Electronic control device and data collection system

Abstract

This electronic control device includes: a vehicle information acquiring unit that acquires information relating to a vehicle and stores the acquired information as vehicle unit data; a vehicle unit data collection task management unit that manages a vehicle unit data collection task in which a collection condition indicating a trigger for collecting the vehicle unit data to be collected and a collection goal indicating a goal relating to the collection are defined; a data collection task condition monitoring unit that generates a data collection event on the basis of the collection condition defined in the vehicle unit data collection task and specifies the content of the collected data; and a collection target data extracting unit that accepts the data collection event from the data collection task condition monitoring unit, extracts the vehicle unit data to be collected, and stores the same as collected data. The content of the collected data to be stored by the collection target data extracting unit is changed on the basis of collection results of the collected data with respect to the collection goal specified in the vehicle unit data collection task.

Description

Electronic control unit and data acquisition system Incorporation by Reference

[0001] This application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-105033, filed on June 27, 2023, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] The present invention relates to an electronic control device and a data collection system.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, data collection systems have been introduced that collect data on specific events that occur while a vehicle is running into a server device and use the data to resolve problems and improve the functionality of in-vehicle applications.

[0004] However, collecting all target data from each vehicle poses the problem of not only consuming resources such as storage, CPU, and memory of the on-board device, but also incurring communication costs for transferring data to a server device and excessive resource consumption on the server device side.For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a means for changing the content and frequency of data to be collected depending on the content of an abnormal state detected by a terminal device.

[0005] Vehicle data collection systems collect data on various events depending on the purpose of the data collection. For example, if the purpose is to analyze dangerous vehicle events, data on impacts or large accelerations and decelerations will be collected, and if the purpose is to analyze malfunctions in a specific application, data on unexpected behavior in the application will be collected.

[0006] In addition to dealing with such diverse conditions, whether or not an event occurs strongly depends on the vehicle's driving environment and the driver's behavior, making it difficult to predict in advance how often the event will occur. As a result, the event may occur more frequently than expected, resulting in the collection of a large amount of data.

[0007] However, depending on the purpose of data collection, it is not necessary to collect all data related to all occurrences; it is sufficient to collect data with a certain quantity and quality. For example, if the purpose is to analyze defects in a specific application, even if a large amount of data on the same cause is collected, only a small portion of it will actually be used for the analysis. In other words, this means collecting excessive data for the original purpose, which will result in excessive consumption of resources on in-vehicle devices and server devices and excessive communication costs.

[0008] In the invention described in Patent Document 1, the log information to be collected is collected at a low frequency at a summary level under normal conditions, and only when an abnormal condition occurs in the operating status of the hardware or software is the log information to be collected collected at a high frequency at a detailed level, thereby suppressing excessive data collection.

[0009] However, when the above-mentioned event (detection of an abnormal state in Patent Document 1) occurs more than expected, there is a problem in that it is not possible to prevent excessive data collection for the purpose.

[0010] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and has an object to suppress excessive data collection relative to the purpose of collection.

[0011] The present invention is an electronic control device that collects vehicle information, including a processing unit that performs calculations and a memory unit that stores information, wherein the processing unit includes a vehicle information acquisition unit that acquires information about the vehicle and stores it as vehicle-unit data, a vehicle-unit data collection task management unit that manages vehicle-unit data collection tasks in which collection conditions that indicate collection triggers and collection targets that indicate collection goals are defined for vehicle-unit data to be collected, a data collection task condition monitoring unit that generates a data collection event based on the collection conditions defined in the vehicle-unit data collection task and specifies the content of the collection data, and a collection target data extraction unit that receives a data collection event from the data collection task condition monitoring unit and, if collection of vehicle-unit data is specified, extracts the vehicle-unit data to be collected and stores it as collection data, and the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit changes the content of the collection data stored by the collection target data extraction unit based on the collection results of the collection data for the collection targets specified in the vehicle-unit data collection task.

[0012] According to the present invention, collection of data that is excessive for the purpose of collection can be suppressed.

[0013] The details of at least one implementation of the subject matter disclosed herein are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the disclosed subject matter will become apparent from the following disclosure, drawings, and claims.

[0014] FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of a data collection system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a data collection task data group of a data collection server according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a collection task data group of a data collection server according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a data collection task data group of an electronic control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a data collection result data group of an electronic control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the correlation of functions of the data collection system in this embodiment according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen related to data collection tasks by a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating vehicle-specific data collection task update processing according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating data collection event processing according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating collected data upload processing according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0015] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0016] <System Configuration> FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of a data collection system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0017] The data collection system 1 is a computer system that controls data collection from one or more vehicles 2, and is composed of the vehicles 2, a data collection server 4 that controls data collection from the vehicles 2, a terminal 5 that operates the data collection server 4, and a network 6 that connects the vehicles 2 and the data collection server 4 and the data collection server 4 and the terminal 5 so that communication is possible.

[0018] The vehicle 2 includes an electronic control unit 3 and an in-vehicle network 60 that is communicatively connected to other devices mounted on the vehicle 2. The electronic control unit 3 is an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) and includes a processing unit 10, a storage unit 30, and a communication unit 40.

[0019] The processing unit 10 includes, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), which is a central processing unit, but may also include, in addition to the CPU, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or the like, or may be configured with only one of them.

[0020] The processing unit 10 has, as its functions, a vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 11, a data collection task condition monitoring unit 12, a collection target data extraction unit 13, a collection data upload unit 14, a server communication control unit 15, and a vehicle information acquisition unit 16. The processing unit 10 executes a predetermined program stored in the storage unit 30 to realize a functional unit that provides a predetermined function.

[0021] The vehicle-specific data collection task manager 11 acquires instruction information for the data collection task from the data collection server 4 via the server communication controller 15 and stores the instruction information in the storage unit 30 as a vehicle-specific data collection task data group 31 .

[0022] The data collection task is information that sets the collection conditions for vehicle-unit data to be collected by vehicle 2, the collection target, the target value of the data to be collected (collection target), the operating status of the data collection task (collecting, disabled, monitoring), etc.

[0023] Furthermore, the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 11 changes the operating status of each data collection task as necessary based on the data collection performance data group 32 stored in the memory unit 30, and notifies the data collection server 4 via the server communication control unit 15.

[0024] The data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 monitors whether the data collection conditions for each data collection task are met by referring to the vehicle-unit data in the vehicle information data group 34, and if the data collection conditions are met, generates (or occurs) a collection event, notifies the collection target data extraction unit 13, and reflects information about the collection event in the data collection performance data group 32.

[0025] Upon receiving notification from the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12, the collection target data extraction unit 13 extracts the vehicle-unit data that is to be collected in the corresponding data collection task from the vehicle information data group 34 and stores it in the collection data group 33 as collected data.

