authorized data. On the other hand, if the predetermined conditions indicate the scope of the first data that the user has not authorized to provide to a third party, the control unit extracts data from the first data excluding data that satisfies the predetermined conditions as authorized data.

[0011] The control unit then transmits the extracted permission data to a third-party server. The third-party server is a server device associated with a third party that utilizes the driving data as big data. The control unit may transmit the first data received from the vehicle to the third-party server not in its original state, but after some processing has been applied.

[0012] According to this disclosure, permission data corresponding to the user's intent can be extracted from the first data received from the vehicle and provided to a third party.

[0013] The following describes specific embodiments of this disclosure with reference to the drawings. The dimensions, materials, shapes, and relative arrangements of the components described in these embodiments are not intended to limit the technical scope of this disclosure to those unless otherwise specified.

[0014] <Embodiment> (System Overview) Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating the data flow in the data provision system according to this embodiment. The data provision system 1 is a system for collecting driving data from multiple vehicles 10 and providing the collected driving data to a third party. The data provision system 1 includes multiple vehicles 10, a management server 100, and a third-party server 200. The management server 100 is a server device that collects driving data from multiple vehicles 10. The third-party server 200 is a server device related to a third party that utilizes the driving data of the vehicles 10 as big data. In this embodiment, the management server 100 corresponds to the "information processing device" according to this disclosure.

[0015] Multiple vehicles 10, a management server 100, and a third-party server 200 are interconnected by a network. Here, the network is, for example, the internet. A public communication network such as a WAN (Wide Area Network) or a telephone communication network such as a mobile phone network may be used. Furthermore, the network may include telephone communication networks such as mobile phones, and wireless communication networks such as Wi-Fi (registered trademark).

[0016] Each vehicle 10 includes various sensors for acquiring driving data. Then, each vehicle 10 transmits the driving data acquired during driving to the management server 100 at a predetermined timing. For example, each vehicle 10 may periodically transmit the driving data to the management server 100 at a predetermined interval during driving.

[0017] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the table configuration of the driving data transmitted from each vehicle 10 to the management server 100. As shown in FIG. 2, the driving data has a vehicle ID field, a date and time field, a position field, a speed field, an acceleration field, and the like. In the vehicle ID field, a vehicle ID which is identification information for specifying the vehicle 10 that is the transmission source of the driving data is input. In the date and time field, information about the date and time when the driving data was acquired in the vehicle 10 is input. In the position field, the position information of the vehicle 10 is input. In the speed field, the speed information of the vehicle 10 is input. In the acceleration field, the acceleration information of the vehicle 10 is input. Further, the driving data may include information regarding ON and OFF of the start button (or ignition switch) of the vehicle 10. Further, the driving data may include image information captured by a camera mounted on the vehicle 10. Note that the driving data does not necessarily have to be data acquired by sensors mounted on the vehicle 10. In the present embodiment, the driving data corresponds to the "first data" according to the present disclosure.

[0018] In addition, in response to a request from a third party, the management server 100 transmits the driving data of the vehicle 10 to the third-party server 200. As a result, the third party can receive the provision of driving data to be utilized as big data. However, there may be cases where the users of each vehicle 10 do not permit the provision of all the driving data of the vehicle 10 transmitted to the management server 100 to a third party. Here, the user of the vehicle 10 is, for example, the driver of the vehicle 10 or the owner of the vehicle 10. Therefore, in the present embodiment, non-permission conditions are set in advance by the users of each vehicle 10. The non-permission condition is a condition indicating the range of driving data that is not permitted by the user for provision to a third party. The non-permission condition is defined, for example, by the driving date and time of the vehicle 10, the driving area of the vehicle 10, or the departure place, arrival place, or via place in the driving route of the vehicle 10. In the present embodiment, the non-permission condition corresponds to the "predetermined condition" according to the present disclosure.

[0019] The management server 100 stores the non-permission conditions set by each user. Then, data excluding the data that satisfies the non-permission condition from the driving data received from the vehicle 10 is extracted as permitted data. Then, the management server 100 transmits the permitted data to the third-party server.

