JP2000097095A - Self-diagnosis display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent an operator from committing misjudgement or getting impossible to read when a failure is generated in either segment of a liquid crystal display panel. SOLUTION: Failure in electronic components 12a, 12b... of a vehicle is diagnosed in conformity to an operational signal given by an operating switch 11, and either of a plurality of on-off patterns is selected on the basis of the result from diagnosis, and all segments of a liquid crystal display panel 10 are turned on and off simultaneously with the selected on-off pattern. Even if any segment of the panel 10 goes in failure, the operator can check the on-off operation as long as any other segment is operating normally in on-off operation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a self-diagnosis display device for self-diagnosing an abnormality of an electronic component and displaying the result.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, there is a technology for self-diagnosing an abnormality of an electronic component in a vehicle and displaying the result digitally with a predetermined diagnosis result code (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-257).
No. 520). In this example, as shown in FIG. 4, a segment electrode driving type liquid crystal display panel (LC) in which electrodes for predetermined segments Sg1, Sg2,.
D) Diagnosis of various electronic components is performed based on a command from a CPU, and the presence or absence of a failure or the cause of the failure is determined by the CPU, and the information is numerically displayed on a trip meter or the like. Is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 1 arranged in the section. At this time, in the liquid crystal display panel 1, as shown in FIG. 4, any one of the plurality of segments Sg1, Sg2,. It is displayed in the formula. As shown in this example, a case in which each character or numeral is displayed in seven segments Sg1, Sg2,... Arranged in an "8" shape is generally called "seven-segment digital character".

[0003]

When the self-diagnosis result of the electronic component is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 1 using the conventional 7-segment digital characters, the electrodes of the segments Sg1, Sg2,. Become bad,
Or when the liquid crystal element in that part becomes defective,
If any of the segments Sg1, Sg2,... Of the liquid crystal display panel 1 itself has a failure, characters and numbers are missing in the shape of Eg1, as shown in FIG.

[0004] For example, assuming that a diagnostic result code "C12" is to be displayed as shown in FIG. 4, when a segment Eg1 is missing in some segments of the last digit "2" as shown in FIG. The number at the end cannot be recognized as “2”. Even if the viewer estimates the diagnosis result code assuming that any one of the segments is faulty, in the case of FIG. 5, for example, one segment Eg2 of the number “3” Cannot be denied, it is difficult to determine whether the result is "C12" or "C13". Further, the number of the failed segments Sg1, Sg2,... Is not limited to one, and it is extremely difficult for a viewer to determine. As a result, this is a factor that causes a viewer to make an erroneous determination or read failure.

An object of the present invention is to provide a self-diagnosis display device using a segment electrode driving type liquid crystal display panel, which prevents a viewer from making erroneous determinations or reading failure even if a failure occurs in any of the segments. It is an object of the present invention to provide a self-diagnosis display device.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems,
The invention according to claim 1 is a self-diagnosis display device that performs self-diagnosis of abnormality of various electronic components in a vehicle, and is installed at a predetermined position in the vehicle to switch on / off of a plurality of segments. A liquid crystal display panel that displays a predetermined shape, an operation switch for manually instructing a self-diagnosis operation by an operator, and a failure of various electronic components in the vehicle triggered by an operation signal from the operation switch. A control unit that outputs a result, and a drive circuit that drives each segment of the liquid crystal display panel by switching on and off based on a control signal from the control unit, and the control unit outputs an operation signal from the operation switch. At the opportunity, a failure of the various electronic components in the vehicle is diagnosed, and one of a plurality of blinking patterns is selected based on the diagnosis result, and the selected blinking pattern is selected. In is for instructing controlled to blink all segments of the liquid crystal display panel at the same time.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the control unit includes:
A failure diagnosis unit for diagnosing failures of various electronic components in the vehicle in response to an operation signal from the operation switch; and a flashing pattern table stored in a predetermined storage unit in advance based on a diagnosis result of the failure diagnosis unit. A blinking pattern control unit for selecting one of the blinking patterns and instructing to blink all the segments of the liquid crystal display panel simultaneously with the selected blinking pattern.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the blinking pattern is associated with a failure state of the various electronic components by changing a combination of a blinking number and a lighting / lighting-off ratio in all segments in one cycle. It is defined to repeat the cycle.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the blinking pattern is defined so that a lighting state appears at least once in the one cycle.

