JP2000255344A - Abnormality warning system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reliably announce abnormality caused in a vehicle to a driver by performing warning operation by an announcing means of on-vehicle electronic equipment arranged in the vehicle on the basis of abnormal information by an abnormality detecting means of a vehicle or travel state. SOLUTION: A vehicle information ECU 11 for monitoring and controlling a vehicle state and a travel state (such as a speed, an engine speed, a cooling water temperature and the existence of lamp disconnection) constituted by a microcomputer compares outputs from various sensors arranged in a vehicle with a normal value to judge whether or not it is abnormal. When it is abnormal, abnormal information (such as the occurrence date, a place and the abnormal content) acquired from the vehicle information ECU 11 is outputted to an abnormal mode control part 12 having a storage memory, and voice preset to the abnormal information to reliably announce abnormality to a driver is synthesized by the large sound volume to be outputted to a voice output part 43. In outputting the information to various lamps 6 or the like, when fuel runs short, a hazard lamp is flashed according to fuel shortage information from the vehicle information ECU 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an abnormality alarm system capable of reliably informing a driver of an abnormality occurring in a vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Vehicle control for monitoring and controlling vehicle conditions and running conditions (speed, engine speed, cooling water temperature, presence / absence of lamp disconnection, etc.) by comparing outputs from various sensors provided in a vehicle with normal values. There is a device. When there is an abnormality in the vehicle state or running state, the vehicle control device turns on an alarm lamp or the like provided exclusively for each abnormal item (content) in the instrument box in front of the driver's seat.

[0003]

In such a conventional abnormality alarm system for notifying an abnormality of a vehicle, a dedicated alarm lamp corresponding to the abnormality item must be provided, and wiring work and the like are required, resulting in high cost. Become. In addition, since a large number of alarm lamps are provided exclusively for each abnormal item in the limited instrument box, each alarm lamp is necessarily reduced in size. For this reason, when the driver concentrates on driving, there is a risk that the driver may overlook even if the warning lamp or the like is on.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an abnormality alarm system that can reliably inform a driver of an abnormality that has occurred in a vehicle.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an abnormality detecting means for detecting that there is an abnormality in a vehicle state or a running state; And an alarm control means for causing a notifying means of the in-vehicle electronic device provided in the vehicle to perform an alarm operation.

Further, the alarm control means includes an importance determination means for determining the importance of the abnormality detected by the abnormality detection means, and an alarm control means in accordance with the importance of the abnormality information determined by the importance determination means. An importance-based selection means for selecting the notification means.

Further, the alarm control means is provided with type-specific selection means for selecting the notification means in accordance with the type of abnormality detected by the abnormality detection means.

[0008] Further, there is provided a storage means for storing abnormality information relating to the abnormality detected by the abnormality detection means.

[0009] The storage means may store date and time information indicating a time at which the abnormality is detected.

[0010] The apparatus may further include position detecting means for detecting a position of the vehicle, wherein the storage means stores information on the position of the vehicle detected by the position detecting means when an abnormality is detected. It is a feature.

[0011] Further, there is provided a canceling means for canceling the output to the notifying means.

[0012] Further, a re-warning means for causing the notifying means to perform a warning operation based on the abnormality information stored in the storage means each time the engine of the vehicle is started is provided.

Further, the release means is activated by operating an operation switch already provided on the vehicle for another purpose.

Further, position detecting means for detecting the position of the vehicle, map information obtaining means for obtaining map information including information on a repair facility capable of repairing the vehicle, and a method for detecting an abnormality by the abnormality detecting means. And a facility display means for displaying a repair facility near the position of the vehicle detected by the position detection means based on the map data of the map information acquisition means.

[0015] Further, when the vehicle arrives at the repair facility, there is provided a display means for displaying information relating to the abnormality stored in the storage means.