[0026] The collected data upload unit 14 uploads the collected data stored in the collected data group 33 to the data collection server 4 via the server communication control unit 15. The collected data upload unit 14 can accumulate unsent collected data stored in the collected data group 33 at a predetermined interval or up to a predetermined number of pieces before transmitting the data to the data collection server 4. This makes it possible to reduce the frequency of communication from the vehicle 2 to the data collection server 4.

[0027] The server communication control unit 15 controls data communication between the vehicle 2 and the data collection server 4 in accordance with a predetermined data communication protocol. While the communication unit 40 controls lower-layer data communication with devices physically connected via the communication medium of the in-vehicle network 60, the server communication control unit 15 controls upper-layer data communication with the data collection server 4 via multiple networks (the in-vehicle network 60 and the network 6).

[0028] The vehicle information acquisition unit 16 acquires various information about the vehicle 2 as vehicle-unit data via the in-vehicle network 60 connected to the electronic control unit 3 , and stores the acquired information as a vehicle information data group 34 in the storage unit 30 .

[0029] The vehicle-unit data stored in the vehicle information data group 34 is information about the vehicle 2 acquired by the electronic control unit 3 while the vehicle is traveling, and includes, for example, environmental information about the surroundings of the vehicle 2 detected by external sensors mounted on the vehicle 2, information related to the movement and traveling state of the vehicle 2 detected by vehicle sensors (travel state information), road information about the road on which the vehicle 2 is traveling, etc.

[0030] In addition, information about the software running on the electronic control unit 3 is also acquired from the vehicle-specific data and similarly stored as part of the vehicle information data group 34. For example, the vehicle-specific data includes log output information of applications running on the electronic control unit 3.

[0031] Examples of the external sensors that can be used include an image sensor, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), radar, and ultrasonic distance measurement sensors. Examples of the vehicle sensors that can be used include an acceleration sensor, a vehicle speed sensor, and a steering angle sensor. The road information can include, for example, latitude and longitude from a navigation system and information from road information services such as VICS (registered trademark) (Vehicle Information and Communication System).

[0032] The storage unit 30 includes, for example, a storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a flash memory, or a read-only memory (ROM), and a memory such as a RAM.

[0033] The storage unit 30 stores the programs processed by the processing unit 10, data sets necessary for the processing, etc. It is also used as a main memory when the processing unit 10 executes a program, and temporarily stores data necessary for the program's calculations.

[0034] In this embodiment, the information for realizing the functions of the electronic control unit 3 stores a vehicle-based data collection task data group 31, a data collection performance data group 32, a collection data group 33, a vehicle information data group 34, and the like.

[0035] The vehicle-specific data collection task data group 31 is a collection of data related to a data collection task that the vehicle 2 is instructed to perform by the data collection server 4. The data collection task includes, for example, information on the data sets to be collected, collection conditions that trigger the collection of the data sets, and collection targets that indicate targets (or thresholds) related to the amount of data to be collected and the frequency of collection.

[0036] The data collection record data group 32 is a set of data relating to data collection records, which indicates how frequently and how many times the collection conditions were satisfied and vehicle-level data was collected in each data collection task for the vehicle 2.

[0037] The collected data group 33 is a subset of vehicle-unit data that the collected data extraction unit 13 extracts from the vehicle information data group 34 and stores in the memory unit 30 the vehicle-unit data to be collected based on a collection event that is generated when the collection conditions of the data collection task are satisfied.

[0038] The vehicle information data group 34 is a data group (vehicle-unit data) related to information about the vehicle 2 acquired by the vehicle information acquisition unit 16. The information about the vehicle 2 includes information from equipment such as sensors and devices that can be acquired via the in-vehicle network 60, and information that can be acquired via software running in other electronic control units (application logs and output results).

[0039] The communication unit 40 includes a network device conforming to a communication standard such as IEEE 802.3 or CAN (Controller Area Network). The communication unit 40 transmits and receives data to and from other devices mounted on the vehicle 2 via the in-vehicle network 60 based on various protocols.

[0040] In this embodiment, the communication unit 40 and the processing unit 10 are described as separate units, but part of the processing of the communication unit 40 may be executed within the processing unit 10. For example, a configuration may be adopted in which the equivalent of a hardware device in the communication processing is located in the communication unit 40, and other device drivers, communication protocol processing, etc. are located within the processing unit 10.

[0041] The in-vehicle network 60 is a network for data communication between devices mounted on the vehicle 2, which is configured using communication media such as IEEE802.3 or CAN (Controller Area Network). Devices (not shown) configured to be able to communicate with the outside of the vehicle 2 via the network 6 are connected to the in-vehicle network 60, and the electronic control unit 3 is configured to be able to communicate with the data collection server 4 via the in-vehicle network 60.

[0042] The data collection server 4 includes a processing unit 110, a storage unit 130, and a communication unit 140. The processing unit 110 includes, for example, a CPU, which is a central processing unit. However, the processing unit 110 may include a GPU, FPGA, ASIC, etc. in addition to the CPU, or may be configured with only one of them.

[0043] The processing unit 110 has, as its functions, a data collection task management unit 111, a vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112, a task status monitoring unit 113, a collected data management unit 114, and a vehicle communication control unit 115. The processing unit 110 realizes these functional units by executing a predetermined program stored in the storage unit 130.

[0044] The vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 11 manages data collection tasks that are set in advance by an operator (user) using the terminal 5 in the data collection server 4. The data collection task is data that specifies vehicle-specific data that should be uploaded to the data collection server 4 from among the vehicle-specific data collected by the electronic control unit 3 of the vehicle 2, as will be described later.

[0045] The vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 communicates with the terminal 5 via the network 6, provides information on the data collection task data group 131 that is currently being managed, and acquires information input by the operator to the terminal 5 and reflects it in the data collection task data group 131.

[0046] The vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 manages the data collection tasks (vehicle-level tasks) set for each vehicle 2 in the data collection server 4. The vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 determines the content of the vehicle-specific data collection task to be set for each vehicle 2 based on the data collection tasks and the status of each task included in the data collection task data group 131, and the status of the data collection tasks for each vehicle 2 included in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132.

[0047] If there is a change in the content of the data collection task for vehicle 2, the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 updates the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 and transmits instruction information reflecting the new data collection task to the relevant vehicle 2 via the vehicle communication control unit 115.

[0048] The task status monitoring unit 113 calculates the collection status of the data collection tasks for each vehicle 2 and the collection status (progress rate and operation rate) of the entire data collection tasks for each vehicle 2 based on the collected data group 133, which is vehicle-specific data collected from the vehicles 2 by the collected data management unit 114, and stores these as performance information for the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 and the data collection task data group 131, respectively.

[0049] The collected data management unit 114 acquires collected data uploaded from the electronic control unit 3 of each vehicle 2 via the vehicle communication control unit 115 and stores the collected data in the collected data group 133. The vehicle communication control unit 115 controls data communication between the vehicle 2 and the data collection server 4 in accordance with a predetermined protocol.

