JP2005328116A - On-vehicle system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an "on-vehicle system" for carrying out sound volume control for the output sound whereby a speech of a user using a mobile phone is not disturbed and listening/appreciation of audio outputs of the other users is not interfered. <P>SOLUTION: Upon the receipt of a notice of the arrival of a call to a mobile phone 10, a section 7 for controlling sound volume during speech calculates a seat position of a user possessing the called mobile phone 10 on the basis of information from the notice source of the call termination, and instructs a head unit 3 to decrease the sound volume of a speaker 2 corresponding to the calculated seat to a prescribed level or to mute the sound output from the speaker 2 corresponding to the calculated seat. The head unit 3 decreases/mutes the sound volume of the sound output from the instructed speaker 2 in accordance with the instruction. Further, upon the receipt of an interruption/release notice, the section 7 restores the sound volume of the sound output from the speaker 2 or releases the muted sound output. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a technology for controlling output sound of an in-vehicle system that performs audio output, such as a car audio system mounted on an automobile.

  For example, as a technology for controlling the output sound of a car audio system, the car audio system monitors the incoming call or busy state of a mobile phone connected to the car audio system and detects the incoming call or busy state. In such a case, a technique for muting the audio output from the speaker on the user side of the mobile phone connected by wire is known so as not to hinder a call using the mobile phone (for example, Patent Document 1).

In addition, when the in-call state of a portable mobile phone held by a user in the vehicle is monitored from the electric field strength of the radio wave transmitted by the mobile phone, the call using the mobile phone is not hindered when the in-call state is detected. As described above, a technique for muting audio output from all speakers provided in a vehicle is also known (for example, Patent Document 2).
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-26095 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-75168

  According to the technique of Patent Document 1, when a plurality of people get on a vehicle, when a call is received by a user other than the user of the mobile phone connected to the car audio system, the user's call is hindered. So that the speaker's audio output cannot be muted.

  On the other hand, according to the technique of Patent Document 2, when a plurality of people get on a vehicle, when a call arrives at a mobile phone possessed by any user, the sound output of all speakers in the vehicle is performed so as not to disturb the call. Although it can be muted, in this way, during the call of a certain user, other users will not be able to listen to or appreciate music using the car audio system at all. In addition, since the state during a call based on the electric field strength is detected, there is a high possibility that the state during the call of the user's mobile phone in the other vehicle is erroneously detected as the state of the call of the user's mobile phone in the own vehicle. .

  Therefore, the present invention is an in-vehicle system that performs audio output, and does not disturb a call using a user's portable mobile phone even when a plurality of people are in the vehicle, and the audio of a user other than the user who makes the call It is an object of the present invention to control the volume of output sound that does not hinder the listening and appreciation of output.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an in-vehicle system mounted in an automobile, a plurality of speakers arranged in the vehicle, an audio output unit that outputs output sound of a predetermined audio source to each speaker, While comprising a voice output control unit during a call that can be connected to a mobile phone brought into the vehicle via short-range wireless communication, the voice output control unit during a call, via the short-range wireless communication, An incoming call detection means for detecting an incoming call of a mobile telephone or a start of a call; a mobile telephone position calculating means for calculating a position of the mobile telephone at which the incoming call detection means detects an incoming call or a call; and controlling the audio output unit, The volume of the output sound of the audio source from the speaker arranged in the vicinity of the position calculated by the mobile phone position calculating means is reduced to a predetermined level or less, or moved. It is provided with a a volume control means to mute the output of the output sound of the audio source from the speaker phone position calculating means is arranged near a position as calculated.

  According to such an in-vehicle system, when a plurality of people are in the vehicle, only the output sound of the speaker in the vicinity of the user in the arbitrary seat who makes a call using the mobile phone can be muted or volume-downed. Thus, it is possible to prevent the user of any seat from interfering with the speech, and not to greatly disturb the listening and appreciation of the output sound of the audio source of other users other than the user who makes the call at the same time.

  Here, when the above-mentioned in-vehicle system is connected to a mobile phone of a user who is a driver and is provided with a hands-free device for providing a hands-free function to the connected mobile phone, the mobile phone position In the calculating means, when the mobile telephone whose incoming call detecting means detects the arrival of an incoming call or a call is a mobile telephone connected to the hands-free device, the driver's seat may be calculated as the position of the mobile telephone. Good.

  Alternatively, the in-vehicle system described above is provided with a plurality of antennas for short-range wireless communication, and the mobile phone position calculating means uses an antenna used for short-range wireless communication by a mobile phone whose incoming call detecting means detects an incoming call or the start of a call. The position of the mobile phone may be calculated according to the position of the mobile phone.

