JP2008081031A - On-vehicle device with notifying function - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an on-vehicle device with notifying function properly performing voice guidance, without bothering a driver or the like. <P>SOLUTION: The on-vehicle device with notifying function comprises: a voice output part 50 notifying a variety of information by voice; a travel state detection part 120 detecting a travel state of a vehicle; and a control part 10 switching whether to perform the voice guidance by the voice output part 50 depending on the detected travelling state. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle device with a notification function that is mounted on a vehicle and has a function of notifying various information.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in-vehicle audio devices and in-vehicle navigation devices are known that notify various information by display or voice. For example, this type of in-vehicle device with a notification function cannot be played back when any of disk-shaped recording media such as CD-DA, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, and DVD-VIDEO cannot be played back. When a disc-shaped recording medium is loaded, there is one that notifies that fact (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2006-252592 A

However, even when the driver of the vehicle confirms various information on the display screen, if the same information is always notified by voice, it may be troublesome for some drivers.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an in-vehicle device with a notification function capable of appropriately performing voice notification without causing a driver to feel bothersome. .

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides an in-vehicle device with a notification function that is mounted on a vehicle and has a function of notifying various information, and a voice output means for notifying various information by voice, and a traveling state of the vehicle. It is characterized by comprising a running state detecting means for detecting and a voice notification switching means for switching whether or not to perform voice notification by the voice output means according to the detected driving state.
According to the present invention, since whether or not to perform voice notification is switched according to the traveling state of the vehicle, it is possible to switch whether or not to perform voice notification depending on, for example, whether the vehicle is traveling or stopped. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately perform voice notification without causing the driver to feel bothersome.

In the above-described configuration, it is preferable that the voice notification switching unit switches whether or not to perform the voice notification depending on whether the vehicle is running or stopped. According to this configuration, for example, voice notification can be performed only during traveling, and information can be reliably notified even when the driver is driving.
In this case, it is preferable that the voice notification switching means detects whether the vehicle is traveling or stopped based on the traveling speed of the vehicle. According to this configuration, it is possible to accurately detect whether the vehicle is running.
Further, it is preferable that the traveling state detection means determines that the vehicle is stopped when a parking brake of the vehicle is operating. According to this configuration, it is possible to accurately detect the state in which the parking brake is activated and the vehicle is continuously stopped, which is determined to continue.

  In the above configuration, the voice notification switching means includes storage means for storing setting information for specifying a driving condition for voice notification of the information for each information to be notified, and based on the setting information, It is preferable to switch whether or not to perform voice notification according to the driving state for each piece of information. According to this configuration, by changing the running condition for voice notification for each piece of information to be notified, the voice notification is performed or the voice notification is not performed for each piece of information to be notified even in the same running state. Thus, more appropriate voice notification according to the user is possible.

  In the above-described configuration, the apparatus includes a connection unit that can connect an external device by wire or wireless, and a connection detection unit that detects connection / disconnection of the external device, and the voice notification switching unit is configured to connect or disconnect the external device. When notifying the connection, it is preferable to switch whether or not to perform voice notification according to the detected traveling state. According to this configuration, when connection or disconnection of an external device is detected, voice notification can be performed only in a certain running state, and voice notification can not be performed in other traveling states.

  In the above configuration, it is preferable that display means for displaying various kinds of information is provided, and this display means displays information to be notified regardless of whether the sound notification switching means performs sound notification. According to this configuration, the user (driver or passenger) can check the notification information on the display even when the voice notification is not performed, and can surely know the notification information at least by viewing the display.

  According to the present invention, since whether or not to perform voice notification is switched according to the traveling state of the vehicle, it is possible to appropriately perform voice notification without causing the driver to feel bothered.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a navigation apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of an in-vehicle apparatus with a notification function of the present invention. The navigation device 1 is roughly classified into a control unit 10, a storage unit 20, a display unit 30, a voice synthesis unit 40, a voice output unit 50, a radio reception unit 60, and a music source 70 other than a radio. , An operation unit 80, a communication unit 90, an interface unit (hereinafter referred to as I / F unit) 110 for connecting the portable music playback device 100, and a running state detection unit 120.