[0016]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an abnormality alarm system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to the drawings.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a vehicle information ECU (electronic traveling control unit) for monitoring and controlling a vehicle state and a traveling state (speed, engine speed, cooling water temperature, presence / absence of lamp disconnection, etc.), and is constituted by a microcomputer, for example. The output from various sensors provided in the vehicle is compared with a normal value to determine whether or not there is an abnormality. If there is an abnormality, abnormality information is output to the abnormality mode control unit 12. 12 is vehicle information E
It has a memory for storing abnormality information (date and time of occurrence, location, details of abnormality, etc.) obtained from the CU 11 or the like, and determines the type, importance, and alarm output method of the abnormality information (contents) based on the abnormality information. Is output to the navigation system 2 and various lamps 6 and is constituted by a microcomputer or the like. In the present embodiment, the vehicle information ECU 11 and the abnormal mode control unit 12 have different configurations. However, the vehicle information ECU 11 and the abnormality mode control unit 12 may be configured by a single microcomputer and differ only in the sharing of control operations. Reference numeral 2 denotes a navigation system that detects the current position of the vehicle and provides travel guidance, a GPS system 21 that detects the position of the vehicle using radio waves from artificial satellites, and a CD-R storing map information.
A map database 22 comprising an OM and its reading device,
A navigation control unit 3 that controls the entire navigation system 2 such as a process of specifying a vehicle position and display control; a display unit 41 including a liquid crystal display element that displays map information and the like;
A voice synthesizing unit 42 for synthesizing voices (signals) necessary for performing travel guidance by voice, a voice amplifier for power-amplifying the synthesized voice signal and outputting the voice, a voice output unit 43 including a speaker, etc. The operation switch 5 is used to specify a vehicle position on a map, search a repair shop, search for a route, and provide route guidance. Reference numeral 6 denotes various lamps, sound emitters, and the like for notifying a driver of a vehicle state and a running state, and includes a hazard lamp, a back lamp, a head lamp, a room lamp, a horn, and the like provided on the vehicle. The navigation system 2 and various lamps 6
Is connected to a microcomputer (vehicle information ECU 11 and abnormal mode control unit 12) via a communication line (LAN or the like).

FIGS. 2A and 2B are flowcharts of a process performed by the abnormal mode control unit 12 of the abnormal alarm system according to the first embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. This is the process. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relationship between the abnormality information and the output devices (various lamps and the like) of the abnormality alarm system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, an alarm output device and an alarm output method are selected according to the importance of the abnormality.
This process is repeatedly executed while the ignition switch is on.

In step S11, it is determined whether or not abnormality information has been acquired.
The process proceeds to step S18 if abnormality information is not acquired. That is, it is determined whether or not there is abnormality information transmitted from the vehicle information ECU 11. In step S12, the abnormality information is stored in the memory, and the process proceeds to step S13. That is,
The acquired abnormality information and date and time data are stored in the abnormality mode controller 12.
In the internal memory. The date and time data is acquired from, for example, the GPS system 21.

In step S13, the importance of the abnormality information is determined. If the importance is high, the process proceeds to step S14. If the importance is low, the process proceeds to step S20. That is, of the acquired abnormality information, it is determined whether or not there is a risk of an accident if left unattended. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the fuel is out of fuel, the coolant temperature is abnormal, the exhaust gas catalyst temperature is abnormal, the engine oil is abnormal. It is determined that the importance of the brake system abnormality or the like is high. In addition, it is determined that the importance of seatbelt non-wearing and various lamp burnouts is small.

In step S14, a loud alarm sound is output to the audio output section, and the flow advances to step S15. That is, a warning sound is output to the sound output unit 43 at a large volume in order to surely notify the driver of the abnormality. Step S15
Then, the abnormal information is voice-synthesized and output to the voice output unit. In other words, the voice synthesizer synthesizes a voice set in advance corresponding to the acquired abnormality information and outputs the synthesized voice to the voice output unit 43. For example, if the fuel becomes low, the voice synthesizer 42 voice-synthesizes "Please refuel immediately" or the like based on the out-of-fuel information transmitted from the vehicle information ECU 11, and outputs the voice.