  Alternatively, the above-described in-vehicle system is provided with a plurality of antennas for short-range wireless communication, and in the mobile phone position calculation means, the mobile phone whose incoming call detection means detects an incoming call or the start of a call is used for short-range wireless communication. The position of the mobile telephone may be calculated based on the reception strength of the signal at the plurality of antennas.

  In addition, the present invention includes a plurality of speakers arranged in a vehicle, and an audio output unit that outputs output sound of a predetermined audio source to each of the speakers, and controls sound output in an in-vehicle system mounted on an automobile. As a method, a step of detecting an incoming call or a call start of a mobile phone at an arbitrary position brought into the vehicle via short-range wireless communication, and an audio output when the incoming call of the mobile phone or the start of a call is detected And a step of reducing a volume of output sound of the audio source from the speaker to a predetermined level or less, or muting output of output sound of the audio source from the speaker.

  According to such a method, the mobile telephone in the own vehicle is surely identified, and the output voice from the speaker is controlled only for the mobile telephone in the own vehicle in response to detection of the incoming call of the mobile telephone or the start of the call. Will be able to do.

  As described above, according to the present invention, in an in-vehicle system that performs audio output, even when a plurality of people are boarding a vehicle, the user who does not interfere with the call using the user's portable mobile phone and performs the call It is possible to control the volume of the output sound that does not hinder the listening or appreciation of the audio output of other users.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1a shows the configuration of an in-vehicle system according to this embodiment.
As shown in the figure, the in-vehicle system selects an audio source device 1 that is a sound source device such as a radio receiver or a CD-DA player, and an audio output of one audio source device 1, and equalizes the selected audio output. A head unit 3 that outputs sound from a plurality of speakers 2 by performing sound field adjustment processing and volume adjustment processing, hands-free speaker 4, hands-free microphone 5, hands-free speaker 4 and hands-free microphone 5 A hands-free device 6 that provides a free function to the mobile telephone 10 and a volume control unit 7 during a call are provided. In addition, a wireless communication module 9 including a hands-free call antenna 8a that forms a short-range wireless communication interface such as Bluetooth (registered trademark), IEEE 802.11 series, or IrDa is provided. The wireless communication module 9 including the hands-free call antenna 8 a is connected to the hands-free device 6. The in-vehicle system includes three wireless communication modules 9 including a telephone position detection antenna 8b that form a short-range wireless communication interface such as Bluetooth (registered trademark), IEEE 802.11 series, or IrDa. The three wireless communication modules 9 are connected to the volume control unit 7 during a call.

In addition, the mobile phone 10 targeted in the present embodiment has a function of performing the above-described short-range wireless communication in addition to the wireless communication using the mobile telephone network 11.
Here, FIG. 1b schematically shows an arrangement example of each part of the above in-vehicle system, where b1 shows an arrangement viewed from the side of the vehicle and b2 shows an arrangement viewed from above the vehicle.
As shown in the figure, the four speakers 2 are respectively mounted on four doors including a left and right front door and a left and right rear door. Also, the hands-free call antenna 8a of the wireless communication module 9 connected to the hands-free device 6 is installed in the ceiling above the driver's seat, and the three wireless modules equipped with the telephone position detection antenna 8b are respectively In the ceiling above the passenger seat, in the ceiling above the rear right seat, and in the ceiling above the left rear seat. Each antenna 8a, 8b has narrow directivity, and as shown in FIG. 1b1, can perform short-range wireless communication only with the mobile phone 10 held by the user in the lower seat corresponding to the installation position, Short-distance wireless communication cannot be performed with the mobile telephone 10 possessed by the seat user.

The hands-free microphone 5 and the hands-free speaker 4 are disposed in front of the driver's seat.
In such a configuration, the hands-free device 6 includes a mobile phone 10 (a user who is a driver who can perform short-range wireless communication via a wireless communication module 9 connected to the hands-free device 6 and a hands-free call antenna 8a. If the mobile phone 10 possessed is searched, and the mobile phone 10 is searched, the mobile phone 10 searched via the short-range wireless communication is set to the hands-free mode.

  Now, when the mobile telephone 10 set in the hands-free mode receives an incoming call from the mobile telephone network 11, the mobile telephone 10 notifies the hands-free device 6 of the incoming call via the short-range wireless communication. In addition, when a call is started, the mobile phone 10 notifies the hands-free device 6 of the start of the call via short-range wireless communication, and also transmits a call voice using the speaker 2 built in the mobile phone and the microphone built in the mobile phone. Without inputting / outputting, input / output of the call voice is performed with the hands-free device 6 through the short-range wireless communication device. When the call is finished, the hands-free device 6 is notified of the disconnection / release of the communication via the short-range wireless communication.

