JP2006260038A - Vehicle alarm unit - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle alarm unit capable of suspending an alarm output at appropriate timing in the event of communication abnormality between an alarm controller and an alarm output unit. <P>SOLUTION: The vehicle alarm unit includes an alarm condition decision means for deciding whether an alarm is to be output to a crew according to a predetermined alarm start condition; an alarm control means for generating and transmitting an on/off instruction to instruct an alarm output means to output or suspend the alarm, according to the decision result of the alarm condition decision means; and an alarm output means for outputting or suspending the alarm, in response to the on/off instruction received from the alarm control means via a communication line. Under a state of the off instruction not received from the alarm control means, the above alarm output means includes a voluntary alarm suspension function for voluntarily suspending the alarm being output, according to a suspension condition in regard to the running distance and the running time of the vehicle. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&amp;NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular alarm device that provides various alarms to a vehicle occupant.

Conventionally, in order to properly pass a curve existing ahead in the traveling direction of a vehicle, a technology for determining whether or not alarm output or deceleration control is possible according to a predetermined alarm start condition and performing alarm output and deceleration control when an affirmative determination is made Is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-252188 A

  By the way, in the vehicular alarm device that controls not only the alarm start timing but also the alarm stop timing, a stop command that instructs the alarm output device that outputs an alarm via a speaker, a microphone, etc. to stop the alarm that is being output. It is necessary to supply a signal (trigger) in a timely manner. Such a stop command signal is generally generated by an alarm control unit that determines alarm start / stop timing, and via a communication line such as CAN, an alarm output device (more precisely, a driver that drives a speaker or the like) Circuit or ECU including the driver circuit). However, if any abnormality occurs in the communication line (signal transmission system) between the alarm control unit and the alarm output device, the stop command signal is not received in a timely manner by the alarm output device, and the alarm stop timing is inadequate. The problem may be that it becomes appropriate or the alarm continues to be output.

  Then, this invention aims at provision of the alarm device for vehicles which has a suitable fail safe function with respect to the communication abnormality between an alarm control part and an alarm output device.

In order to solve the above problem, according to one aspect of the present invention, alarm condition determination means for determining whether or not an alarm should be output to an occupant according to a predetermined alarm start condition,
Alarm control means for generating and transmitting an on / off command for commanding output or stop of the alarm to the alarm output means described later according to the determination result by the alarm condition determination means;
An alarm output means for outputting and stopping an alarm in response to an on / off command received from the alarm control means via a communication line;
The alarm output means has an alarm voluntary stop function that voluntarily stops an alarm that is being output in accordance with a stop condition relating to a travel distance or travel time of the vehicle under a situation where an off command is not received from the alarm control means. A vehicle alarm device is provided.

In this aspect, the alarm output means is connected to a travel distance detection means for detecting a travel distance of the vehicle via a communication line different from the communication line with the alarm control means.
The alarm output means may voluntarily stop the alarm being output when the travel distance or travel time after alarm output exceeds a predetermined value. The alarm output means includes means for detecting a communication abnormality in a communication line with the alarm control means, and the alarm output means voluntarily outputs an alarm being output when a communication abnormality is detected. You may stop at.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the alarm device for vehicles which has a suitable fail safe function with respect to the communication abnormality between an alarm control part and an alarm output device can be obtained.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a vehicle alarm device according to the present invention. The vehicle alarm device according to the present embodiment is mainly configured by an electronic control unit 10 (hereinafter referred to as “alarm manager 10”). The alarm manager 10 is configured as a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like connected to each other via a bus (not shown) as in a normal ECU (electronic control unit).

  Various types of electronic components (various sensors and various ECUs) in the vehicle are connected to the alarm manager 10 via an appropriate first communication line 42 such as a CAN (controller area network). These various electronic components can be classified into an information providing device group that provides various information to the alarm manager 10 and a control target device group that performs various controls in accordance with commands from the alarm manager 10.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the information providing device group includes a map database 22, a vehicle position detection unit 28, a vehicle state detection unit 24, an operation amount detection unit 26, and a surrounding information acquisition unit 29.

  The map database 22 stores map data. The map data is the same as the map data of a normal in-vehicle navigation system, the coordinate information of the node corresponding to the intersection, the coordinate information of each node corresponding to the junction / branch point of the expressway, and the link connecting adjacent nodes Information, road width information corresponding to each link, road types such as national roads, prefectural roads, and highways corresponding to each link, various road information such as traffic restriction information of each link and traffic restriction information between links Good.

  The own vehicle position detection means 28 includes a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, a beacon receiver, an FM multiplex receiver, and various sensors such as a vehicle speed sensor and a gyro sensor. For example, in the case of a GPS receiver, a satellite signal output from a GPS satellite may be received via a GPS antenna, and the current vehicle position may be measured by, for example, carrier phase phase positioning based on the phase integration value of the received satellite signal. .

