Patent ID: 7653473

Claim:
An inter-vehicle communication control apparatus for controlling inter-vehicle communication between a first on-vehicle communication device mounted on a first vehicle and a second on-vehicle communication device mounted on a second vehicle, the inter-vehicle communication control apparatus comprising: a communication state display mounted on the second vehicle configured to display information representing a communication state of the second on-vehicle communication device; and an on-vehicle communication apparatus mounted on the first vehicle configured to receive the information representing the communication state of the second on-vehicle communication device and configured to analyze the received information to determine the communication state of the second on-vehicle communication device and a positional relationship between the first and second vehicles, the on-vehicle communication apparatus being configured to specify an inter-vehicle communication method between the first and second on-vehicle communication devices that does not affect other inter-vehicle communication or road-vehicle communication of the second vehicle, based on the determined communication state of the second communication device and the positional relationship between the first and second vehicles, and to control the first and second on-vehicle communication devices to perform the inter-vehicle communication in accordance with the specified communication method, the communication state display being configured to display a busy state of at least one communication medium of the second on-vehicle communication device; and the on-vehicle communication apparatus being configured to receive the information displayed on the communication state display and analyze the received information to determine the busy state of the at least one communication medium of the second on-vehicle communication device.