  Then, if the incoming call is notified from the mobile telephone 10, the hands-free device 6 relays the incoming call notification to the busy volume control unit 7, and if the mobile telephone 10 is notified of the disconnection / release, The disconnection / release notification is relayed to the call volume control unit 7. In addition, the hands-free device 6 receives the voice output from the mobile telephone 10 via the short-range wireless communication until the mobile telephone 10 notifies the disconnection / release after the incoming call or the start of the call is notified. After performing loudness compensation processing and volume adjustment processing, the sound output from the hands-free speaker 4 and input from the hands-free microphone 5 is subjected to appropriate echo cancellation processing and then via short-range wireless communication. To the mobile phone 10.

  Next, the call volume control unit 7 is a mobile phone 10 (a driver) capable of short-range wireless communication via the three wireless communication modules 9 connected to the call volume control unit 7 and the telephone position detection antenna 8b. A mobile phone 10) possessed by a user other than the user is searched, and if such a mobile phone 10 is found, the mobile phone 10 searched via the short-range wireless communication is set to a call state notification mode. Each mobile phone 10 set to the busy notification mode notifies the incoming call volume control unit 7 of the incoming call via the short-range wireless communication when receiving an incoming call from the mobile telephone network 11. When the call is finished, the disconnection / release of the communication is notified to the in-call volume control unit 7 via the short-range wireless communication.

Then, the call volume control unit 7 performs a call volume control process shown below.
FIG. 2 shows the procedure of the volume control process during the call.
As shown in the figure, in this process, reception of an incoming notification (step 202) or reception of a disconnection / release notification (step 208) is awaited. If an incoming call notification is received, the seat position of the user carrying the incoming mobile phone 10 is calculated from the incoming call source (step 204). Here, the seat position is calculated by calculating the driver's seat if the notification source is the hands-free device 6, and if the notification source is the mobile phone 10 wirelessly connected to the wireless communication module 9 disposed above the passenger seat. If the seat is calculated and the notification source is the mobile telephone 10 wirelessly connected to the wireless communication module 9 disposed above the rear seat right seat, the rear seat right seat is calculated, and the notification source is the wireless communication module 9 disposed above the rear seat left seat. In the case of the mobile phone 10 wirelessly connected to the mobile phone 10, the rear seat left side seat is calculated.

  Then, the head unit 3 is instructed to reduce the volume of the speaker 2 corresponding to the calculated seat to a predetermined level or to mute the sound output from the speaker 2 corresponding to the calculated seat (step 206). In response to the instruction, the head unit 3 reduces or mutes the volume of the audio output from the instructed speaker 2. Here, the speaker 2 corresponding to the driver seat is the speaker 2 mounted on the right front door, the speaker 2 corresponding to the passenger seat is the speaker 2 mounted on the left front door, and the speaker corresponding to the rear seat right seat. 2 is a speaker 2 mounted on the right rear door, and the speaker 2 corresponding to the left seat on the rear seat is the speaker 2 mounted on the left rear door. Then, the process returns to step 202.

  On the other hand, when the notification of disconnection / release notification is received (step 208), the seat position of the user who has the mobile telephone 10 that has finished the call is calculated from the notification source of disconnection / release (step 210). ). This calculation is performed in the same manner as the calculation of the seat position of the user who has the incoming mobile telephone 10 based on the above-mentioned incoming call notification source. Then, the head unit 3 is instructed to return the sound output of the speaker 2 corresponding to the calculated seat to the normal sound output state (step 212). In response to the instruction, the head unit 3 restores the volume of the audio output from the instructed speaker 2 and cancels mute. Then, the process returns to step 202.

In the foregoing, the volume control process during a call has been described.
According to such a volume control process during a call, for example, in the state in which music output from the audio source device 1 is output from the four speakers 2 as shown in FIG. When an incoming call is received at the mobile telephone 10, the volume of the sound output from the speaker 2 of the right front door near the driver seat is reduced or muted as shown in FIG. Similarly, when there is an incoming call to the mobile telephone 10 held by the passenger in the passenger seat, the voice output from the speaker 2 of the left front door near the passenger seat is continued until the call of the user in the passenger seat is terminated, as shown in FIG. The volume of is reduced or muted. When the mobile phone 10 held by the user in the right seat at the rear seat receives an incoming call, the voice output from the speaker 2 at the right rear door near the right seat at the rear seat as shown in FIG. When the mobile phone 10 held by the user in the left seat at the rear seat receives an incoming call until the user's call at the passenger seat is terminated, the left rear door near the left seat at the rear seat as shown in FIG. The sound output volume from the speaker 2 is reduced or muted.