  The own vehicle state detection means 24 may include sensors for detecting various vehicle states, for example, a wheel speed sensor for detecting the vehicle speed, an acceleration sensor, a yaw rate sensor, and the like.

  The operation amount detection means 26 includes, for example, an accelerator opening sensor (accelerator position sensor) that detects an operation mode of an accelerator pedal, a shift position sensor that detects a shift operation position, and a brake stroke sensor (brake) that detects an operation mode of a brake pedal. A pedal force sensor, a master cylinder pressure sensor), a steering sensor for detecting an operation mode of the steering wheel, and the like.

  The peripheral information acquisition means 29 is an optional component set when necessary for alarm control. The peripheral information acquisition unit 29 acquires various external information such as road information such as a temporary stop line, other vehicle information such as an oncoming vehicle and a preceding vehicle, a traffic jam situation, and a weather situation. For example, the surrounding information acquisition unit 29 includes a radar sensor (for example, a millimeter wave sensor) that can acquire other vehicle information, a front monitoring camera (typically a CCD camera) that can acquire road information and other vehicle information, a traffic jam situation, This is a communication device that acquires weather conditions and the like from a center facility via wireless communication.

  Further, the peripheral information acquisition unit 29 may be an in-vehicle camera (for example, a CCD camera) for detecting a driver's safety confirmation operation. In this case, the in-vehicle camera is mounted at a position where an image of the vicinity of the driver's face in the passenger compartment can be imaged, and the image data of the in-vehicle camera is subjected to image processing, so that the movement of the driver's face, particularly the driver's face A change in the direction of is detected. Such information may be used as a determination parameter (for example, a parameter for determining the presence or absence of a left / right safety confirmation operation at the temporary stop line position) in an alarm condition determination unit 12 described later.

  The control target device group includes an alarm output device 40 that outputs various alarms by voice and / or display via a microphone, a speaker, a display, audio, or the like. For example, for a configuration in which an alarm is displayed by LED display in a meter, the alarm output device 40 may have a hardware configuration such as a driver circuit that performs LED display, or an ECU including the hardware configuration (this example) Then, it may be a meter ECU).

  As described above, the alarm output device 40 is connected to the alarm manager 10 via the first communication line 42 such as CAN. The alarm output device 40 is connected to the travel distance detection means 50 via a second communication line 44 different from the first communication line 42. The travel distance detection means 50 calculates the travel distance (movement distance) of the vehicle based on, for example, a wheel speed sensor provided in each wheel.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating a main configuration of the alarm manager 10 according to the present embodiment. The alarm manager 10 includes an alarm condition determination unit 12 that determines whether an alarm should be output based on a given alarm start condition, and an alarm control unit 14 that performs alarm control according to the determination result of the alarm condition determination unit 12. With.

  The alarm condition determination unit 12 outputs an ON determination to the alarm control unit 14 when a given alarm start condition is satisfied based on various information provided from the information providing device group described above.

  The alarm start condition is appropriately set according to the type of alarm to be performed.

  For example, in a configuration that issues a warning that prompts a temporary stop on a temporary stop line, the presence and position of the temporary stop line is detected from map information (information from the map database 22 and / or the front monitoring camera), and an accelerator opening sensor or a brake is detected. When the driver's intention to stop at the temporary stop line is detected from the sensor signal of the pedal force sensor, the vehicle deceleration mode is detected from the vehicle speed sensor, and if these parameters satisfy the given alarm start condition, an ON determination is output. The In this case, the alarm start condition may be satisfied, for example, when the vehicle speed is equal to or higher than a predetermined value within a predetermined distance before the temporary stop line and no brake operation is performed.

  Similarly, in a configuration that issues a warning prompting deceleration before a point where deceleration is required, such as a sudden corner, the alarm start condition is that the deceleration required to achieve the target speed at the point where deceleration is required is equal to or greater than a predetermined reference value. In some cases, it may be satisfied.

  As described above, there are various types of alarm control, and there are also various alarm start conditions for determining whether or not each alarm can be output (accordingly, information used for determination). However, the present invention is not limited to this alarm start condition, and can be applied to any kind of alarm control using any alarm start condition based on any information.

  The alarm control unit 14 issues a request (ON command) to output a predetermined alarm to the alarm output device 40 in response to the ON determination input from the alarm condition determination unit 12 when the alarm start condition is established.