[0050] The storage unit 130 includes, for example, storage devices such as HDD, flash memory, and ROM, as well as memories such as RAM. The storage unit 130 stores programs processed by the processing unit 110, data sets necessary for the processing, etc. The storage unit 130 is also used as the main memory when the processing unit 110 executes a program, temporarily storing data necessary for the program's calculations.

[0051] In this embodiment, as information for realizing the functions of the data collection server 4, a data collection task data group 131, a vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132, a collection data group 133, etc. are stored in the storage unit 130.

[0052] The data collection task data group 131 is a set of data related to a data collection task set by an operator in the data collection server 4. The data collection task includes not only the collection conditions related to data collection, information on the data set to be collected, and specifications related to data collection such as collection targets, but also information on the status of data collection from the vehicle 2 (reason for changing task information).

[0053] The vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 is a collection of data related to data collection tasks set for each vehicle 2. In addition to specifications related to data collection for each data collection task, the data group 132 also includes information related to the data collection status of each data collection task in each vehicle 2.

[0054] The collected data group 133 is a collection of vehicle-based data extracted into the collected data group 33 by each vehicle 2 and uploaded to the data collection server 4 .

[0055] The communication unit 140 includes a network card conforming to a communication standard such as IEEE 802.3, etc. The communication unit 140 transmits and receives data to and from the electronic control unit 3 and the terminal 5 connected via the network 6 based on various protocols.

[0056] The terminal 5 is a processing device that allows the operator to operate the data collection server 4. For example, the terminal 5 may be a smartphone, tablet terminal, laptop terminal, or desktop terminal, and the operator views and sets information related to the data collection tasks of the data collection server 4 via predetermined software (such as a web browser).

[0057] The network 6 is, for example, a wide area network such as a mobile communication network or the Internet.

[0058] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of data stored in the data collection task data group 131. As shown in FIG.

[0059] The data collection task data group 131 stores information about the specifications of data collection tasks set by the operator via the terminal 5 and collection results. The data collection task data group 131 includes a task ID 201, an operating status 202, collection conditions 203, collection targets 204, an overall collection goal 205, a vehicle collection goal 206, overall collection results 207, a vehicle operating status 208, a reason for changing task information 209, and the like.

[0060] The task ID 201 is information relating to the identifier of the data collection task. Hereinafter, when the expression "task XXX" is used, it means that the identifier of the task ID 201 is "XXX".

[0061] The operation status 202 is information about the operation status of the data collection task. The operation status of the data collection task may be, for example, "collecting," "monitoring," or "disabled."

[0062] "Collecting" means that collection of vehicle-level data is valid for the data collection task, and the corresponding vehicle information data group 34 is extracted from each vehicle 2 and stored in the collected data group 33.

[0063] "Monitoring" means a state in which, when the collection condition 203 for the data collection task is satisfied, vehicle-unit data of the collection target 204 is not collected, and only information related to the collection event that satisfied the collection condition 203 is collected. In other words, this indicates the operating state of the data collection task in which the extraction of vehicle-unit data is excluded (or prohibited).

[0064] "Disabled" means that data collection for the data collection task is disabled for some reason. This also indicates the operating state of the data collection task that excludes (or prohibits) the extraction of vehicle-level data.

[0065] The information related to the collection event is information generated when the electronic control unit 3 of the vehicle 2 satisfies the collection condition 203, and in this embodiment includes a collection event (or a data collection event) and a collection invalidation event.

[0066] The collection condition 203 is information about the condition that triggers the collection of vehicle-unit data of the collection target 204 in the data collection task. The collection condition is expressed, for example, as a conditional statement that is determined using the vehicle-unit data included in the vehicle information data group 34 of the vehicle 2. In the case of "absolute value of acceleration > 0.4 G", this means that the vehicle information data group 34 includes information about the acceleration of the vehicle, and the determination is made based on whether the absolute value is greater than 0.4 G.

[0067] Furthermore, multiple conditional statements may be combined, such as "Application A error && Area I." The "Area I" shown in the figure means whether the location where the application A error occurred is within the range of Area I.

[0068] The determination of these conditional statements may be realized by software or script that describes the determination logic. In this case, when instructing the vehicle 2 to perform a data collection task, the corresponding software or script is also distributed to the vehicle 2.

[0069] The collection target 204 is information representing a data set to be collected in the data collection task. In Fig. 2, the data set is expressed by its name, such as "subject vehicle information" or "sensor information," but it may also be expressed by an ID or the like that identifies the data set.

[0070] The overall collection target 205 is a target value for the total amount of collected data to be obtained from each vehicle 2, and is information indicating the target amount of data to be collected for the data collection task, or the number of times data is collected, the frequency of collection, etc.

[0071] For example, "20 times / month" and "3 times / day" for Task 2 mean that data is collected three times per day, with the target cumulative number of times per month being 20.

[0072] If the goal is set only as the collection frequency for a specified period, even if the target value is reached once, the actual collection frequency for the specified period will decrease over time, so the data collection task will not be invalidated.

[0073] On the other hand, if the number of times data is collected is set, such as "10 times" for task 10 in the figure, once the target value is reached, there is no need to continue collecting data any further, so the data collection task is disabled.

[0074] The vehicle collection target 206 is information indicating the amount of data to be collected, the number of times data is to be collected, the frequency of data collection, etc., for the data collection task in each vehicle 2, to be set to a target value.

[0075] The vehicle collection target 206 may be expressed as a combination of multiple target values, and even if a data collection event occurs, if any of the target values ​​has been reached at that time, data collection for the data collection task will be suppressed (disabled or monitored).

[0076] The overall collection results 207 is information indicating the status of data collection with respect to the overall collection target 205. For example, it includes the progress rate with respect to the overall collection target 205, the cumulative number of data collections, the number of monitoring events (the number of events that occur in the data collection task), the frequency of data collection and monitoring, and the like.

[0077] The vehicle operating state 208 is information relating to the proportion of the operating state 202 of the data collection task in all vehicles 2. In the example of task ID 10, the operating state 202 is "collecting", which indicates that each vehicle 2 is permitted to extract collected data, that collected data is being extracted in 80% of all vehicles 2, and that extraction of collected data is disabled in 20% of vehicles 2.

[0078] The task information change reason 209 is information about the content and reason of change when the data collection system 1 changes task information such as the operating status 202 or collection conditions 203 based on data collection results or the like.

[0079] For example, in the figure, the value of "excessive occurrence (invalidation)" is set in the task information change reason 209 for task 2, which means that the data collection system 1 has invalidated the operating state 202 because an excessive number of data collection events for task 2 have been detected. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of some of the data stored in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132.

[0080] The vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 stores responses related to data collection tasks instructed by the data collection server 4 to each vehicle 2. The vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 includes a vehicle ID 301, a task ID 302, an operating state 303, a collection target 304, a collection record 305, a reason for changing task information 306, and the like.