  Therefore, according to the present embodiment, when a plurality of people are boarding the vehicle, the volume of the speaker 2 is reduced by muting only the output sound of the speaker 2 in the vicinity of the user in the arbitrary seat talking using the mobile phone 10. While the voice output does not disturb the user's call of any seat, at the same time, it is possible not to greatly disturb the listening and appreciation of the output sound from the audio source device 1 of the user other than the user who makes the call. .

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above.
By the way, the volume control process during a call according to the present embodiment is performed until the call of the user is terminated when the incoming call is received at the mobile telephone 10 possessed by either the driver seat or the passenger seat. As shown in FIG. 4, the volume of the audio output from the speaker 2 on the left and right front doors is reduced or muted, and when the incoming call is received on the speaker 2 possessed by any user on the rear seat, the user's call is terminated. Until now, as shown in FIGS. 3h and j, the sound output volume from the left and right rear door speakers 2 may be reduced or muted.

In this way, when performing stereo sound output of the left and right channels, the sound output for the seat user next to the user is suddenly hard to hear and almost monophonic during the call of one of the users. It is possible to prevent the voice from being generated.
In addition, the volume control process during a call according to the present embodiment, when there is an incoming call to the mobile phone 10 possessed by the user of any seat, the localization position of the sound field is determined until the call of the user is terminated. It is good also as a process changed to the position (position shown by X mark to FIG. 3 f, g, h, j) of the seating position of the user of each seat other than a user's seat.

  In the present embodiment, a narrow directivity antenna is used for each seat of the vehicle as an antenna (hands-free call antenna 8a, phone position detection antenna 8b) for the vehicle-mounted system to perform short-range wireless communication with the mobile phone 10. Although the mobile phone 10 performs short-range wireless communication using radio waves, the mobile phone 10 autonomously selects an antenna having the highest electric field strength of the received radio wave and includes the antenna. When a connection protocol for connecting to the wireless communication module 9 is adopted, it is not always necessary to use a narrow directivity antenna. That is, in this case, the seat corresponding to the wireless communication module 9 connected to the mobile telephone 10 that has notified the incoming call may be calculated as the seat of the user who owns the mobile telephone 10.

In addition, when the mobile phone 10 performs short-range wireless communication using radio waves, the position of the mobile phone 10 can be calculated as follows. That is, three or more antennas are provided at an appropriate distance, and a reception strength calculation unit for calculating the reception strength of the transmission radio wave of the mobile telephone 10 at the corresponding antenna is provided corresponding to each antenna, and each reception strength calculation unit It is also possible to calculate the position of the mobile telephone 10 from the calculated reception intensity. That is, in this case, if the seat corresponding to the mobile phone position obtained from the ratio of the reception intensity at each antenna of the transmission radio wave of the mobile phone 10 that has notified the incoming call is calculated as the seat of the user carrying the mobile phone 10 Good. In this case, a hands-free call antenna 8a may be used as one of the three or more antennas.
Further, the telephone number of the driver's mobile telephone 10 is registered in advance in the volume control unit 7 during a call, and the mobile telephone 10 includes its own telephone number in each notification such as a notification of an incoming call. When the medium volume control unit 7 receives a notification of an incoming call from the wireless communication module 9 or the hands-free device 6, if the telephone number associated with the notification is the registered telephone number of the mobile phone 10 of the driver, The driver's seat may be set to the position of the mobile telephone 10 unconditionally in the volume control unit 7 during a call. Alternatively, the short-distance wireless communication address of the driver's mobile telephone 10 is registered in advance in the handsfree device 6 or the call volume control unit 7 and the call volume control unit 7 notifies the notification of the incoming call. If the address of the mobile phone 10 that has received the incoming call notification is a registered address, the volume control during a call is configured to be received from the wireless communication module 9 or the hands-free device 6 together with the address of the mobile phone 10. The driver's seat may be set to the position of the mobile telephone 10 unconditionally in the unit 7. Note that the hands-free device 6 or the wireless communication module 9 connected to the hands-free device 6 may be configured to accept only the access of the mobile telephone 10 at the address of the driver registered in advance.