In step S16, the information is output to the existing equipment corresponding to the abnormality information, and the flow advances to step S17. That is, the information is output to various lamps 6 which are existing equipment and are set in advance in accordance with the acquired abnormality information. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when the remaining fuel becomes low, the hazard lamp blinks (or lights) based on the out-of-fuel information transmitted from the vehicle information ECU 11. If the various lamps are out, the back lamp in the vehicle corresponding to the back lamps is turned on (or blinks) based on the various lamp out information (for example, back lamp out) transmitted from the vehicle information ECU 11. If there is no corresponding lamp, another lamp set in advance (for example, an illumination lamp for meters or the like).
Flashes. Wiring to the various lamps 6 has already been performed by the microcomputer (vehicle information ECU 11, abnormal mode control unit 1).
Since it is connected to the output port of 2), no new wiring work occurs only by changing the output method. Step S
In step 17, the abnormality information is displayed on the display unit in detail, and
Move to 18. That is, the acquired abnormality information (contents) is displayed on the display unit 41 in detail. In the case of a system such as a navigation system 2 that displays the details of an abnormality using a small display unit such as an audio device such as a radio, a CD player, or a tape player without a large screen display unit 41, the abnormal Good display can be achieved by simply displaying the contents or scrolling the characters.

In step S18, it is determined whether or not the release switch has been pressed. If the release switch has been pressed, the process proceeds to step S19, and if the release switch has not been pressed, the process ends. That is, after the driver confirms the abnormal information, the driver manually releases the voice output (voice output unit 43), display (display unit 41), and the like, and determines based on the operation state of the operation switch (release switch) 5. I do. In step S19, the output of the abnormality information is stopped, and the process ends. That is,
Stop audio output, display output, lamp lighting, etc.

In step S20, a low volume alarm sound is output to the audio output unit, and the flow advances to step S16. That is, since the abnormality information is mild, a quiet low volume alarm sound is output to the audio output unit 43 so as not to surprise the driver.

Next, the processing when the vehicle is stopped and the engine is once turned off and then restarted will be described. In step S21, it is determined whether or not the engine (ignition) key has changed from off to on. If the key has changed from off to on, the process proceeds to step S22. If the key remains off, the process ends. That is, after the vehicle stops and the driver turns off the engine key, it is determined whether or not the engine has been restarted to move the vehicle, based on the operation state of the engine key (not shown).

In step S22, the abnormality information is re-output and the process is terminated. In other words, since the repair for the abnormality that has occurred may not be completed, the abnormality information stored in the memory is output as voice so that the driver can reconfirm the previous abnormality before traveling. The notification is made again by display or the like. When the abnormal information is deleted from the memory when the repair is completed, the abnormal information is no longer output thereafter.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, an alarm can be issued in accordance with the degree of importance of abnormality information obtained by using existing equipment installed in a vehicle. Accordingly, it is not necessary to provide an alarm output device such as a dedicated lamp for displaying the abnormality information, and the cost can be reduced. Further, a display unit using a liquid crystal display element or the like can also display detailed abnormality information.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process performed by the abnormal mode control unit 12 of the abnormal alarm system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, description will be made with reference to the drawings. still,
In the present embodiment, as an emergency response when an abnormality occurs, a nearest repair shop (a gas station in the case of refueling) and the like are searched for guidance. Further, the configuration of the abnormality alarm system is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the description is omitted.

In step S31, the current position is detected, and the flow advances to step S32. That is, the current position of the vehicle is
The position is detected by the S system 21 and the position on the map is specified by the map database 22.

In step S32, it is determined whether or not abnormality information has been acquired.
Then, if no abnormal information is obtained, the process is terminated. That is, it is determined whether or not there is abnormality information transmitted from the vehicle information ECU 11. In step S33, the place of occurrence, the date and time of occurrence, and the content of the abnormality are stored, and the routine goes to step S34. That is, the current position (occurrence location) of the vehicle at the time of acquiring the abnormality information, the date and time of occurrence by the GPS system 21 and the like, and the abnormality information (contents) acquired by the vehicle information ECU 11 are stored in the memory in the abnormality mode control unit 12. In step S34, an alarm is output, and the routine goes to step S35. That is, a loud alarm sound is output to the sound output unit 43 in order to surely notify the driver of the abnormality. Further, the abnormal information (contents) is voice-synthesized by the voice synthesizer 42 and output to the voice output unit 43. Further, the abnormality information is displayed on the display unit 41 in detail.