[0081] The vehicle ID 301 is information relating to the identifier of the vehicle 2 to which the data collection task is instructed.

[0082] The task ID 302 is information about the identifier of the data collection task, and corresponds to the task ID 201 of the data collection task data group 131 .

[0083] The operating state 303 is information about the operating state of the data collection task in the vehicle 2. This corresponds to the operating state 202 of the data collection task data group 131.

[0084] The collection target 304 is information indicating a target value for data collection related to the data collection task in the vehicle 2. This corresponds to the vehicle collection target 206 in the data collection task data group 131.

[0085] The collection results 305 is information indicating the status of data collection relative to the collection target 304. It includes information such as the cumulative number of collections and the number of collection events (occurrence frequency) that have occurred during collection or monitoring for the most recent specified period.

[0086] The task information change reason 306 is information indicating the content and reason of the information change notified from the vehicle 2 when the vehicle 2 changes information related to the data collection task. For example, "excessive occurrence (disabled)" in the figure means that the vehicle 2 has disabled the operating state 303 because it detected that an excessive number of data collection events had occurred.

[0087] Furthermore, the "target reached (disabled)" for vehicle ID 301 = 1001 and task ID 10 means that the collection results 305 for the data collection task in the vehicle 2 have been detected to have reached the collection target 304, and therefore the vehicle 2 has disabled its operating state 303.

[0088] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of some of the data stored in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 31 of the electronic control unit 3. As shown in FIG.

[0089] The vehicle-specific data collection task data group 31 stores information about the data collection task instructed to the vehicle 2 by the data collection server 4. The vehicle-specific data collection task data group 31 includes a task ID 401, an operating state 402, collection conditions 403, collection targets 404, collection goals 405, etc.

[0090] The task ID 401 is information relating to the identifier of the data collection task, and corresponds to the task ID 201 of the data collection task data group 131 or the task ID 302 of the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132.

[0091] The operating state 402 is information about the operating state of the data collection task in the vehicle 2. This corresponds to the operating state 202 of the data collection task data group 131 and the operating state 303 of the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132.

[0092] The collection condition 403 is information about a condition that triggers the collection of data of the collection target 404 in the data collection task. This corresponds to the collection condition 203 of the data collection task data group 131.

[0093] The collection target 404 is information representing a data set of the vehicle information data group 34 to be collected in the data collection task. This corresponds to the collection target 204 of the data collection task data group 131.

[0094] The collection target 405 is information indicating a target value for data collection related to the data collection task in the vehicle 2. This corresponds to the vehicle collection target 206 of the data collection task data group 131 and the collection target 304 of the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132.

[0095] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of some of the data stored in the data collection result data group 32. As shown in FIG.

[0096] The data collection performance data group 32 stores, for example, information about the occurrence history of events related to the collection or monitoring of data related to the data collection task defined in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 31 in the vehicle 2 .

[0097] The data collection result data group 32 includes a task ID 501, an event time 502, an event type 503, whether data collection is being performed 504, location information 505, and the like.

[0098] The task ID 501 is information relating to the identifier of the data collection task, and corresponds to the task ID 401 of the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 31.

[0099] The event time 502 is information about the time when an event related to the data collection task occurred.

[0100] The event type 503 is information about the type of event that has occurred. Examples of event types include a "collection event occurrence" that indicates that the collection condition for the data collection task has been satisfied, and a "collection disabled" that disables the operation status of the data collection task.

[0101] The data collection execution status 504 is information indicating whether or not to extract and store the data to be collected (vehicle information data group 34) in the collected data group 33 when the event type 503 is "collection event occurrence." If "yes," the data to be collected is extracted and stored, whereas if "no," extraction and storage of the data to be collected is not performed and only the event information (for example, the event type and identifier) ​​is stored. This corresponds to the operating status 402 of the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 31 being "collecting" or "monitoring," respectively. Furthermore, if "no," the event information may not be stored. This can reduce the amount of data to be stored.

[0102] The location information 505 is information about the location of the vehicle 2 when the event occurred. For example, the location information may be expressed as location information on the earth expressed by latitude and longitude, or may be expressed as a road position on a road map. Furthermore, the location information 505 may use information from a navigation system (not shown) installed in the vehicle 2.

[0103] The processing of the data collection system 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0104] 6 is a diagram showing the correlation between functions realized by the data collection system 1. The data collection system 1 is realized based on, for example, a data collection task operation process S700, a vehicle-specific data collection task update process S800, a data collection event process S900, and a collected data upload process S1000.

[0105] In the data collection task operation process S700, the operator uses the terminal 5 to communicate with the data collection task management unit 111 of the data collection server 4 via the network 6, and views the status of the data collection task data group 131 set in the data collection server 4, and manually adds, modifies, or deletes data collection tasks.

[0106] In the vehicle-specific data collection task update process S800, the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 detects a change in the data collection task data group 131 and updates the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 that is issuing instructions to the vehicle 2.

[0107] The vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 also notifies the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 11 of the electronic control unit 3 of the vehicle 2 of the changes to the data collection task.

[0108] In addition, the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 distributes the vehicle-specific data collection tasks of the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 managed by the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 to each vehicle 2 in advance, and manages the distributed data collection tasks for each vehicle 2.

[0109] The vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 11 of the electronic control unit 3 reflects the changes received from the data collection server 4 in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 31 .

[0110] In the data collection event process S900, the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 periodically monitors whether the collection conditions of the data collection task defined in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 31 are satisfied by referring to the vehicle information data group 34.

[0111] When the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 detects a data collection task that satisfies the collection conditions, it notifies the collection target data extraction unit 13 of the occurrence of a data collection event and records information about the data collection event in the data collection record data group 32.

[0112] Based on the notified data collection event, the collection target data extractor 13 refers to the vehicle-unit data in the vehicle information data group 34 to extract collection target data, and stores the data in the collection data group 33 .

[0113] Furthermore, the vehicle-based data collection task management unit 11 determines whether or not it is necessary to change the operating status of the data collection task defined in the vehicle-based data collection task data group 31 based on the updated data collection performance data group 32, and if a change is necessary, modifies the vehicle-based data collection task data group 31.

[0114] Then, the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 11 notifies the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 of the data collection server 4 of the changes to the data collection task, and records event information that the operating status has been changed in the data collection performance data group 32.

[0115] The vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 of the data collection server 4, which has received notification of a change in the operating status of the data collection task from the vehicle 2, reflects the change in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 and updates the vehicle operating status 208 in the data collection task data group 131.

[0116] In the collected data upload process S1000 , the collected data upload unit 14 of the vehicle 2 uploads the collected data stored in the collected data group 33 to the collected data management unit 114 of the data collection server 4 .