  The music playback device 100 is configured to be detachable from the I / F unit 110 via a communication cable, and functions as one of the music sources 70 when connected to the I / F unit 110. The music playback device 100 includes a storage unit that stores music data captured from, for example, the Internet or a CD, and plays back music data stored in the storage unit in response to an operation of an operation key included in the device. This is an externally controllable device that performs a playback operation in accordance with instruction data sent via the I / F unit 110. The music playback device 100 is not limited to a wired connection, and may be configured to be wirelessly connected.

  The control unit 10 centrally controls each unit of the navigation device 1 and includes a navigation control CPU 11 and an audio control CPU 12. The navigation control CPU 11 mainly performs navigation processing (map display, traffic information display, voice guidance, etc.), and the audio control CPU 12 mainly controls the radio receiver 60 and the music source 70 to output voice. Process.

The storage unit 20 stores various programs executed by the navigation control CPU 11 and the audio control CPU 12, and various data such as map data and guidance voice data used for route guidance, and includes an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), A DVD-ROM is provided.
That is, during the route guidance operation, the navigation control CPU 11 sequentially acquires the current position of the vehicle from the vehicle position detecting means (not shown) such as a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver or a gyro sensor, and this current position. Is read from the storage unit 20 and output to the display unit 30, and display data for marking the vehicle position on the map is output to the display unit 30. When there is an item to be voice-guided to the user at the time of route guidance, the navigation control CPU 11 reads the guidance voice data from the storage unit 20 and outputs it to the voice synthesis unit 40.
The audio control CPU 12 controls the playback devices 71, 72, 73, and 100 that make up the music source 70 to output audio signals and inputs the audio signals to the audio output unit 50 during audio playback of the music source 70. Let

  The display unit 30 displays various information such as a map, VICS (Vehicle Information and Communication System) information, information to be notified (hereinafter referred to as notification information), a drawing IC 31, The display 32 is provided. The drawing IC 31 receives display data (such as a map, VICS information, and notification information) from the control unit 10 (particularly the navigation control CPU 11), and drives the display 32 to display the display data. The display 32 is configured by a flat panel display such as a liquid crystal panel or an organic EL panel, or a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display, and is driven by the drawing IC 31 to display various information.

  The voice synthesizer 40 receives voice data used for route guidance from the control unit 10 (particularly, the navigation control CPU 11), converts it into an analog voice signal, and outputs it to the voice output unit 50. For example, text data indicating the voice content or code data for specifying the voice content is applied to the voice data, and the voice synthesizer 40 generates an analog voice signal of the synthesized voice based on this data. In this way, the capacity of the audio data can be reduced by storing the data indicating the audio contents, rather than storing the audio signal itself. The audio data may include an audio signal itself such as a compressed audio signal.

  The voice output unit 50 outputs various voices such as guidance voices for route guidance, radio voices, and music in the vehicle, and includes a voice control unit 51, a power amplifier 52, and a + speaker 53. . As will be described later, the voice control unit 51 receives guidance voices and voice signals from the voice synthesis unit 40, a radio reception unit 60, which will be described later, or a music source 70, and performs signal processing such as application of sound effects and volume adjustment to these voices. And output to the power amplifier 52. The power amplifier 52 amplifies the audio signal received from the audio control unit 51 and outputs it to the speaker 53. The speaker 53 is installed in the vehicle and outputs sound into the vehicle based on the audio signal input from the power amplifier 52. In the illustrated example, only one speaker 53 is shown, but a plurality of speakers 53 may be provided to enable multi-channel reproduction.

  The radio reception unit 60 receives radio broadcast waves and outputs radio broadcast audio signals to the audio output unit 50 under the control of the control unit 10, and includes an antenna 61, an antenna distributor 62, and FM multiplexing. A dedicated tuner (receiver) 63, an AM / FM radio tuner (receiver) 64, and a multiplex encoder 65 are provided. That is, in the present embodiment, the radio receiver 60 includes two tuners, an FM multiplex dedicated tuner 63 and an AM / FM radio tuner 64, and each tuner 63, 64 is connected to the antenna 61 via the antenna distributor 62. The received signal is input. These FM multiplex dedicated tuner 63 and AM / FM radio tuner 64 operate independently of each other and receive different radio broadcasts. That is, the FM multiplex dedicated tuner 63 always receives only VICS information broadcast by FM multiplex broadcasting, and the AM / FM radio tuner 64 has the navigation device 1 in the AM / FM radio reception mode. The broadcast wave of the channel selected by the user is received.