  In response to the OFF determination input from the alarm condition determination unit 12 when a predetermined alarm stop condition is satisfied after the alarm output request, the alarm control unit 14 ends the alarm being output to the alarm output device 40. A request (off command) is issued. The alarm control unit 14 may continuously transmit a signal indicating the alarm output request state to the alarm output device 40 until the predetermined alarm stop condition is satisfied after the alarm output request, or the alarm output device A signal for releasing the alarm output state latched on the 40 side may be transmitted when the alarm stop condition is satisfied.

  This alarm stop condition is appropriately set according to the type of alarm to be performed, similarly to the alarm start condition.

  For example, in a configuration that issues an alarm prompting a stop before the stop line, the alarm stop condition is when the driver performs a stop operation according to the alarm or when the vehicle passes the stop line, It may be satisfied. Similarly, in a configuration that issues a warning prompting deceleration before a point where deceleration is required, such as a sharp corner, the alarm stop condition is satisfied when the required deceleration is below the reference value or when the vehicle passes the point where deceleration is required. It may be.

  The on / off command generated by the alarm control unit 14 in this way is supplied to the alarm output device 40 via the first communication line 42 as described above. The alarm output device 40 outputs and stops an alarm in response to an on / off command from the alarm manager 10. For example, in a configuration in which an alarm for prompting a pause is issued with a pause line, the alarm output device 40 displays a message “Please pause” on the display in response to an ON command from the alarm manager 10. In response to the off command from the alarm manager 10, the message may be hidden.

  Next, on the assumption of the above configuration, the characteristic configuration of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of main processing realized by the alarm output device 40.

  In step 100, it is determined whether an alarm output is requested from the alarm manager 10 (alarm control unit 14) and whether the travel distance is smaller than a predetermined value α. Here, the mileage has an initial value of zero and is calculated from the time when the alarm control unit 14 has issued an alarm output request. The calculation of the travel distance is realized based on data obtained from the travel distance detection means 50 via the second communication line 44 at predetermined intervals.

  In this step 100, when the alarm output is requested from the alarm control unit 14, and the travel distance is smaller than the predetermined value α, the alarm output is executed and continued (step 110). On the other hand, if any one of the conditions is not satisfied, the alarm output is not performed or stopped, and the travel distance is reset to the initial value (zero) (step 120). The state in which alarm output is requested from the alarm control unit 14 means that the alarm output device 40 receives an alarm output request (ON command) from the alarm control unit 14 via the first communication line 42, and the alarm is output. It is assumed that an alarm stop request (OFF command) is received from the control unit 14 via the first communication line 42.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, when the alarm output device 40 receives an alarm output request (ON command) from the alarm control unit 14 via the first communication line 42, the alarm output device 40 via the first communication line 42 from the alarm control unit 14. Even when the alarm stop request (off command) is received, the alarm output is stopped when the travel distance exceeds the predetermined value α. In other words, in this embodiment, the alarm output device 40 stops the alarm output when the travel distance after the start of the alarm output exceeds the predetermined value α even in the situation where the alarm stop is not requested from the alarm control unit 14 after the alarm output is started. To do.

  By the way, in the vehicle alarm device that controls not only the alarm start timing but also the alarm stop timing as in the present embodiment, some abnormality (for example, disconnection, data collision, parity abnormality, etc.) occurs in the first communication line 42 after the alarm is output. When an alarm occurs, the reception of an alarm stop request (off command) via the first communication line 42 is delayed or cannot be received, the alarm stop timing becomes inappropriate, or the alarm continues to be output. Points can occur.

  On the other hand, in this embodiment, some abnormality occurs in the first communication line 42 after the alarm is output, and the reception of the alarm stop request (off command) via the first communication line 42 becomes impossible or delayed. Even if it is a case, the alarm output once started cannot be stopped, and the travel distance exceeds the predetermined value α based on the travel distance information obtained from the second communication line 44 without communication abnormality. Can stop the alarm that is being output. As a result, according to the present embodiment, due to the communication abnormality of the first communication line 42, the alarm output that has been started once continues unnecessarily, causing the user to feel uncomfortable or uncomfortable. The reliability (fail-safe performance) of alarm control increases.

  In the present embodiment, the predetermined value α is appropriately set according to the type of alarm to be performed. For example, in a configuration that issues a warning that prompts a pause before the pause line, the predetermined value α may be a fixed value, but is a variable value according to the distance from the vehicle position at the start of the alarm output to the pause line. There may be. In the latter case, the distance to the temporary stop line may be calculated based on the intersection position information in the map database 22 (or the positional information of the temporary stop line itself if available), or For example, the image data may be calculated using the triangulation principle after image processing.

  In this case, it is possible to effectively avoid the inconvenience that an alarm indicating “please pause” continues to be issued after passing through the temporary stop line due to a communication abnormality of the first communication line 42.