[0117] The collected data management unit 114 stores the collected data acquired from the vehicle 2 in the collected data group 133. The task status monitoring unit 113 updates the overall collection record 207 of the data collection task data group 131 and the collection record 305 of the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 based on the updated collected data group 133.

[0118] <Data collection task operation process S700>

[0119] The terminal 5 is configured to allow viewing and setting of information related to the data collection tasks of the data collection server 4 via predetermined software (such as a web browser), and FIG. 7 shows an example of the operation screen of the terminal 5 in the data collection task operation process S700.

[0120] An area 701 on the operation screen displays information about the data collection task data group 131 of the data collection server 4. The information about the data collection task data group 131 is acquired from the data collection task management unit 111 of the data collection server 4 by the software of the terminal 5.

[0121] Area 701 also has a function for manipulating entry information for data collection tasks. When an edit button 711 is pressed, the area transitions to a mode in which the operation status, collection conditions, collection target, overall collection target, vehicle collection target, etc. of the corresponding entry can be edited, and the specifications of the data collection task can be changed.

[0122] Additionally, pressing the Delete button 712 allows the corresponding data collection task entry to be deleted. By using these task operation functions, the administrator can delete a data collection task that has generated excessive data collection and is registered in the data collection server 4, or change the specifications to reduce the frequency of data collection.

[0123] Area 702 on the operation screen is an operation area for adding a new data collection task. By reflecting the specification information of the data collection task in area 722 in the figure and pressing the new add button 721, the new data collection task is reflected in the data collection task data group 131 of the data collection server 4.

[0124] <Vehicle-specific data collection task update process S800> The vehicle-specific data collection task update process S800 will be described with reference to the flowchart of Fig. 8. This process is executed at a predetermined interval.

[0125] First, in step S801, the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 refers to the data collection task data group 131 and extracts data collection task entries that have been changed.

[0126] Changes to data collection task entries include new additions, modifications, and deletions of data collection tasks by the operator using the data collection task operation process S700, as well as changes to the operating status and collection conditions of data collection tasks based on data collection results by the data collection task management unit 111, which will be described later.

[0127] Next, in step S802, the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 reflects the changes to the data collection task entry extracted in step S801 in the corresponding vehicle-specific data collection task entry in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132.

[0128] The relevant vehicle-specific data collection task entry can be determined by comparing the task ID 401 of the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 31 with the task ID 201 of the data collection task data entry.

[0129] Then, in step S803, the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 transmits the information of the task entry to the vehicle 2 corresponding to the vehicle ID 301 of the changed vehicle-specific data collection task entry as an update instruction for the vehicle-specific data collection task to the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 11 of the electronic control unit 3 via the vehicle communication control unit 115.

[0130] In step S804, the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 11 of the electronic control unit 3 receives the update instruction for the vehicle-specific data collection task via the server communication control unit 15, and then in step S805 reflects (updates) the same content in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 31.

[0131] <Data Collection Event Processing S900> The data collection event processing S900 will be described using the flowchart in Fig. 9. This processing is executed at a predetermined interval.

[0132] First, in step S901, the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 acquires unprocessed vehicle-unit data from the vehicle information data group 34 among various information (vehicle-unit data) about the vehicle 2 that is periodically acquired or updated by the vehicle information acquisition unit 16 via the in-vehicle network 60 or software running on the electronic control unit 3.

[0133] In step S902, the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 acquires, from the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 31, task entries whose operation status 402 is not "invalid" (collecting or monitoring).

[0134] In step S903, the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 determines whether the collection condition 403 of the enabled vehicle-based data collection task entry is satisfied based on the vehicle-based data acquired from the vehicle information data group 34.

[0135] If a task entry that satisfies the collection condition 403 exists (Y in step S903), the process proceeds to step S904; if not (N in step S903), the process ends.

[0136] In step S904, the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 checks the operating status 402 of the task entry that satisfies the collection condition 403, and if it is "collecting" (Y in step S904), proceed to step S905; otherwise (N in step S904), proceed to step S907.

[0137] In step S905, the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 refers to the past data collection results recorded in the data collection result data group 32 and checks whether any of the collection goals 405 of the corresponding task entry have been achieved.

[0138] If none of the conditions have been met (Y in step S905), the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 proceeds to step S906, and if any of the conditions have been met (N in step S905), the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 proceeds to step S907.

[0139] For example, the collection target 405 for task 3 in Fig. 4 is a combination of "20 times / month," "3 times / day," and "1 time / location." In the example of Fig. 5, there are three data entries for task 3, but the occurrence frequency of the first and second data entries is sufficiently low and no collection event has occurred at the same location, so data collection is being performed (data collection execution status 504 is "yes").

[0140] On the other hand, for the third data entry, the location information 505 is sufficiently close to the second data entry (within a predetermined range), so the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 determines that the data is a collection event at the same location and suppresses data collection (data collection execution status 504 is "no"). Note that the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 determines that the two pieces of data are from the same location if the distance in the location information 505 between the two pieces of data is within a preset threshold.

[0141] In step S906, the collection target data extraction unit 13 refers to the vehicle information data group 34 and extracts data corresponding to the collection target 404 of the corresponding task entry from the vehicle unit data.

[0142] In step S907, the collection target data extraction unit 13 associates the extracted collection data with the collection event and stores it in the collection data group 33. The extracted collection data includes the vehicle-unit data corresponding to the collection target 404 extracted in step S906, data related to the collection event that satisfied the collection condition 403 of the task entry (data collection event information), and the like.

[0143] If step S906 is not performed, the vehicle-unit data is excluded and only the collected event is extracted and stored as data in the collected data group 33. The collected event information is, for example, data corresponding to the data collection result data group 32 in Fig. 5. That is, the occurrence of an event is stored as data collection event information, but there is no vehicle-unit data in the vehicle information data group 34 corresponding to this event.

[0144] Furthermore, if step S906 is not performed, vehicle-unit data is excluded and only the collected events are considered as collected data, thereby reducing the vehicle-unit data included in the extracted data and preventing the amount of collected data stored on the data collection server 4 from becoming excessive.

[0145] In step S908, the data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 adds the data collection event information to the data collection result data group 32. When only the data collection event information is stored in the collected data group 133, the data collection execution status 504 becomes "no," and when the data corresponding to the collection target 404 is also stored, the data collection execution status 504 becomes "yes."

[0146] In step S909, the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 11 refers to the updated data collection record data group 32, calculates the occurrence frequency of the data collection event for each vehicle-specific data collection task entry, and checks whether the occurrence frequency is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. If the occurrence frequency is less than the predetermined value in step S909 (N in step S909), the process ends without doing anything.

[0147] On the other hand, if the frequency is equal to or greater than the predetermined value (Y in step S909), the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 11 sets the operation status 402 of the corresponding task entry to "invalid" or "monitoring" in step S910, and transmits the change details and reason for the change in the operation status 402 to the data collection server 4 in step S911.

