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US-12618688-B2 - Information processing device and information processing method for vehicle charging at charging facilities

US12618688B2US 12618688 B2US12618688 B2US 12618688B2US-12618688-B2

Abstract

A control unit of an information processing device searches for a charging facility that is included in one or more facilities located on a planned travel route of a user vehicle and is either one or both of a facility that has charging equipment and a facility to which a charging vehicle for charging the user vehicle is dispatched. The control unit of the information processing device outputs display information for displaying charging facility information on whether the user vehicle can be charged at the charging facility, which has been searched for, on a schematic diagram on which information on the one or more facilities is displayed in order of proximity to the current position of the user vehicle.

Inventors

  • Yuto KAIDA
  • Shinya HIROSAWA
  • Hikaru SUGAHARA

Assignees

  • TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20250121
Priority Date
20240124

Claims (4)

  1. 1 . An information processing device comprising a control unit, the control unit configured to perform: searching for a charging facility, the charging facility being a facility included in one or more facilities located on a planned travel route of a user vehicle and being either one or both of a facility that has charging equipment and a facility to which a charging vehicle for charging the user vehicle is dispatched; outputting display information on a schematic diagram, the display information being information for displaying charging facility information on whether the user vehicle can be charged at the charging facility that has been searched for, the schematic diagram being a diagram on which information on the one or more facilities is displayed in order of proximity to a current position of the user vehicle; and outputting the display information displayed superimposed on a map including whether the vehicle can be charged at charging facilities is displayed superimposed on the map together with the locations of charging facilities, and as the user vehicle moves, the display range of the map changes and, as the orientation of the user vehicle changes, the display of the map rotates accordingly; when the charging facility is a facility to which the charging vehicle is dispatched, the control unit is further configured to: acquire a providing period during which the charging vehicle provides a charging service, and acquire an estimated arrival time of the user vehicle at the charging facility to which the charging vehicle is dispatched; when the estimated arrival time is included in the providing period, the charging facility is included in the charging facility information as a facility to which the charging vehicle is dispatched; and when the estimated arrival time is not included in the providing period, the charging facility is not included in the charging facility information as a facility to which the charging vehicle is dispatched.
  2. 2 . The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein, when the charging equipment or the charging vehicle that is able to charge the user vehicle is not in the charging facility, the outputting display information includes outputting the display information that causes an icon to be displayed on the schematic diagram, the icon indicating that the charging equipment or the charging vehicle that is able to charge is not in the charging facility.
  3. 3 . The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the outputting display information includes outputting the display information that causes the number of chargeable vehicles by the charging equipment or the charging vehicle and the maximum number of chargeable vehicles by the charging equipment or the charging vehicle to be displayed on the schematic diagram.
  4. 4 . An information processing method executed by a computer, the information processing method comprising: searching for a charging facility, the charging facility being a facility included in one or more facilities located on a planned travel route of a user vehicle and being either one or both of a facility that has charging equipment and a facility to which a charging vehicle for charging the user vehicle is dispatched; outputting display information on a schematic diagram, the display information being information for displaying charging facility information on whether the user vehicle can be charged at the charging facility that has been searched for, the schematic diagram being a diagram on which information on the one or more facilities is displayed in order of proximity to a current position of the user vehicle; and outputting the display information displayed superimposed on a map including whether the vehicle can be charged at charging facilities is displayed superimposed on the map together with the locations of charging facilities, and as the user vehicle moves, the display range of the map changes and, as the orientation of the user vehicle changes, the display of the map rotates accordingly; when the charging facility is a facility to which the charging vehicle is dispatched, acquiring a providing period during which the charging vehicle provides a charging service, and acquiring an estimated arrival time of the user vehicle at the charging facility to which the charging vehicle is dispatched; wherein: when the estimated arrival time is included in the providing period, the charging facility is included in the charging facility information as a facility to which the charging vehicle is dispatched; and when the estimated arrival time is not included in the providing period, the charging facility is not included in the charging facility information as a facility to which the charging vehicle is dispatched.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2024-008778 filed on Jan. 24, 2024. The disclosure of the above-identified application, including the specification, drawings, and claims, is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field The present disclosure relates to an information processing device and an information processing method. 2. Description of Related Art Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2021-63766 (JP 2021-63766 A) discloses a navigation system. The navigation system acquires a remaining battery life and battery charging characteristics. The navigation system also acquires the locations of charging spots and the attributes of charging spots. After that, the navigation system suggests a route to a driver including charging spots that are selected based on the remaining battery life, battery charging characteristics, locations of charging spots, and attributes of charging spots. SUMMARY It is an object the present disclosure to display easy-to-read information on whether a vehicle can be charged at charging facilities. A first aspect of the present disclosure relates to an information processing device including a control unit. The control unit is configured to perform searching for a charging facility and outputting display information on a schematic diagram. The charging facility is a facility included in one or more facilities located on the planned travel route of a user vehicle and is either one or both of a facility that has charging equipment and a facility to which a charging vehicle for charging the user vehicle is dispatched. The display information is information for displaying charging facility information on whether the user vehicle can be charged at the charging facility that has been searched for. The schematic diagram is a diagram on which information on the one or more facilities is displayed in order of proximity to the current position of the user vehicle. A second aspect of the present disclosure relates to an information processing method executed by a computer. The information processing method includes searching for a charging facility and outputting display information on a schematic diagram. The charging facility is a facility included in one or more facilities located on the planned travel route of a user vehicle and is either one or both of a facility that has charging equipment and a facility to which a charging vehicle for charging the user vehicle is dispatched. The display information is information for displaying charging facility information on whether the user vehicle can be charged at the charging facility that has been searched for. The schematic diagram is a diagram on which information on the one or more facilities is displayed in order of proximity to the current position of the user vehicle. The present disclosure makes it possible to display easy-to-read information on whether a vehicle can be charged at charging facilities. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Features, advantages, and technical and industrial significance of exemplary embodiments of the disclosure will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like signs denote like elements, and wherein: FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a navigation system; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the display screen of an in-vehicle device; FIG. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing an example of the functional configuration of a server in an embodiment; FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the table configuration of facility information stored in a facility information database; FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the table configuration of dispatch information stored in a dispatch information database; and FIG. 6 is a flowchart of processing performed by a control unit. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS The user who wants to charge a user vehicle visits a facility where the user vehicle can be charged (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a “charging facility”). In this case, when charging equipment is provided at the charging facility, the user vehicle can be charged at the charging facility. In addition, when a vehicle that charges user vehicles (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a “charging vehicle”) is dispatched to the charging facility, the user vehicle can be charged at the charging facility. In this case, the user can look at the information on charging facilities displayed on the navigation system to obtain information on the charging facilities (information including the locations of charging facilities and whether a vehicle can be charged at the charging facilities). It is assumed here that the locations of charging facilities are displayed superimposed on a map displayed by the navigation system. It is also assumed that whether a vehicle can be charged at charging facilities is displayed superimposed on