  When FM multiplex broadcasting is received, FM multiplex dedicated tuner 63 outputs an FM multiplex signal to multiplex encoder 65. The multiplex encoder 65 decodes the FM multiplex signal, decodes the FM multiplex signal received from the FM multiplex dedicated tuner 63 to obtain VICS information, and outputs it to the navigation control CPU 11 of the control unit 10. When the navigation control CPU 11 receives the VICS information from the multiplex encoder 65, the navigation control CPU 11 outputs the display data of the VICS information to the drawing IC 31, thereby displaying the VICS information on the display 32. In addition, when AM / FM radio tuner 64 receives AM / FM radio broadcast, AM / FM radio tuner 64 outputs the audio signal of the AM / FM radio broadcast to audio output unit 50 and outputs the audio of AM / FM radio broadcast into the vehicle. Let

  The music source 70 is a music source (sound source) other than radio sound, and includes a CD playback device 71, an MD playback device 72, and a TV reception device 73. The CD playback device 71 reads audio data such as music recorded on a CD (or another optical disk such as a DVD) and outputs an audio signal to the audio output unit 50. Also, the MD playback device 72 reads audio data such as music recorded in the MD and outputs an audio signal to the audio output unit 50. The TV receiving device 73 receives a TV broadcast, outputs a TV broadcast audio signal to the audio output unit 50, and outputs a video signal to the display unit 30 under the control of the control unit 10. When the vehicle is traveling, for example, the display of TV images is prohibited in order to increase the safety of vehicle traveling.

  The operation unit 80 detects a user operation and outputs it to the control unit 10. For example, a power switch, a volume adjustment switch, a radio reception mode, a CD / MD playback mode, a TV reception mode, and navigation ( Operation of a switch or the like for selecting and switching the operation mode from the (route guidance) mode is detected.

The communication unit 90 is connected to the I / F unit 110 via a communication line. The communication unit 90 is connected to the music playback device 100 connected to the I / F unit 110 under the control of the control unit 10. Communicate between each other. More specifically, the communication unit 90 detects the connection / disconnection of the music playback device 100 to the I / F unit 110 through communication with the I / F unit 110, and the detected result is the audio control CPU 12. And various instructions such as reproduction and stop from the audio control CPU 12 are transmitted to the I / F unit 110, and the music reproduction apparatus 100 can be externally controlled by the I / F unit 110.
The I / F unit 110 is a connection unit for connecting the music playback device 100 to the navigation device 1. Specifically, the I / F unit 110 and the communication unit 90 are connected to the music playback device 100 connected to the I / F unit 110. And a music signal output from the music playback device 100 is output to the audio output unit 50.

  The travel state detection unit 120 is a device that detects the travel state of the vehicle on which the navigation device 1 is mounted. In the present embodiment, the travel state detection unit 120 receives an output (information indicating travel speed) from the vehicle speed sensor, and the vehicle Whether the vehicle is traveling or stopped is detected based on the traveling speed. The detection result of the traveling state detection unit 120 is output to the control unit 10.

By the way, the navigation device 1 has a function of notifying the user of various information by voice and display. Specifically, when the music playback device 100 is connected / disconnected or when the VICS information is received, the fact is notified from the speaker 53 by synthetic voice or the like, and the fact is displayed on the display unit 30. The
However, if all notification information is notified by voice, some drivers may feel annoying when driving (the vehicle is running), and depending on the type of notification information, it may not always be possible to There is a case where it is not necessary to inform.
Therefore, in the present embodiment, a function of switching whether or not to perform voice notification according to the traveling state of the vehicle is provided, and the switching mode of the voice notification can be arbitrarily set by the user.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the storage unit 20 stores notification condition setting table data (setting information) 20 </ b> A for specifying a traveling condition for voice notification for each notification information. Specifically, as shown in the figure, for each piece of notification information, whether or not to allow voice notification while traveling and whether or not to allow voice notification while stopped is set. Can be input by a user (driver or passenger) operating an operation key in a predetermined operation mode.
As an example, this figure is set so that “sound playback device connection” and “sound playback device non-connection” are sounded when “running” and not sounded when “stopped”. “Reception of VICS information” indicates a case where the voice notification is set not to be performed in any of the cases of “running” and “stopped”.