[0148] The reason for change of the operating status 402 is information about the cause of the change of the operating status, and in this example, an "excessive occurrence" of a data collection event is shown. Upon receiving the notification in step S921, the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 112 of the data collection server 4 updates the operating status 303 of the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 and the vehicle operating status 208 and task information change reason 209 of the data collection task data group 131 in step S922.

[0149] The frequency of occurrence of the data collection event for each task entry calculated in step S909 can be calculated based on how many task IDs 501 corresponding to the event time 502 are included in the most recent specified period (1 hour, 1 day, 1 month, etc.) in the data collection performance data group 32.

[0150] Alternatively, it may be calculated from the ratio of the number of events occurring per unit time. For example, in the example of Fig. 5, three data collection events for task 2 occurred in succession on the same day. The collection target 405 for task 2 can be calculated from the ratio of three events per day, which is 90 events per month.

[0151] The predetermined value used in step S909 may be set to a fixed value regardless of the content of the task, or may be calculated based on the value of the collection target 405 of the vehicle-based data collection task data group 31.

[0152] For example, if a value three times the collection target 405 is set as the predetermined value (occurrence frequency threshold), the collection target 405 for task 2 is 20 times / month, 3 times / day, which corresponds to 60 times / month, 9 times / day.

[0153] If the monthly occurrence frequency as described above is 90 cases / month, this exceeds the threshold of 60 times / month, so in step S910 the operation status of the task entry will be changed to "disabled" or "monitoring."

[0154] When the operation status 402 of the task entry is changed to "disabled" or "monitoring," even if a data collection event of the same task ID 401 occurs from the next time onwards, the processing of steps S902 to S904 can completely suppress data storage in the collected data group 33 in step S907 (in the case of disabled), or can limit the amount of data storage to only data collection event information with a small amount of data (in the case of monitoring).

[0155] Whether to set "invalid" or "monitoring" in step S910 may be fixedly set in advance, or the threshold (predetermined value) in step S909 may be set to two levels. For example, a value of 1x the collection target 405 is set as the predetermined value for the first level, and if this value is exceeded, the setting is "monitoring," and if a value of 3x this value is set as the predetermined value for the second level, the setting is "invalid."

[0156] In steps S909 to S910, the operating state may be changed according to the frequency of occurrence of the data collection event, as well as the achievement status of the collection goal 405. For example, the collection goal 405 of task 10 in FIG. 4 includes a cumulative number of times the event has occurred, which is "10 times."

[0157] Unlike the target value for the frequency of occurrence, the target value for the cumulative number of times is always met once it has been achieved. Therefore, since there is no need to keep the data collection task enabled any longer, you can change the operating status to "Disabled" or "Monitoring."

[0158] Through the above processing, for a data collection task whose operating status 402 is "collecting", the electronic control unit 3 extracts vehicle-unit data from the vehicle information data group 34, and if the number or frequency of the extracted vehicle-unit data does not reach the collection target 405, the extracted data is stored in the collected data group 33 as collected data.

[0159] On the other hand, when the number or frequency of extracted vehicle-unit data reaches the collection target 405, the electronic control unit 3 changes the operation status 402 of the data collection task to "monitoring" or "disabled" and prohibits the extraction of subsequent collected data. This makes it possible for the data collection server 4 that receives the collected data to prevent excessive acquisition of collected data.

[0160] In addition, the electronic control unit 3 notifies the data collection server 4 of the data collection task whose operating status 402 has been changed, so that the data collection server 4 can update the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 and synchronize it with the data collection task of the electronic control unit 3 of the vehicle 2.

[0161] <Collected Data Upload Process S1000> The collected data upload process S1000 will be described with reference to the flowchart of Fig. 10. This process is executed at a predetermined interval.

[0162] First, the collected data upload unit 14 acquires collected data stored in the collected data group 33 in step S1001, and transmits the collected data to the data collection server 4 via the server communication control unit 15 in step S1002.

[0163] On the data collection server 4 side, in step S1011, the collected data management unit 114 receives the collected data via the vehicle communication control unit 115, and in step S1012, stores the collected data in the collected data group 133.

[0164] In response to the collection data being stored, the task status monitoring unit 113 updates the collection record 305 of the corresponding task entry in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 based on the updated collection data group 133 in step S1013.

[0165] Then, in step S1014, the task status monitoring unit 113 updates the overall collection result 207 and the vehicle operating state 208 of the corresponding task entry in the data collection task data group 131.

[0166] When updating the collection record, the task status monitoring unit 113 calculates the number of collections by, for example, calculating the number of data items of the corresponding task entry stored in the collected data group 133 .

[0167] The occurrence frequency can be calculated by, for example, having the task status monitoring unit 113 manage the data collection event information included in the collected data in a format such as the data collection performance data group 32 shown in Figure 5, and calculating the number of data collection event information items for the relevant task entry in the most recent specified period (one day, one month, etc.). The vehicle operating status 208 can be calculated by having the task status monitoring unit 113 tally up the operating status 303 for each vehicle in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132.

[0168] Next, the data collection task management unit 111 checks the overall collection results 207 of the task entries in the updated data collection task data group 131, and checks whether the number of collections has reached the overall collection target 205 (step S1015) and whether the occurrence frequency is above a predetermined value (step S1017).

[0169] If either condition is met (Y in step S1015 or Y in step S1017), the data collection task management unit 111 sets the operation status 202 of the corresponding task entry to "invalid" (step S1016 or step S1018) and proceeds to step S1019.

[0170] If neither condition is met (N in step S1015 and N in step S1017), the data collection task management unit 111 does nothing and proceeds to step S1019.

[0171] In step S1019, the data collection task management unit 111 further checks the vehicle operating status 208 in the data collection task data group 131 to see if the percentage of vehicles 2 that are "invalid" is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

[0172] If the ratio of "invalid" vehicles 2 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (Y in step S1019), the data collection task management unit 111 sets the operation status 202 of the corresponding task entry to "invalid" and terminates the process. If the ratio is less than the predetermined value (N in step S1019), the process terminates without doing anything.

[0173] Through the above processing, the data collection server 4 acquires the collected data extracted by the electronic control unit 3 and updates the corresponding collection results 305 in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132, and also updates the task information change reason 306 in the task entry based on the data collection task change notification received from the vehicle 2.

[0174] The data collection server 4 calculates the overall collection results from the collection results 305 of all vehicles 2 and updates the overall collection results 207, and for data collection tasks for which the overall collection results 207 have reached the target value, the overall collection target 205, changes the operating status 202 to "invalid" and stops the extraction of subsequent collected data.

[0175] In addition, the data collection server 4 calculates the overall collection results from the collection results 305 of all vehicles 2 and updates the overall collection results 207, and for data collection tasks whose occurrence frequency in the overall collection results 207 has reached the target value, the overall collection target 205, changes the operation status 202 to "invalid" to stop the extraction of subsequent collected data.