[0020] (Configuration of the management server) Next, the configuration of the management server 100 will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the management server 100. The management server 100 includes a control unit 110, a storage unit 120, and a communication module 130. The control unit 110 has a function of performing arithmetic processing for controlling the management server 100. The control unit 110 is a CPU (Central Processing Unit This includes a processor such as a CPU, main memory such as RAM (Random Access Memory), and auxiliary memory such as ROM (Read Only Memory). Note that the CPU is an example of a processor resource. RAM and ROM are examples of memory resources. The control unit 110 can perform arbitrary information processing based on various programs and data. However, some or all of the functions of the control unit 110 are performed by hardware circuits such as ASICs and FPGAs. That would be fine.

[0021] The storage unit 120 is composed of any storage device such as RAM, ROM, hard disk drive, or flash memory. The storage unit 120 may also include removable media (portable recording media). Here, removable media is, for example, a USB memory stick, an SD card, or a disk recording media such as a CD-ROM, DVD disc, or Blu-ray disc. The storage unit 120 stores programs executed by the control unit 110, and various data used for executing the programs.

[0022] The storage unit 120 has a database built to store driving data 121 received from each vehicle 10. This database stores driving data 121 for each vehicle 10. Furthermore, the storage unit 120 has a database (disallowance conditions database) built to store disallowance conditions 122 set by the user of each vehicle 10.

[0023] Figure 4 shows an example of the table structure of the disallowance conditions database. As shown in Figure 4, the disallowance conditions database has a User ID field, a Vehicle ID field, and a disallowance conditions field. The User ID field is entered with the User ID, which is identification information to identify the user. The Vehicle ID field is entered with the Vehicle ID, which is identification information to identify the vehicle 10 corresponding to the user. The disallowance conditions field is entered with the disallowance conditions set by the user.

[0024] Here, (1) if the disallowance conditions are defined by the date and time of vehicle 10's operation, information regarding the period during which the user disallows the provision of driving data to a third party (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the "disallowance period") is entered into the disallowance conditions field. In this case, the provision of driving data acquired by vehicle 10 during the disallowance period entered into the disallowance conditions field to a third party is prohibited. Also, (2) if the disallowance conditions are defined by the driving area of ​​vehicle 10, information regarding the area during which the user disallows the provision of driving data to a third party (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the "disallowance area") is entered into the disallowance conditions field. In this case, the provision of driving data acquired by vehicle 10 while driving in the disallowance area entered into the disallowance conditions field to a third party is prohibited.

[0025] Furthermore, (3) if the disallowance conditions are defined by the departure point, destination, or intermediate point on the vehicle's route, information regarding the route on which the user is not permitted to provide driving data to a third party (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the "disallowed route") will be entered into the disallowance conditions field. For example, if the user sets the disallowance conditions as the departure point, that departure point will be entered into the disallowance conditions field as the disallowed route. In this case, the provision of driving data acquired by vehicle 10 during its journey from the departure point entered in the disallowance conditions field to a third party is prohibited. Also, if the user sets the disallowance conditions as the destination, that destination will be entered into the disallowance conditions field as the disallowed route. In this case, the provision of driving data acquired by vehicle 10 during its journey from the destination entered in the disallowance conditions field to a third party is prohibited. Also, if the user sets the disallowance conditions as an intermediate point, that intermediate point will be entered into the disallowance conditions field as the disallowed route. In this case, the provision of driving data acquired by vehicle 10 while the vehicle 10 is traveling through the transit points entered in the prohibited conditions field to a third party is prohibited.

[0026] Furthermore, the starting point, destination, or intermediate point in the vehicle 10's driving route can be identified based on the ON / OFF information of the start button (or ignition switch) included in the driving data. Then, from one starting point (the point where the start button or ignition switch is turned ON) to one destination (the point where the start button or ignition switch is turned ON) The route taken up to the point where the switch was turned OFF can be defined as a single route (a so-called single trip).

[0027] Furthermore, each user may enter disallowance conditions into their associated user terminal. The management server 100 may then receive information regarding each user's disallowance conditions from each user's user terminal. In this case, the management server 100 stores the information regarding disallowance conditions received from each user terminal in the disallowance conditions database.

