JP2001030856A - Characteristic setting device for on-vehicle apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To stabilize an action and to set a characteristic of a long-life on- vehicle apparatus by taking interior information only when it is detected that the door is closed after opened once and setting a characteristic of the on- vehicle apparatus in compliance with this information. SOLUTION: On the basis of inputted information about an occupant inside the compartment, a characteristic of an on-vehicle sound apparatus is set, and then, it is determined whether either of doors is opened or not (S14). If no door is opened, determination (S14) is repeated. If a door is opened, it is determined whether all the doors are closed or not (S15). If some doors are not closed, determination (S15) is repeated. If all the doors are closed, occupant information inside the compartment is taken (S16), and it is determined whether there is any change in the compartment information or not (S17). If no change is detected, determination (S14) is repeated. On the other hand, if a change is detected, the characteristic of the on-vehicle sound apparatus is set on the basis of the inputted occupant information inside the compartment (S18).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a characteristic setting device for a vehicle-mounted device that optimally sets characteristics of a vehicle-mounted audio device, a vehicle-mounted air conditioner, and the like based on information of a passenger in a vehicle compartment.
In particular, the present invention relates to a characteristic setting device for an in-vehicle device capable of preventing malfunction by taking in information without waste and extending the useful life of the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a characteristic setting device that optimally sets characteristics of on-vehicle equipment such as on-vehicle audio equipment and on-vehicle air conditioner based on information of occupants and the like in a vehicle cabin always fetches in-vehicle information and constantly controls on-vehicle equipment. Had been set to an optimal state. An example of such a conventional characteristic setting device for a vehicle-mounted device will be described with reference to FIG.

[0003] When the power is turned on to the characteristic setting device, initial setting is performed, and in step S1, information such as the occupant in the vehicle compartment is fetched. Next, in step S2, it is determined whether or not the vehicle interior information has changed. If there has been no change, step S1 is repeated. If there has been a change, the process proceeds to step S3, where the latest vehicle interior information is used. The characteristics of the in-vehicle device are set, and steps S1 and subsequent steps are repeated.

[0004] In the above-described characteristic setting device of the on-vehicle equipment, since the vehicle interior information is constantly taken in, the characteristics are reset when an erroneous detection is made, and the operation becomes unstable. For example, when the presence or absence of an occupant is detected by a camera, an erroneous detection is performed when it is determined that there is no occupant at the detection target position due to a change in the posture of the occupant.

Further, since the detection circuit is always operated, there is a problem that the life of the detection device is shortened or the reliability is reduced. The occupant detection device proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-2172 controls the operation of the device by detecting the opening and closing of the door of the car. However, when the occupant detection sensor detects that the door is closed, the occupant detection sensor is constantly activated. Actuation does not solve the above problem.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a characteristic setting device for a vehicle-mounted device which has a stable operation and a long life. It is in.

[0007]

A characteristic setting device for a vehicle-mounted device according to the present invention is a device for setting characteristics of a vehicle-mounted device according to vehicle interior information. At the start, when it detects that the door is closed, it takes in the vehicle interior information and sets the characteristics of the in-vehicle equipment according to the information. Thereafter, when it detects that the door has been opened and then closed Only in-vehicle information is taken in, and the characteristics of the in-vehicle device are set according to the information.

In the above-mentioned device for setting characteristics of a vehicle-mounted device, the information on the inside of the vehicle is the presence or absence of an occupant in each seat.

Further, in the above-mentioned characteristic setting apparatus for each vehicle-mounted device, the vehicle-mounted device is a vehicle-mounted audio device.

[0010]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an apparatus for setting characteristics of a vehicle-mounted acoustic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a characteristic setting device of an in-vehicle audio device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The control circuit 1 shown in FIG. 1 receives signals from the occupant detection means 3 and the door open / close detection switch 4 and sets the characteristics of the on-vehicle audio equipment 2 according to the signals. The occupant detection means 3 is a device for detecting the presence or absence of an occupant by measuring the distance by a camera or reflection of ultrasonic waves, infrared rays, or the like, and outputs a signal to the control circuit 1. Although not shown, the occupant detection means 3 is provided for each seat.