[0176] Furthermore, for data collection tasks for which the proportion (ratio) of the operation status 202 of the data collection task in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 132 is set to "invalid", the data collection server 4 can reduce the processing load on the electronic control unit 3 of each vehicle 2 by setting the operation status 202 in the data collection task data group 131 to "invalid".

[0177] According to the above embodiment, the system includes a data collection task condition monitoring unit 12 that uses the vehicle information data group 34 related to the state of the vehicle 2 to detect the occurrence of an event that matches the collection conditions 403 based on information related to data collection specified in the vehicle-specific data collection task data group 31 (operating status 402, collection conditions 403, and collection target 404 in FIG. 4 ), and a collection target data extraction unit 13 that determines, based on the operating status 402, which data to be uploaded to the data collection server 4 as collection target data related to the detected event and stored in the collection data group 133. The vehicle-specific data collection task management unit 11 changes the operating status 402 in accordance with the collection results of each data collection task calculated based on the data collection event information included in the collection target data.

[0178] 9, if the event occurrence frequency in a data collection task exceeds a threshold, the operation status 402 of the task is set to "disabled" or "monitoring." As a result, if data collection events occur more frequently than expected, the corresponding data collection task is disabled or limited to data collection event information with a small amount of data, thereby preventing excessive data collection.

[0179] According to the above embodiment, by setting a target value for the number of data collections for the same location in the collection target 405, if the number of data entries with nearby occurrence locations in the data collection result data group 32 exceeds the target value, the data in the collection target 404 is excluded from the collection targets. This makes it possible to suppress redundant data collection that occurs when data collection events occur multiple times at the same location.

[0180] The embodiment described above is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited to this. In other words, various applications are possible, and all embodiments are included in the scope of the present invention.

[0181] For example, in the above embodiment, each process is described on the assumption that it is executed by the same processing unit and storage unit in the electronic control device 3 and the data collection server 4, but it may be executed by multiple different processing units and storage units. In that case, for example, processing software having a similar configuration is loaded into each storage unit, and the respective processing units share the execution of the process.

[0182] In addition, each process of the electronic control unit 3 and the data collection server 4 is realized by executing a predetermined program using a processor and RAM, but it can also be realized using unique hardware if necessary.

[0183] <Conclusion> As described above, the above embodiment can be configured as follows.

[0184] (1) An electronic control device (3) that collects information about a vehicle (2) and includes a processing unit (10) that performs calculations and a storage unit (30) that stores information, wherein the processing unit (10) includes a vehicle information acquisition unit (16) that acquires information about the vehicle (2) and stores it as vehicle-unit data, a vehicle-unit data collection task management unit (11) that manages a vehicle-unit data collection task in which collection conditions indicating an opportunity for collection and collection goals indicating goals related to collection are defined for vehicle-unit data to be collected, and a data collection event management unit (12) that generates a data collection event based on the collection conditions defined in the vehicle-unit data collection task and stores the collected data. and a collection target data extraction unit (13) that receives a data collection event from the data collection task condition monitoring unit (12) and, when collection of vehicle-unit data is specified, extracts vehicle-unit data to be collected and stores the extracted data as collected data, wherein the vehicle-unit data collection task management unit (11) changes the content of the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit (13) based on the collection results of the collected data for the collection target specified in the vehicle-unit data collection task.

[0185] With the above configuration, it is possible to prevent excessive collection of data relative to the purpose of collection.

[0186] (2) The electronic control device described in (1) above, wherein the data collection task condition monitoring unit (12) designates the vehicle-unit data and information related to the data collection event as the collected data when the collection conditions set in the vehicle-unit data collection task are satisfied and the collection results of the collected data do not reach the collection target.

[0187] With the above configuration, it is possible to prevent excessive collection of data relative to the purpose of collection.

[0188] (3) The electronic control device according to (1), wherein the data collection task condition monitoring unit (12) designates information relating to the data collection event as the collected data and does not designate the vehicle-unit data as the collected data when the collection conditions set in the vehicle-unit data collection task are satisfied and the collection results of the collected data have reached the collection target.

[0189] With the above configuration, it is possible to prevent excessive collection of data relative to the purpose of collection and to store the history of occurrence of collection events.

[0190] (4) The electronic control device described in (1) above, wherein the data collection task condition monitoring unit (12) designates neither the vehicle-unit data nor the information related to the data collection event as the collected data when the collection conditions set in the vehicle-unit data collection task are satisfied and the collection results of the collected data have reached the collection target.

[0191] With the above configuration, it is possible to prevent excessive collection of data relative to the purpose of collection.

[0192] (5) The electronic control device according to (1), wherein, when the data collection event is generated, the data collection task condition monitoring unit (12) stores information about the data collection event and information about the content specified for the collected data as data collection performance data, and the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit (11) determines the collection performance of the collected data with respect to the collection target specified in the vehicle-specific data collection task based on the data collection performance data.

[0193] With the above configuration, by determining the collection results of collected data relative to the collection target, it is possible to prevent collection of data excessive to the collection purpose.

[0194] (6) The electronic control device according to (5), wherein the data collection task condition monitoring unit (12) refers to the data collection performance data, and when the occurrence amount or occurrence frequency of the data collection event related to the vehicle-based data collection task exceeds a threshold value set in the collection target, does not designate the vehicle-based data as the collected data.

[0195] With the above configuration, by determining the occurrence amount or occurrence frequency of collected data events for the collection target, it is possible to suppress collection of data excessive to the collection purpose.

[0196] (7) The electronic control device according to (5), wherein the data collection task condition monitoring unit (12) acquires location information of the vehicle (2), associates the location information with the data collection event, and stores the location information in the data collection record data, and when the occurrence amount or occurrence frequency of a data collection event related to the vehicle-specific data collection task, whose location information is within a predetermined range, exceeds a threshold value set in the collection target, the vehicle-specific data is not designated as the collection data. With the above configuration, redundant data collection caused by multiple data collection events occurring at the same location can be suppressed.

[0197] (8) A data collection system (1) including the electronic control device (3) described in (1) above, a processing unit (110) that performs calculations, a memory unit (130) that stores information, and a server (4) that collects data from a vehicle (2) including a communication unit (140) that communicates with the electronic control device (3), wherein the electronic control device (3) includes a communication unit (40) that receives the vehicle-specific data collection task from the server (4) and transmits the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit (13) to the server (4), and the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit (11) manages the vehicle-specific data collection task received from the server (4), and the server (4) sets collection conditions that indicate a collection opportunity for the vehicle-specific data to be collected, and sets collection data to be collected from a plurality of the vehicles. a vehicle-specific data collection task management unit (112) that manages the vehicle-specific data collection tasks set for each vehicle (2) in accordance with the data collection tasks; and a collection data management unit (114) that receives the collection data from the vehicle (2) and stores it in a collection data group (133), wherein the data collection task management unit (111) changes the content of the collection data stored by the collection target data extraction unit (13) by updating the vehicle-specific data collection tasks based on the storage record of the collection data in the collection data group (133) for the overall collection goal specified in the data collection tasks.