[0028] The communication module 130 is a communication interface for connecting the management server 100 to the network. The communication module 130 is, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network) interface board or a wireless communication circuit for wireless communication. Note that the management server 100 does not necessarily have to be implemented by a single physical configuration, but may be composed of multiple computers cooperating with each other.

[0029] (Information processing flow) Next, the information processing flow executed in the management server 100 will be explained with reference to Figure 5. Figure 5 is a flowchart showing the information processing flow executed by the control unit 110 when data is transmitted from the management server 100 to the third-party server 200. This flow is executed when the driving data 121 related to the vehicle 10 (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the "target vehicle") to which the data is to be transmitted is stored in the database constructed in the storage unit 120. The control unit 110 may also execute this flow when it receives a data provision request from the third-party server 200. Furthermore, the control unit 110 may execute this flow at predetermined intervals.

[0030] In this flow, first, in S101, the disallowance conditions 122 set by the user of the target vehicle are obtained from the disallowance conditions database. That is, the disallowance conditions 122 corresponding to the vehicle ID of the target vehicle are obtained from the disallowance conditions database. Next, in S102, permission data is extracted from the driving data 121 related to the target vehicle. That is, data that satisfies the disallowance conditions obtained in S101 is extracted from the driving data 121 related to the target vehicle stored in the database of the storage unit 120. Next, in S103, the permission data related to the target vehicle extracted in S102 is sent to the third-party server 200. At this time, the control unit 110 may perform processing on the driving data 121 stored in the database of the storage unit 120 according to the third party's request before sending the permission data to the third-party server 200.

[0031] According to the flow described above, it is possible to restrict the transmission of driving data that the user of the target vehicle has not authorized to be provided to a third party from the management server 100 to the third-party server 200. In other words, the driving data of the target vehicle can be provided to a third party according to the user's intentions.

[0032] In this embodiment, permission conditions may be pre-set by the user of each vehicle 10 instead of permission conditions. The permission conditions are conditions that indicate the scope of driving data that the user has permitted to provide to a third party. The permission conditions may also be defined, for example, by the date and time of driving of vehicle 10, the driving area of ​​vehicle 10, or the starting point, destination, or intermediate points on the vehicle's driving route. In this case, a database (permission condition database) is constructed in the storage unit 120 of the management server 100 to store the permission conditions set by the user of each vehicle 10. The control unit 110 of the management server 100 then extracts only the data that satisfies the permission conditions from the driving data 121 related to the target vehicle stored in the database constructed in the storage unit 120 as permission data. The control unit 110 also transmits the extracted permission data related to the target vehicle to the third-party server 200. In this case, the permission conditions are the "predetermined" conditions as described in this disclosure. This corresponds to the condition of "...".

[0033] (modified version) The following describes a modified version of this embodiment. Figure 6 is a diagram showing a data flow in the data provision system 1 that differs from the above embodiment. In this modified version, the vehicle 10 is equipped with an in-vehicle terminal 11. The in-vehicle terminal 11 is a terminal that can be operated by a user riding in the vehicle 10. The in-vehicle terminal 11 is a computer having a processor such as a CPU, storage devices such as RAM, ROM, a hard disk drive, and flash memory, and a communication module. The in-vehicle terminal 11 is connected to the management server 100 by a network. In this modified version as well, the driving data of the vehicle 10 is transmitted to the management server 100, similar to the above embodiment.

[0034] In this modified example, a user riding in vehicle 10 inputs a disallowance condition into the in-vehicle terminal 11. If the user wishes to disallow the provision of vehicle 10's driving data from its current start point to its end point to a third party, they input this as a disallowance condition into the in-vehicle terminal 11. This input operation into the in-vehicle terminal 11 may be performed, for example, when the vehicle 10's start button (or ignition switch) is turned ON. That is, the user's input operation into the in-vehicle terminal 11 may be performed at the vehicle 10's current starting point. Alternatively, the user's input operation into the in-vehicle terminal 11 may be performed, for example, when the vehicle 10's start button (or ignition switch) is turned OFF. That is, the user's input operation into the in-vehicle terminal 11 may be performed at the vehicle 10's current end point. Furthermore, an image may be displayed on the in-vehicle terminal 11 for the user to select whether to disallow or allow the provision of vehicle 10's driving data from its current start point to its end point to a third party.