  Similarly, in a configuration in which an alarm for prompting deceleration before a point where deceleration is required, such as a sudden corner, the predetermined value α may be a fixed value, but a point where deceleration is necessary (for example, a corner start) It may be a variable value according to the distance to the point. In the latter case, for example, the distance to the corner start point may be calculated based on corner information in the map database 22 (for example, the position information of the start point of the clothoid section on the entrance side of the corner), or the front monitoring camera For example, the image data may be calculated using the triangulation principle.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the calculation of the travel distance does not necessarily need to be started from the start of alarm output, and may be started from the occurrence of communication abnormality, for example. Further, the travel time may be used instead of the travel distance depending on the type of alarm to be performed. In this case, the running time is measured by a timer from the start of alarm output or from the occurrence of communication abnormality, and similarly, the alarm being output may be stopped when the predetermined threshold value β is reached.

  Further, the alarm output device 40 of the present embodiment may execute the communication abnormality determination process shown in FIG. 4 in parallel with the process described above with reference to FIG. Hereinafter, this configuration will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the alarm output device 40 determines whether communication is valid or invalid continuously for T seconds or more (step 200). If the communication valid is established for a predetermined time T seconds or more, it is determined that the second communication line 44 is normal, and if the communication invalidity is established for T seconds or more, the second communication line 44 is abnormal. Confirm (step 210). Here, the continuity of the predetermined time T seconds or more is used as a condition in order to ensure the accuracy and reliability necessary for the communication abnormality determination. For example, an appropriate value within 3 to 5 seconds is selected.

  For example, in the configuration in which the alarm output device 40 and the alarm manager 10 (alarm control unit 14) each transmit a signal toward the other at a predetermined time interval T / n seconds (an integer of n> 1), the alarm output device 40 If the next signal cannot be received even after a predetermined time interval T / n has elapsed since the previous signal reception, if it continues n times, it is determined that an abnormality such as disconnection has occurred in the first communication line 42, and so on. In addition, when the next signal is received n times consecutively at predetermined time intervals T / n from the previous signal reception, it is determined that the second communication line 44 is normal.

  When it is determined that there is an abnormality in the second communication line 44 in this way, the alarm output device 40 may urgently stop the alarm that is being output.

  By the way, in the configuration having such a communication abnormality determination function, for example, when communication invalidity is detected immediately after the start of alarm output, the presence or absence of communication abnormality is not determined until T seconds have elapsed from that point. The alarm output stop process based on this cannot be executed. Thus, in such a configuration, a delay in alarm stop timing due to communication abnormality becomes a problem particularly when T seconds is set to a relatively large value in order to increase the reliability of abnormality determination.

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the processing shown in FIG. 3 is executed in parallel. Therefore, when the travel distance reaches the predetermined value α before T seconds elapse, the alarm that is being output is stopped. The Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the alarm output once started is stopped at an appropriate timing before determining the presence or absence of communication abnormality while setting the predetermined time T to a relatively long value in order to improve the reliability of abnormality determination. Can be made.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and substitutions can be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. Can be added.

1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a vehicle alarm device according to the present invention. It is a functional block diagram which shows the principal part structure of the alarm manager 10 of a present Example. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of main processing realized by an alarm output device 40. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a communication abnormality determination process that may be performed by an alarm output device 40.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Alarm manager 12 Alarm condition determination part 14 Alarm control part 22 Map database 24 Own vehicle state detection means 26 Operation amount detection means 28 Own vehicle position detection means 29 Peripheral information acquisition means 40 Alarm output device 42 1st communication line 44 2nd communication Line 50 mileage detection means

Claims (3)

Alarm condition determination means for determining whether or not to output an alarm to the occupant according to a predetermined alarm start condition;
Alarm control means for generating and transmitting an on / off command for commanding output or stop of the alarm to the alarm output means described later according to the determination result by the alarm condition determination means;
An alarm output means for outputting and stopping an alarm in response to an on / off command received from the alarm control means via a communication line;
The alarm output means has an alarm voluntary stop function that voluntarily stops an alarm that is being output in accordance with a stop condition relating to a travel distance or travel time of the vehicle under a situation where an off command is not received from the alarm control means. A vehicle warning device. A travel distance detection means for detecting a travel distance of the vehicle is connected to the alarm output means via a communication line different from the communication line with the alarm control means,
The vehicle alarm device according to claim 1, wherein the alarm output unit voluntarily stops an alarm being output when a travel distance or a travel time after the alarm output exceeds a predetermined value.   The alarm output means includes means for detecting a communication abnormality in a communication line with the alarm control means, and the alarm output means voluntarily stops an alarm being output when a communication abnormality is detected. The vehicle alarm device according to claim 1.

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