The door open / close detection switch 4 is a switch which is turned on / off by opening / closing the door, and outputs a signal to the control circuit 1. Although not shown, the door open / close detection switch 4 is provided for each door.

The setting of the characteristics of the on-vehicle acoustic device 2 is performed on the frequency characteristics. The sound field characteristics in the cabin are affected by the number of occupants and the like, and it is necessary to set this optimally. In this case, equalizer characteristics corresponding to the presence / absence of an occupant in each seat are set, and the equalizer characteristics are set to optimal conditions in accordance with the presence / absence of an occupant in each seat.

Next, the operation of the characteristic setting device for the on-vehicle audio equipment will be described with reference to FIG. When the power is turned on to the characteristic setting device, after performing the initial setting, it is determined in step S11 whether all the doors are closed. If the doors are closed, the process proceeds to step S12, and the door is closed. If not, step S11 is repeated.

In step S12, information on the occupants in the vehicle compartment is fetched. Next, in step S13, the characteristics of the in-vehicle audio device are set based on the information of the occupant in the vehicle cabin taken in step S12, and the process proceeds to step S14.

In step S14, it is determined whether or not any one of the doors has been opened.
The process proceeds to step S5, and if not opened, step S14 is repeated.

In step S15, it is determined whether all the doors are closed. If the doors are closed, the process proceeds to step S16, and if not, step S16 is performed.
15 is repeated.

In step S16, information on the occupants in the vehicle compartment is fetched, and the process proceeds to step S17. Step S1
In step 7, it is determined whether or not the vehicle interior information has changed. If there has been no change, steps S14 and subsequent steps are repeated.
If there is a change, the process proceeds to step S18, the characteristics of the in-vehicle audio device are set based on the information of the occupant in the vehicle cabin taken in step S16, and the process proceeds to step S14.

As described above, since the information of the occupant in the vehicle compartment is taken in only when the door is opened and closed, the erroneous operation can be eliminated by performing the occupant presence detection a plurality of times.
In addition, when the occupant in the vehicle compartment moves, the door is opened and closed in most cases. Since the detection of the presence or absence of an occupant is performed a very small number of times as compared with the conventional one, the life of the device is extended.

Although the embodiment is constructed as described above, the invention is not limited to this. For example, in the embodiment, when the door is opened and closed, information on the occupant in the preceding vehicle compartment and the occupant in the new vehicle compartment are provided. Are compared with each other and the characteristic is reset only when there is a change. However, the characteristic may be reset whenever the door is opened and closed. Further, the vehicle-mounted device for setting the characteristics may be a vehicle-mounted air conditioner.

[0021]

According to the characteristic setting apparatus for a vehicle-mounted device of the present invention, for example, the characteristics of the vehicle-mounted audio device are not suddenly changed during traveling due to a malfunction.

Further, since the number of times of taking in the vehicle interior information is extremely reduced, the life and reliability of the camera and the like are improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a characteristic setting device of an on-vehicle audio device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of the characteristic setting device of the on-vehicle audio device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of a conventional device for setting characteristics of a vehicle-mounted device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Control circuit 2 In-vehicle audio equipment 3 Occupant detection means 4 Door open / close detection switch

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An in-vehicle device characteristic setting device for setting characteristics of an in-vehicle device in accordance with the in-vehicle information, a door open / close detecting means is provided. Then, the characteristics of the in-vehicle device are set according to the information, and thereafter, only when it is detected that the door has been opened and then closed, the in-vehicle information is taken in, and the characteristics of the in-vehicle device according to the information are taken. An in-vehicle device characteristic setting device configured to perform setting. 2. The characteristic setting device for an in-vehicle device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle interior information is the presence or absence of an occupant in each seat. 3. The characteristic setting device for a vehicle-mounted device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle-mounted device is a vehicle-mounted audio device.