[0035] When a user inputs into the in-vehicle terminal 11 that they do not wish to provide the driving data of vehicle 10 from its current starting point to its end point to a third party, a disallowance command is sent from the in-vehicle terminal 11 to the management server 100. The disallowance command prohibits the transmission of the driving data of vehicle 10 from its current starting point to its end point to the third-party server 200. The disallowance command sent from the in-vehicle terminal 11 to the management server 100 includes the user's user ID and the vehicle ID of vehicle 10.

[0036] When the management server 100 receives a disallowance command from the vehicle 10, it inputs into the disallowance condition database that it disallows the transmission of the vehicle 10's driving data from its current starting point to its ending point to the third-party server 200. As a result, a disallowance condition is entered into the disallowance condition database that disallows the transmission of the driving data acquired by the vehicle 10 from its current driving route from its starting point to its ending point to the third-party server 200.

[0037] Alternatively, a user riding in vehicle 10 may input into the in-vehicle terminal 11 that they authorize the provision of driving data of vehicle 10 from its current starting point to its end point to a third party. In this case, an authorization command is sent from the in-vehicle terminal 11 to the management server 100. The authorization command is an instruction to transmit driving data of vehicle 10 from its current starting point to its end point to the third-party server 200. The management server 100 then inputs the authorization conditions into the authorization conditions database, which authorize the transmission of driving data acquired by vehicle 10 from the starting point to the destination of vehicle 10's current driving route to the third-party server 200.

[0038] According to this modified example, the user of vehicle 10 will, each time vehicle 10 is driven (each trip), It will be possible to configure whether or not to allow the provision of driving data to third parties during driving.

[0039] <Other Embodiments> The embodiments described above are merely examples, and this disclosure may be modified as appropriate without departing from its essence. Furthermore, the processes and means described in this disclosure can be freely combined and implemented as long as no technical inconsistencies arise.

[0040] Furthermore, a process described as being performed by a single device may be divided and executed by multiple devices. Conversely, a process described as being performed by different devices may be executed by a single device. In a computer system, the hardware configuration (server configuration) by which each function is implemented can be flexibly changed.

[0041] The present disclosure can also be realized by supplying a computer program implementing the functions described in the embodiments above to a computer, and having one or more processors in the computer read and execute the program. Such a computer program may be provided to the computer by a non-temporary computer-readable storage medium that can be connected to the computer's system bus, or it may be provided to the computer via a network. The non-temporary computer-readable storage medium includes any type of disk, such as magnetic disks (floppy disks, hard disk drives (HDDs), etc.), optical disks (CD-ROMs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), EPROM, EEPROM, magnetic cards, flash memory, or optical cards, and any other type of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0042] 1. Data provision system 10. Vehicles 11...In-vehicle equipment 100 · Management Server 110. Control Unit 120...Storage section 121 ··Driving data 122·Disapproval conditions 130 ··Communication Module 200 · Third-party server

Claims

[Claim 1] Receiving the first data related to driving from the vehicle, To obtain predetermined conditions set by the user related to the said vehicle, The data from the aforementioned first data that has been extracted based on the predetermined conditions and is permitted to be provided to a third party is transmitted to a third-party server. It includes a control unit that performs the following: The first data is driving data acquired while the vehicle is in motion, and includes information regarding the ON / OFF status of the start button or ignition switch. The aforementioned predetermined conditions are conditions entered into the vehicle's in-vehicle terminal by the user while riding in the vehicle, and indicate that providing the vehicle's current driving data from the start point to the end point to a third party is not permitted. The control unit divides the first data into trips, with each ON to OFF cycle considered as one trip, based on information regarding the ON / OFF status of the start button or ignition switch, and extracts the data permitted for provision to the third party by removing the driving data for each trip corresponding to the predetermined conditions from the first data. Information processing device.

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