[0198] With the above configuration, it is possible to suppress the collection of excessive data relative to the collection purpose based on the collection record of data collected from a plurality of vehicles.

[0199] (9) The data collection system (1) described in (8) above, wherein the vehicle-based data collection task management unit (11) notifies the server (4) of a task information change reason indicating the reason for the change when the content of the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit (13) is changed, and the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit (112) records the changed content of the collected data and the reason for the task information change in the data collection task when the vehicle (2) notifies the server (4) of the reason for the change in the task information.

[0200] With the above configuration, the server administrator can understand the reason why excessive data has been collected, and can set a data collection task to suppress the collection of data that is excessive for the collection purpose.

[0201] (10) The data collection system (1) described in (8) above, wherein the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit (11) notifies the server (4) of the content of the change when the content of the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit (13) is changed, and the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit (112) stops the extraction of collected data related to the vehicle-specific data collection task for all vehicles (2) when there is a vehicle-specific data collection task for which the proportion of vehicles (2) for which the vehicle-specific data is not specified as the collected data exceeds a threshold value relative to the total number of vehicles (2) with which the server (4) communicates.

[0202] With the above configuration, the processing load on the electronic control unit of each vehicle can be reduced.

[0203] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and includes various modifications. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and are not necessarily limited to those including all of the described configurations. Furthermore, it is possible to replace part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, or to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. Furthermore, with respect to part of the configuration of each embodiment, addition, deletion, or substitution of other configurations can be applied alone or in combination.

[0204] Furthermore, the above-described configurations, functions, processing units, and processing means may be partially or entirely implemented in hardware, for example, by designing them as integrated circuits. The above-described configurations and functions may also be implemented in software by a processor interpreting and executing a program that implements each function. Information such as the program, table, and file that implements each function can be stored in a memory, a recording device such as a hard disk or SSD (Solid State Drive), or a recording medium such as an IC card, SD card, or DVD.

[0205] In addition, the control lines and information lines shown are those that are considered necessary for the explanation, and do not necessarily show all the control lines and information lines in the product. In reality, it can be assumed that almost all components are interconnected.

Claims

1. An electronic control device which includes a processing unit which performs calculations and a memory unit which stores information about a vehicle, the processing unit including: a vehicle information acquisition unit which acquires information about the vehicle and stores it as vehicle unit data; a vehicle unit data collection task management unit which manages a vehicle unit data collection task in which collection conditions indicating a trigger for collection of the vehicle unit data to be collected and collection goals indicating goals related to the collection are defined for the vehicle unit data to be collected; a data collection task condition monitoring unit which generates a data collection event based on the collection conditions defined in the vehicle unit data collection task and specifies the contents of the collected data; and a collection target data extraction unit which receives a data collection event from the data collection task condition monitoring unit and, if collection of vehicle unit data is specified, extracts the vehicle unit data to be collected and stores it as collected data, characterized in that the vehicle unit data collection task management unit changes the contents of the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit based on the collection performance of the collected data for the collection goals specified in the vehicle unit data collection task.

2. An electronic control device as described in claim 1, characterized in that, when the collection conditions defined in the vehicle-unit data collection task are satisfied and the collection results of the collected data do not reach the collection target, the data collection task condition monitoring unit designates the vehicle-unit data and information relating to the data collection event as the collected data.

3. An electronic control device as described in claim 1, characterized in that, when the collection conditions defined in the vehicle-unit data collection task are satisfied and the collection record of the collected data has reached the collection target, the data collection task condition monitoring unit designates information relating to the data collection event as the collected data and does not designate the vehicle-unit data as the collected data.

4. An electronic control device as described in claim 1, characterized in that, when the collection conditions defined in the vehicle-unit data collection task are satisfied and the collection record of the collected data has reached the collection target, the data collection task condition monitoring unit does not designate either the vehicle-unit data or information relating to the data collection event as the collected data.

5. An electronic control device according to claim 1, characterized in that, when the data collection event is generated, the data collection task condition monitoring unit stores information relating to the data collection event and information relating to the contents specified for the collection data as data collection performance data, and the vehicle-based data collection task management unit judges the collection performance of the collection data with respect to the collection target specified in the vehicle-based data collection task based on the data collection performance data.

6. An electronic control device according to claim 5, characterized in that said data collection task condition monitoring unit refers to said data collection performance data, and when the amount or frequency of occurrence of a data collection event related to said vehicle-unit data collection task exceeds a threshold value set in a collection target, does not designate said vehicle-unit data as said collection data.

7. An electronic control device according to claim 5, wherein said data collection task condition monitoring unit acquires position information of said vehicle, associates said position information with said data collection event and stores said position information in said data collection performance data, and when the occurrence amount or occurrence frequency of data collection events related to said vehicle-unit data collection task, whose position information is within a predetermined range, exceeds a threshold value set in said collection goal, said vehicle-unit data is not designated as said collection data.

8. A data collection system comprising an electronic control device as described in claim 1, a processing unit for performing calculations, a memory unit for storing information, and a server including a communication unit for communicating with said electronic control device and for collecting data from vehicles, wherein said electronic control device comprises a communication unit for receiving said vehicle-based data collection task from said server and transmitting said collection data stored by said collection target data extraction unit to said server, said vehicle-based data collection task management unit manages said vehicle-based data collection task received from said server, and said server comprises a data collection task management unit for managing a data collection task in which collection conditions indicating a collection trigger for vehicle-based data to be collected and an overall collection goal indicating a collection goal for said collection data to be collected from a plurality of said vehicles are defined, a vehicle-specific data collection task management unit for managing the vehicle-based data collection task set for each of said vehicles in accordance with said data collection task, and a collection data management unit for receiving said collection data from said vehicles and storing it in a collection data group, a data collection task management unit that updates the vehicle-based data collection task based on a storage record of the collected data in the collected data group with respect to an overall collection goal specified in the data collection task, thereby changing the content of the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit.

9. A data collection system as described in claim 8, wherein the vehicle-based data collection task management unit, when changing the contents of the collected data stored by the collection target data extraction unit, notifies the server of a task information change reason indicating the reason for the change, and the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit, when notified of the reason for the task information change from the vehicle, records the changed contents of the collected data and the reason for the task information change in the data collection task.

10. A data collection system as described in claim 8, wherein the vehicle-based data collection task management unit notifies the server of the content of the change when the content of the collection data stored by the collection target data extraction unit is changed, and the vehicle-specific data collection task management unit stops extraction of collection data related to the vehicle-based data collection task for all vehicles when there is a vehicle-based data collection task for which the proportion of vehicles for which the vehicle-based data is not specified as the collection data exceeds a threshold value relative to the total number of vehicles with which the server communicates.