  In addition, by applying this embodiment, a single antenna that covers the entire interior of the vehicle and a wireless communication module 9 are provided, and when there is an incoming call notification from a mobile telephone 10 possessed by a user of an arbitrary seat, a call related to the incoming call It is also possible to reduce or mute the sound output volume of all the speakers 2 until the operation ends. Here, in this case, for example, only the mobile phone 10 that has been able to continue the short-range wireless communication for a certain period or more is used as the user's mobile phone 10 in the host vehicle, and the above processing is performed. It is possible to prevent the output sound of the speaker 2 from being erroneously controlled in accordance with the incoming call of the mobile phone 10 of the user of another vehicle in the vicinity.

In addition, the above embodiment can be similarly applied to output sound control in an arbitrary system that handles not only audio but also other media such as video.
Further, for example, the speaker 2 mounted on the right front door may be used for audio output from the hands-free device 6 without providing the hands-free speaker 4 in the above embodiment. In this case, during a call using the mobile phone 10 of the user who is the driver, only the audio output from the audio source device 1 to the speaker 2 mounted on the right front door is muted or the volume is limited, and the hands Audio output from the free device 6 to the speaker 2 mounted on the right front door is performed at a predetermined volume. Here, the audio output from the hands-free device 6 to the speaker 2 mounted on the right front door is performed by mixing with the output from the audio source device 1 when the output from the audio source device 1 is not completely muted.

  In addition, a display device is provided in the in-vehicle system according to the present embodiment, and a message indicating the fact to the display device when the mobile phone 10 receives an incoming call based on various notifications from the mobile phone 10 in the voice output control unit during a call. (For example, a text “There is an incoming call”) may be displayed, or a voice message indicating this (for example, a voice “There is an incoming call”) may be output from a speaker.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the vehicle-mounted system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the volume control process during a call which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the operation example of the volume control process during a call which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Audio source device, 2 ... Speaker, 3 ... Head unit, 4 ... Hands-free speaker, 5 ... Hands-free microphone, 6 ... Hands-free device, 7 ... Call volume control part, 8a ... Hands-free antenna 8b, a telephone position detection antenna, 9 a wireless communication module, 10 a mobile telephone, 11 a mobile telephone network.

Claims (5)

An in-vehicle system installed in an automobile,
A plurality of speakers arranged in the vehicle;
An audio output unit for outputting an output sound of a predetermined audio source to each speaker;
It has a voice output control unit during a call that can be connected to the mobile phone brought into the car via short-range wireless communication,
The voice output control unit during a call is
An incoming call detection means for detecting an incoming call or a call start of the mobile phone via the short-range wireless communication;
A mobile phone position calculating means for calculating the position of the mobile telephone at which the incoming call detecting means detects the start of an incoming call or a call;
The audio output unit is controlled, and the volume of the output sound of the audio source from the speaker arranged in the vicinity of the position calculated by the mobile phone position calculation means is reduced below a predetermined level, or calculated by the mobile phone position calculation means A vehicle-mounted system comprising volume control means for muting the output sound of the audio source from a speaker arranged in the vicinity of the position. The in-vehicle system according to claim 1,
It has a hands-free device that connects to the mobile phone of the user who is the driver and provides a hands-free function to the connected mobile phone,
The mobile telephone position calculating means calculates the driver's seat as the position of the mobile telephone when the mobile telephone detected by the incoming call detecting means is a mobile telephone connected to the handsfree device. An in-vehicle system characterized by this. The in-vehicle system according to claim 1,
A plurality of short-range wireless communication antennas;
The mobile telephone position calculation means calculates the position of the mobile telephone according to the arrangement position of the antenna used by the mobile telephone for which the incoming call detection means detects an incoming call or the start of a call for short-range wireless communication. system. The in-vehicle system according to claim 1,
A plurality of short-range wireless communication antennas;
The mobile phone position calculating means calculates the position of the mobile telephone based on the reception strength at the plurality of antennas of transmission signals used for short-range wireless communication by the mobile telephone whose incoming call detecting means detects the arrival of an incoming call or a call. An in-vehicle system characterized by A method of controlling audio output in an in-vehicle system mounted in an automobile, comprising a plurality of speakers arranged in a vehicle, and an audio output unit that outputs output audio of a predetermined audio source to each speaker,
Detecting the arrival of a mobile phone at an arbitrary position brought into the vehicle or the start of a call via short-range wireless communication; and
When the incoming call of the mobile phone or the start of a call is detected, the audio output unit is controlled to reduce the volume of the output sound of the audio source from the speaker to a predetermined level or lower, or the audio source from the speaker A method of muting the output of the output sound.

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