In this specification, the terms "lighting" and "light-out" are not necessarily limited to those in which the light is turned on by self-emission, for example, by switching between a light-transmitting state and a non-light-transmitting state for each segment. The present invention is also applied to the case where transmission of light or reflected light is switched.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a self-diagnosis display device according to one embodiment of the present invention. This self-diagnosis display device performs a self-diagnosis of a failure of electronic parts of each part in a vehicle such as a passenger car, and displays a result of the diagnosis on a segment electrode driving type liquid crystal display panel (LCD) arranged on a numerical display such as a trip meter. In particular, when displaying information on the presence / absence of a failure and the cause of the failure, all segments are blinked in a predetermined blinking pattern.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the liquid crystal display panel 10, an operation switch 11 by which an operator manually instructs a self-diagnosis operation, and an operation signal from the operation switch 11 are used as a trigger in the vehicle. Electronic components 12a, 12
The control unit 13 diagnoses the failure of b,... and outputs the result.
And a drive circuit 14 that switches the segments of the liquid crystal display panel 10 on and off based on a control signal from the control unit 13 to drive the segments.

The liquid crystal display panel 10 is similar to the conventional liquid crystal display panel (1) shown in FIGS.
It is mounted at a position visible to the occupant during traveling such as a numerical display such as a trip meter, and electrodes for each predetermined segment are arranged on the front and back of the liquid crystal layer, and a voltage is applied to each such electrode to change the molecular arrangement of the liquid crystal layer. By changing the light transmittance, the predetermined segment pattern is displayed by switching the transmission / non-transmission of the light from the backlight disposed behind. In this specification, transmitting the light from the backlight by changing the light transmittance of each segment is referred to as “lighting”, and non-transmitting the light is referred to as “extinguishing”.

The operation switch 11 is a general changeover switch such as a toggle switch or a push button type switch. The operation switch 11 is installed near the lower part of the dashboard in the front of the vehicle interior, and outputs an operation signal to the control unit 13 by switching on. .

The control section 13 is a functional element that uses a general CPU and operates according to a predetermined software program. The control section 13 receives various operation signals from the operation switch 11 to trigger various electronic components 12a, 12a, 12b,
, And a failure diagnosis unit 1
Based on the diagnosis result in 3a, one of the blinking patterns in a blinking pattern table stored in advance in a storage unit 13b such as a ROM is selected, and a drive circuit is transmitted through a control signal so as to blink all segments simultaneously with this blinking pattern. 14
And a blinking pattern control unit 13c for instructing the flashing pattern.

When an operation signal is given from the operation switch 11, the failure diagnosis section 13a sends a predetermined diagnosis signal to the various electronic components 12a, 12b,... Connected to the serial cable 15 laid in the vehicle by bus. Signal transmission function for individually transmitting various electronic components 12a and 12
have a failure determination function of receiving response signals from the electronic components 12a, 12b,... and determining the presence or absence of a failure in the various electronic components 12a, 12b,.

The diagnostic signal and the response signal in the serial cable 15 are multiplex signals, and ID data of a transmission destination is added to the head of each multiplex signal. When the diagnostic signal is transmitted to the various electronic components 12a, 12b,... By the signal transmission function of the failure diagnostic unit 13a, the ID of the various electronic components 12a, 12b,.
Recognizing the data, and responding to this, various electronic components 12
A response signal designating the failure diagnosis unit 13a of the control unit 13 is transmitted from a, 12b,... as the first ID data. Also. Various electronic components 12a, 12
b, ..., these various electronic components 12a, 12
b,... while transmitting a normal signal as a response signal when the device itself is in a normal state, and when any failure has occurred, failure information indicating the presence or absence of the failure and details of the failure is included in the response signal. It is included or no response signal is transmitted. In addition, various electronic components 12
The failure information at a, 12b,... is automatically determined and output by an electronic control unit (ECU: not shown) incorporated therein.

In the failure judgment function of the failure diagnosis unit 13a, the data in the response signal includes various electronic components 12
If the data indicating the normal state of the electronic components 12a, 12b,... is included, it is determined that the electronic components 12a, 12b,. , Or when no response signal is received from any one of the electronic components 12a, 12b,... Within a certain period of time based on the time measured by a timer (not shown). It is determined that a failure has occurred in the electronic components 12a, 12b,...

The blinking pattern control unit 13c outputs the result of the diagnosis by the failure diagnosis unit 13a, that is, the various electronic components 12a,
12b,... Based on the failure state information of
3b, by referring to the data table stored in the data table 3b, a diagnostic result collating function for collating a blinking pattern (FIGS. 2 and 3) corresponding to the diagnostic result, and a driving circuit 14 for blinking all segments with the collated blinking pattern. And a blinking instruction function for giving an instruction to the user. The plurality of types of blink patterns at this time are stored in the data table of the storage unit 13b as binary signals of several bits, and the diagnosis result collation function of the blink pattern control unit 13c is performed according to the diagnosis result of the failure diagnosis unit 13a. In the same manner, all the segments of the liquid crystal display panel 10 are turned on through the drive circuit 14 by the blinking instruction function of the blinking pattern control unit 13c.

