JP2002148351A - Object detector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an object detector capable of reducing power consumption more remarkably than the conventional one. SOLUTION: This object detector is provided with an infrared area sensor 13 having plural pixels capable of detecting the existence of an object, arranged on an array, and a thermal image data creating part 15 for determining the existence of an object according to the detection result from the infrared area sensor 13. The infrared area sensor 13 is switched between a first mode where the plural pixels are operated in a predetermined order and a first detection result is transmitted to the thermal image data creating part 15 and a second mode where the plural pixels are simultaneously operated, and a second detection result which is an addition value of the plural pixels and larger than the first detection result is transmitted to the thermal image data creating part 15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an object detecting device for detecting the presence of an intruder.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional object detecting device, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
A "vehicle anti-theft device" disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-198763 has been reported, and is particularly applicable to a technology for detecting and alarming an object entering a vehicle.

According to this conventional technique, in a state in which an intruder is detected, a door or window near which a temperature change is likely to occur first among the heat sensing elements formed in an array is concentrated. To operate the other heat-sensing elements, that is, to operate the heat-sensing elements thinned out, and to change the sensing state of the heat-sensing elements to a signal amplifier, a signal processing circuit,
The thermal image data is transmitted to the control circuit via the thermal image data generating means including the data transmission circuit, and the control circuit determines whether or not there is an intruder. If the control circuit determines that there is an intruder, it activates all heat sensing elements,
Further, when it is determined that the intruder is a person, an alarm is issued. As described above, the conventional technology has an advantage that an intruder in the vehicle compartment can be detected while reducing power consumption by the heat sensing element.

[0004]

However, in the conventional object detecting apparatus, the operation of the heat sensing element to be operated is thinned out to detect the presence of an intruding object. Even if the elements themselves are thinned and operated, the contribution to reducing the power consumption of the entire object detection device is small. In other words, in the entire object detection device, the power consumed by the control circuit and especially the thermal image data creating means composed of an analog circuit is much larger than the power consumed by the heat sensing element. Therefore, in the related art, even in a state where the heat sensing elements are thinned out and operated, the thermal image data creating means including the control circuit and the analog circuit operates without any change. It has not been possible to obtain a sufficient reduction in power consumption.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above,
An object of the present invention is to provide an object detection device that can significantly reduce power consumption as compared with the related art.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In order to solve the above problems, a detection element group in which a plurality of elements capable of detecting the presence of an object are arranged on an array, and an object detection unit that determines the presence of the object based on a detection result from the detection element group are provided. In the object detection device provided with, the detection element group comprises: a first mode in which a plurality of elements operate in a predetermined order to transmit a first detection result to the object detection means; Operate simultaneously, and can switch between a second mode in which a second detection result, which is an added value of a plurality of elements and is larger than the first detection result, is transmitted to the object detection means. That is the gist.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above problem, the second mode is characterized in that the plurality of elements are connected in series to increase a signal voltage.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above problems, the element is a photovoltaic type or a thermoelectromotive type.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a detection element group in which a plurality of elements capable of detecting the presence of an object are arranged on an array, and the detection result of the object based on the detection result from the detection element group. A first mode in which a plurality of elements operate in a predetermined order to transmit a first detection result to the object detecting means; , A plurality of elements operate at the same time, and a second value which is an added value of the plurality of elements and is larger than the first detection result.
Can be switched to the second mode of transmitting the detection result of (1) to the object detection means. In the second mode, a large signal output subjected to addition processing can be obtained from the detection element. Since a part of the operation of the subsequent circuit can be restricted, power can be saved. As a result, power consumption can be significantly reduced as compared with the related art.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the second mode, the signal voltage can be increased by connecting a plurality of elements in series, so that power can be saved with a simple configuration. it can.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the element comprises:
Since it is a photovoltaic type or a thermoelectromotive type, signal values can be added while elements are connected in series.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration to which an object detection device according to one embodiment of the present invention can be applied.

The object detecting device 11 includes an infrared area sensor 13, a thermal image data creating unit 15, a remote control receiver 16,
It comprises an operation mode control circuit 17, an alarm unit 19, and a power supply circuit 21. The infrared area sensor 13 is mounted in the vehicle interior, includes a plurality of photovoltaic or thermoelectromotive type pixels for detecting a heat source, and sequentially scans all pixels when the operation mode A is set. When the operation mode is set to B, a plurality of pixels are connected in series to operate to increase the signal voltage.

After amplifying the sensor signal, the thermal image data creating section 15 performs a correction process and a judgment process on the sensor signal, and continuously inputs a sensor signal having a preset level and area or more. A warning signal is generated by assuming that the operation has been performed, and the warning signal is sent to a remote control key or a warning unit 19 carried by the driver.