Next, the notification control process of the navigation device 1 will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing this processing. In this process, the navigation control CPU 11 performs the main control relating to the display, and the audio control CPU 12 performs the main control relating to the audio. 10 will be described.
First, when notification information is generated (step S1), for example, when the connection of the music playback device 100 or reception of VICS information is detected, the control unit 10 acquires the current traveling state of the vehicle from the traveling state detection unit 120. (Step S2).

Next, the control unit 10 refers to the notification condition setting table data 20A stored in the storage unit 20 (step S3), and whether the current traveling state is permitted to be notified by voice for the generated notification information. It is determined whether or not (step S4).
When the voice notification is permitted (step S4: YES), the control unit 10 reads the voice data for notification (text data or code data) from the storage unit 20 and outputs the data to the voice synthesis unit 40 for voice synthesis. The audio signal corresponding to the notification information is output from the unit 40 to the audio output unit 50 (step S5). As a result, for example, a notification sound such as “Detected connection of music playback device”, “Detected attachment / detachment of music playback device”, “Received VICS information” is output from the speaker 53 to the user. This can be notified by voice.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, since the voice notification “VICS information has been received” is set to disallow voice notification in any driving state (“NO”), this voice notification is not performed. It is set not to be made.
In addition, when performing sound notification, if the music sound of the music source 70 is output from the speaker 53, the control unit 10 performs a soft mute process for reducing only the music sound to a volume level at which the notification sound can be easily heard by software processing. This is so that the user (driver or passenger) can easily hear the notification voice.

Next, the control unit 10 reads out display data for notification from the storage unit 20 and outputs it to the display unit 30 to display an image (notification image) corresponding to the display unit 30 (step S6). Thereby, if the user (driver or passenger) looks at the display screen of the display unit 30, the notification content can be known.
On the other hand, if it is determined in step S4 that voice notification is not permitted in the current traveling state (step S4: NO), the control unit 10 proceeds to the process in step S6 and performs the notification image without performing the reporting process. Only display of. Therefore, when the voice notification is not permitted, only the notification image is displayed.
As described above, the control unit 10 sequentially and cyclically executes the processes of steps S1 to S6, thereby performing voice notification according to the traveling state for each notification information based on the notification condition setting table data 20A. Switch between. The above is the content of the notification control process.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, whether or not to perform voice notification is automatically switched according to the traveling state of the vehicle, so that voice notification is performed only during traveling and voice notification is not performed while the vehicle is stopped. Can be. Therefore, when the driver or the like stops the vehicle and confirms the notification information on the display unit 30, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the same information as the notification information being displayed is notified by voice.
In addition, since the notification information is always displayed, the user (driver or passenger) can check the notification information on the display even when the voice notification is not performed, and can know the notification information surely at least by viewing the display. it can.
Moreover, in this embodiment, depending on the setting of the user, for each notification information, the voice notification is performed or the voice notification is not performed in both cases of traveling and stopping, or the voice notification is performed only when the vehicle is stopped. It is possible to select various notification modes such as performing the notification, and to customize the notification mode to suit various driver preferences. Accordingly, it is possible to appropriately perform voice notification according to the user without making the user feel bothersome.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, The deformation | transformation in the range which can achieve the objective of this invention, improvement, etc. are included in this invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the case where the notification information is always displayed on the display unit 30 has been described. However, the notification information may be displayed on the display unit 30 only when voice notification is not performed. Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the user was able to set the presence or absence of the audio | voice alerting | reporting according to a driving | running | working state for every alerting | reporting information, it is not restricted to this, You may comprise so that a user cannot set. In this case, it is preferable that all notification information is notified by voice during traveling, and not all notification information is notified by voice while the vehicle is stopped.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the traveling state detection unit 120 detects whether the vehicle is traveling or stopped based on the traveling speed of the vehicle has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and whether the parking brake is operating or not. May be detected, it may be determined that the vehicle is stopped when the parking brake is in operation, and it may be determined that the vehicle is traveling when the parking brake is not operated. According to this, since it is determined that the vehicle is stopped only when the parking brake is in operation, the notification information can be notified by voice only when the vehicle is continuously stopped, where it is determined that the vehicle will continue to stop thereafter.