In step S35, the nearest repair shop is searched for, and the flow advances to step S36. That is, the repair shop closest to the current position of the vehicle detected by the GPS system 21 and the map database 22 is searched from the map database 22. In step S36, a route search and route guidance to the nearest repair shop are performed, and the process proceeds to step S37. That is, a route to the repair shop searched by the GPS system 21 and the map database 22 is searched, and the searched route is displayed on the display unit (navigation screen) 41 to provide route guidance. In step S37, it is determined whether or not the vehicle has arrived at the repair shop.
Move to, and continue the guidance if you have not arrived yet.

In step S38, the place of occurrence, the date and time of occurrence, and the contents of the abnormality are read out, and the process is terminated. In other words, the vehicle position (occurrence location), occurrence date and time, and details of the abnormality stored in step S33 are read out from the memory in the abnormality mode control unit 12, displayed on the display unit 41, and used as reference materials for repair.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to output an alarm on the abnormal information acquired using the existing equipment installed in the vehicle. In addition, since a facility search and route guidance for providing emergency treatment can be performed appropriately, repairs and the like can be performed at an early stage.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an abnormality alarm system capable of reliably informing a driver of an abnormality occurring in a vehicle.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an abnormality alarm system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a process performed by an abnormality mode control unit 12 of the abnormality alarm system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relationship between abnormality information and an output device of the abnormality alarm system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process performed by an abnormal mode control unit 12 of the abnormal alarm system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ··· Vehicle information ECU, 41 ···
Display unit, 12 ... Abnormal mode control unit, 42
... Speech synthesis unit, 2 ... Navigation system, 43 ... Speech output unit, 21 ... GPS
System, 5 ... Operation switch, 22
···· Map database, 6 ··· Various lamps, 3 ···· Navigation control unit.

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An abnormality detecting means for detecting that there is an abnormality in a vehicle state or a running state, and a notifying means of an in-vehicle electronic device provided in a vehicle based on the abnormality information detected by the abnormality detecting means. An abnormality alarm system comprising an alarm control means for performing an alarm operation. 2. The alarm control means according to claim 1, further comprising: an importance judging means for judging the importance of the abnormality detected by said abnormality detecting means; and an alarm control means according to the importance of said abnormality information judged by said importance judging means. 2. The abnormality warning system according to claim 1, further comprising importance-based selection means for selecting said notification means. 3. The abnormality alarm according to claim 1, wherein said alarm control means includes type-specific selection means for selecting said notification means according to the type of abnormality detected by said abnormality detection means. system. 4. The abnormality alarm system according to claim 1, further comprising storage means for storing abnormality information relating to the abnormality detected by said abnormality detection means. 5. The abnormality alarm system according to claim 4, wherein the storage unit stores date and time information indicating a time when the abnormality is detected. 6. A position detecting means for detecting a position of a vehicle, wherein the storage means stores information on a position of the vehicle detected by the position detecting means when an abnormality is detected. The abnormality warning system according to claim 4, wherein 7. The abnormality alarm system according to claim 1, further comprising a canceling unit for canceling an output to said notifying unit. 8. A re-warning means for causing the notifying means to perform a warning operation based on the abnormality information stored in the storage means every time the engine of the vehicle is started. Item 7. The abnormality alarm system according to Item 7. 9. The abnormality alarm system according to claim 8, wherein the release means is activated by operating an operation switch already provided on the vehicle for another purpose. 10. A position detecting means for detecting a position of a vehicle, a map information obtaining means for obtaining map information including information on a repair facility capable of repairing the vehicle, and when an abnormality is detected by the abnormality detecting means. 2. The abnormality warning system according to claim 1, further comprising facility display means for displaying a repair facility near the position of the vehicle detected by said position detection means based on the map data of said map information acquisition means. 11. When a vehicle arrives at the repair facility,
11. The abnormality warning system according to claim 10, further comprising a display unit that displays information on the abnormality stored in the storage unit.