The control unit 13 includes various electronic components 12a,
When the failure diagnosis of 12b,... Is not performed, the driving circuit 14 is controlled by the blinking pattern control unit 13c, and an existing numerical display function of displaying a numerical display of a trip meter or the like on the liquid crystal display panel 10 is provided. However, since such a function is generally known, the illustration of the corresponding block configuration is omitted in FIG.

In the above-mentioned self-diagnosis display device, when the failure diagnosis of the various electronic components 12a, 12b,... Is not performed, the drive circuit 14 is controlled by the blinking pattern control unit 13c, and the numerical display such as the trip meter is displayed on the liquid crystal display. Panel 10
To be displayed.

On the other hand, when the operator performs a failure diagnosis,
First, the operator manually operates the operation switch 11 to instruct a self-diagnosis operation. At this time, the operation switch 11
Is transmitted to the failure diagnosis unit 13a of the control unit 13.

The failure diagnosing unit 13a transmits a diagnostic signal as a multiplex signal to various electronic components 12a, 12b,... Connected to the serial cable 15 laid in the vehicle by a bus, and thereafter transmits the various electronic components 12a, 12a, .. Are received, and it is determined whether or not each of the electronic components 12a, 12b,. At this time, the control unit 13 and the various electronic components 12a, 12b,.
Is transmitted based on the ID data added to the head of each multiplexed signal.

At this time, various electronic parts 12a, 12b,.
, When these various electronic components 12a, 12b,... Themselves are in a normal state, the normality is transmitted as a response signal, while, if any failure has occurred, failure information indicating that fact is returned as a response signal. Either it is included in the signal or no response signal is transmitted.

In the failure judgment function of the failure diagnosis unit 13a, the data in the response signal includes various electronic components 12
If the data indicating the normal state of the electronic components 12a, 12b,... is included, it is determined that the electronic components 12a, 12b,. , Or when no response signal is received from any one of the electronic components 12a, 12b,... Within a certain period of time based on the time measured by a timer (not shown). It is determined that a failure has occurred in the electronic components 12a, 12b,...

The blinking pattern control unit 13c outputs the result of the diagnosis by the failure diagnosis unit 13a, that is, the various electronic components 12a,
12b,... Based on the failure state information of
The blinking pattern (FIGS. 2 and 3) corresponding to the diagnosis result is collated with reference to the data table stored in 3b. Then, an instruction is given to the drive circuit 14 to blink all segments in the collated blink pattern.

Specifically, an example of the blinking pattern is shown in FIG.
Illustrated in FIG. The blinking pattern of FIG.
A second ON signal having a width of time t1 is output again after an OFF period having a width of time t2 has elapsed after a fall of the ON signal. Then, with such two blinks as one cycle, blinking is repeated after a pause time t3 longer than t1 and t2. At this time, in a case where eight “7-segment digital characters” in which a plurality of segments are arranged in an “8” shape are juxtaposed (see FIGS. 4 and 5),
The state of the figure display of “88” and the state of nothing being displayed are repeated.

FIG. 3 shows another example of the blinking pattern. In the blinking pattern of FIG. 3, the ON signal having a width of time t1 and the OFF signal having a width of time t2 are repeated four times to form one cycle, and such a cycle is repeated after a pause time t3 longer than t1 and t2. It is supposed to.

Here, for example, t1 and t2 are about 1 second, and t3 is about 10 seconds.

Further, for example, any electronic component 12
If no failure has occurred in a, 12b,..., an infinite number of blinks are performed at regular intervals.

As a blinking pattern, all segments are always lit once. That is, a pattern of not lighting the segment at all is not prepared in the data table in the storage unit 13b. By doing so, if there is no response from the liquid crystal display panel 10 after the operation of the operation switch 11, it can be determined that the failure diagnosis by the failure diagnosis unit 13a is not functioning at all, and therefore the control unit 13 itself is not operated. Failures can be diagnosed at the same time.

As described above, the number of blinks in one cycle is changed, and the ratio of the lighting time to the turning-off time is extremely changed (that is, in the state of FIG. 2 or FIG. In this case, the failure state is displayed by various combinations of blinking patterns such as a Morse code. The plural kinds of blinking patterns at this time are stored in the data table of the storage unit 13b as binary signals of several bits,
In accordance with the diagnosis result in the failure diagnosis unit 13a, collation is performed by a blinking pattern control unit 13c diagnosis result collation function, and all the segments of the liquid crystal display panel 10 are turned on through the drive circuit 14 by the blinking instruction function of the blinking pattern control unit 13c. Will be

Here, in addition to the electronic components 12a, 12b,... Connected to the serial cable 15, the electrode of any segment in the liquid crystal display panel 10 of the liquid crystal display panel 10 has a poor contact or a part thereof. May be in a defective state.