Further, the traveling state detection unit 120 may determine whether the vehicle is continuously stopped or traveling based on both the traveling speed of the vehicle and the state of the parking brake. In this case, the detection accuracy of the running state of the vehicle can be improved.
Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the case where whether to perform audio | voice alerting | reporting according to whether the vehicle is driving | running | working or stopping, it is not restricted to this, The threshold value which the speed of the vehicle set in advance It can be configured to switch whether or not voice notification is performed depending on whether the speed is lower than the speed, or may be configured to be switchable according to an arbitrary traveling state.

In the above embodiment, when the navigation device 1 connects a wireless communication device such as a mobile phone and receives an e-mail via this wireless communication device, the navigation device 1 outputs the content of the mail as a voice (so-called mail reading function). ), The voice output may be switched for voice notification according to the running state. In short, when notifying various information, it is possible to switch whether or not to notify the voice according to the traveling state.
Moreover, although the case where this invention is applied to a navigation apparatus was demonstrated in the said embodiment, it can apply widely not only to a navigation apparatus but to other vehicle-mounted apparatuses with an alerting | reporting function, such as a vehicle-mounted music reproduction apparatus.

It is a block diagram of the navigation apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of the vehicle-mounted apparatus with a notification function of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of table data for alerting | reporting condition setting. It is a flowchart which shows alerting | reporting control processing.

Explanation of symbols

1 Navigation device (on-vehicle device with notification function)
10 Control unit (voice notification switching means)
20 storage unit 20A notification condition setting table data (setting information)
30 Display section (display means)
40 Speech synthesis unit (guidance voice output device)
50 Audio output unit (Audio output means)
60 Radio reception section 70 Music source 80 Operation section (operation means)
90 Communication unit (connection detection means)
100 Music player (external device)
110 Interface unit (connection means)

Claims (7)

In an in-vehicle device with a notification function mounted on a vehicle and having a function of notifying various information,
Voice output means for notifying various information by voice;
Traveling state detecting means for detecting the traveling state of the vehicle;
An in-vehicle apparatus with a notification function, comprising: voice notification switching means for switching whether or not to perform voice notification by the voice output means according to the detected traveling state. The in-vehicle device with a notification function according to claim 1,
The in-vehicle apparatus with a notification function, wherein the voice notification switching means switches whether to perform the voice notification according to whether the vehicle is running or stopped. The in-vehicle device with a notification function according to claim 2,
The voice notification switching means detects whether the vehicle is traveling or stopped based on the traveling speed of the vehicle. The in-vehicle device with a notification function according to claim 3,
The in-vehicle apparatus with a notification function, wherein the traveling state detecting means determines that the vehicle is stopped when a parking brake of the vehicle is operating. In the vehicle-mounted device with a notification function according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The voice notification switching means includes storage means for storing setting information for specifying driving conditions for voice notification of the information for each information to be notified, and for each information to be notified based on the setting information. An in-vehicle device with a notification function that switches whether to perform voice notification according to a running state. In the vehicle-mounted device with a notification function according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
A connection means capable of connecting an external device by wire or wireless;
Connection detecting means for detecting connection / disconnection of the external device,
The in-vehicle apparatus with a notification function, wherein the voice notification switching means switches whether to perform voice notification according to the detected traveling state when notifying the connection or non-connection of the external device. In the vehicle-mounted device with a notification function according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
Having display means for displaying various information;
This display means displays the information to be notified regardless of whether or not the voice notification switching means performs voice notification.

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