However, in this embodiment, FIG.
And all the segments are made to blink at the same time in the blinking pattern shown in FIG. 3, so that even if there is a failure in any of the segments, any of the other segments is in a normal state, and As long as all the normal segments blink without any trouble, the blinking can be confirmed by the operator. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a situation in which code segmentation becomes difficult due to a failure in some segments, as compared with a case where a diagnosis result code is displayed as in the related art.

When the operator operates the operation switch 11, all the segments are made to blink at least once. If a part of the plurality of segments does not blink at all, the blinking is performed. Since the segments that have not been broken are faulty, the operator can check whether the various electronic components 12a, 12b,... Have faults, and at the same time, immediately find out the faults in the segments. If all the segments do not blink, it is highly possible that the control unit 13 itself is out of order. For example, not only the electronic parts 12a, 12b,... But also the control unit 13 and the liquid crystal display panel 10 itself are out of order. There is an advantage that it is possible to know the information at the same time.

The segments on the liquid crystal display panel 10 are not necessarily limited to seven-segment digital characters. For example, when a plurality of symbols for displaying various warnings in an automobile are displayed as corresponding segments. Alternatively, all the segments including these symbol images may be blinked.

In the above embodiment, a transmissive liquid crystal display panel has been described as an example. However, for example, a reflective liquid crystal display panel may be used, or a self-luminous fluorescent display panel may be used. Is also good.

[0038]

According to the first to third aspects of the present invention, a failure of various electronic components in the vehicle is diagnosed in response to an operation signal from an operation switch, and a plurality of flashes are performed based on the diagnosis result. One of the blinking patterns is selected, and all the segments of the liquid crystal display panel are blinked at the same time with the selected blinking pattern. Alternatively, even if the liquid crystal element in that portion is in a defective state, the blinking can be confirmed by the operator as long as one of the other segments blinks normally without any trouble.
Therefore, it is possible to prevent a situation in which code segmentation becomes difficult due to a failure in some segments, as compared with a case where a diagnosis result code is displayed as in the related art.

When the operator operates the operation switch, all the segments should blink, but if some of the segments do not blink, the non-blinking segments will fail. Therefore, there is an advantage that the operator can check whether or not there is a failure in various electronic components and, at the same time, immediately find out a failure in the segment.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the blinking pattern is defined so that the lighting state appears at least once in one cycle, so that a part of the plurality of segments is completely eliminated. If it does not flash, it is possible to estimate the failure of the non-flashing segment itself in the liquid crystal display panel. If all segments do not blink,
For example, there is a strong possibility that the control unit itself is out of order, so that not only various electronic components but also information on the failure of the control unit and the liquid crystal display panel itself can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a self-diagnosis display device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a blinking pattern.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another example of a blinking pattern.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of a conventional self-diagnosis display device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example when any of the segments has failed in the conventional self-diagnosis display device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Liquid crystal display panel 11 Operation switch 12a, 12b ... Various electronic components 13 Control part 13a Failure diagnosis part 13b Storage part 13c Lighting pattern control part 14 Drive circuit 15 Serial cable

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Toshiyuki Sonoda 1-7-10 Kikuzumi, Minami-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi F-term in Harness Research Institute, Ltd. (Reference) 3D044 BA17 BA20 BA27 BB01 3G084 BA33 DA27 EB08 EB22 EC01

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A self-diagnosis display device for self-diagnosis of abnormalities of various electronic components in a vehicle, wherein the self-diagnosis display device is installed at a predetermined position in the vehicle and switches a plurality of segments on and off to form a predetermined shape. A liquid crystal display panel to be displayed, an operation switch for manually instructing a self-diagnosis operation by an operator, and, based on an operation signal from the operation switch, diagnosing failure of various electronic components in the vehicle and outputting the result. A control unit; and a drive circuit that switches each segment of the liquid crystal display panel on and off based on a control signal from the control unit to drive the segments. Diagnosing the failure of the various electronic components, selecting one of a plurality of blinking patterns based on the diagnosis result, the selected blinking pattern Self-diagnosis display apparatus characterized by instructing controlled to blink all segments of crystal display panel at the same time. 2. The self-diagnosis display device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit diagnoses a failure of various electronic components in the vehicle in response to an operation signal from the operation switch. A flashing pattern in a flashing pattern table stored in advance in a predetermined storage unit is selected based on a diagnosis result in the failure diagnosis unit, and all segments of the liquid crystal display panel flash simultaneously with the selected flashing pattern. A self-diagnosis display device, comprising: a blinking pattern control unit that controls to perform the instruction. 3. The self-diagnosis display device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the blinking pattern is different in a combination of a blinking frequency and a lighting / lighting-off ratio in all segments in one cycle. A self-diagnosis display device associated with a failure state of an electronic component and defined to repeat such a cycle. 4. The self-diagnosis display device according to claim 1, wherein said blinking pattern is defined such that a lighting state appears at least once during said one cycle. A self-diagnosis display device.