The remote control receiver 16 receives an ON operation signal or an OFF operation signal transmitted from a remote control key (not shown) carried by the driver and sends the signal to the operation mode control circuit 17. As shown in FIG. 2, the operation mode control circuit 17 controls the infrared area sensor 13, the thermal image data creation unit 15, the operation mode control circuit 17 (self), the alarm unit 19, and the power supply circuit 21 according to the three operation modes. Control.
The operation mode control circuit 17 includes a CPU that controls the entire apparatus according to a control program, a ROM that stores a control program, and a RAM that stores control data, and executes various processes according to the control program.
The alarm unit 19 generates an alarm and notifies the periphery of the vehicle that a human body has entered the vehicle interior. The power supply circuit 21 supplies power from, for example, a battery 20 provided in the vehicle to each unit in the device while the main SW 22 is turned on.

Further, the thermal image data creating section 15 includes a signal amplifying circuit 23, a signal processing circuit 25, and a data transmitting circuit 27.
It is composed of The signal amplification circuit 23 amplifies the sensor signal from the infrared area sensor 13 and outputs it to the signal processing circuit 25. The signal processing circuit 25 includes the signal amplifying circuit 2
A correction process and a judgment process are performed on the sensor signal amplified in Step 3, and a case where a sensor signal of a preset level and a preset area or more is continuously input is regarded as an intrusion action, and an ON control signal is output. To the data transmission circuit 27.
The data transmission circuit 27 generates an alarm signal in response to the ON control signal from the signal processing circuit 25, and sends the alarm signal to a remote control key, an alarm unit 19, and the like possessed by the driver.

Next, referring to FIG.
The operation mode will be described.

In the operation mode A, the operation mode control circuit 3
Operates to scan all the pixels of the infrared area sensor 13, and the other units also perform normal operations. In the operation mode B, the thermal image data creation unit 15 and the alarm unit 19 are inactive, and the power consumed in the relevant part can be reduced. The signal amplification circuit 23, the signal processing circuit 25, etc.
Since a large number of analog circuits are built in and the power consumed in the operation mode B is smaller than the power consumed in the operation mode A, a large power saving effect can be obtained.

In the operation mode B, the infrared area sensor 13 performs a power saving operation by stopping the scanning operation, and the operation mode control circuit 17 does not amplify the trigger signal from the infrared area sensor 13. The configuration is such that the trigger signal can be sufficiently determined. Further, since the thermal image data creating unit 15 and the alarm unit 19 stop operating and do not supply power, power consumption can be significantly reduced.

Next, the operation of the object detecting apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 using the flowchart shown in FIG. First, the driver stops the vehicle at a predetermined position. Then, the main SW 22 provided in the object detection device 11 is turned on. When the main SW 22 of the object detection device 11 is turned on, DC power is supplied from the battery 20 provided in the vehicle to the power supply circuit 21, and the CPU provided in the operation mode control circuit 17 is started and stored in the ROM. The control programs that are present are sequentially read out, and the processing after step S10 is started.

Then, in a step S10, it is determined whether or not the IGN_SW provided on the key cylinder is turned off. This process is repeated until the IGN_SW is turned off. If the IGN_SW is in the OFF state, the process proceeds to step S20, in which it is determined whether a door SW (not shown) provided on the door on the driver's seat side of the vehicle body has been switched from the OFF state to the ON state, and whether the driver has exited the vehicle. Judge whether or not. This process is repeated until the door SW switches from the OFF state to the ON state.

When the driver gets off the vehicle, it is assumed that an ON operation signal for operating the object detection device 11 by operating a remote control key from outside the vehicle is transmitted. When the driver gets off the vehicle, the process proceeds to step S30, and it is determined whether the remote control receiver 16 has received an ON operation signal. This process is repeated until the remote control receiver 16 receives the ON operation signal.

If the remote control receiver 16 has received the ON operation signal, the flow advances to step S40 to set the apparatus in the operation mode A and start the operation. As a result, the operation mode control circuit 17 operates in the operation mode A in which all the pixels of the infrared area sensor 13 are scanned. Then, in a step S50, it is determined whether or not the infrared area sensor 1 detects a heat source. If the infrared area sensor 1 has not detected a heat source, the process proceeds to step S60 and shifts to an operation mode B in which power saving can be performed. After shifting to the operation mode B, this mode is maintained until a heat source is detected.

In the operation mode B, as shown in FIG. 2, the infrared area sensor 13 stops the scanning operation, thereby performing a power saving operation and outputting a sufficient trigger signal without signal amplification. It has a configuration. In addition,
Details will be described later. Further, in the operation mode B, the thermal image data creation unit 15 and the alarm unit 19 stop operating and power is not supplied, so that power consumption can be significantly reduced.

On the other hand, when the heat source is detected in step S50, the process proceeds to step S70, and the operation mode A is continued. Here, in step S80, it is determined whether or not remote control receiver 16 has received an OFF operation signal. If the remote control receiver 16 has received the OFF operation signal, the process returns to step S30, and the above-described processing is repeated. On the other hand, if the remote control receiver 16 has not received the OFF operation signal, the process proceeds to step S90.

In the operation mode A, the infrared area sensor 1
The sensor signal output from 3 is a thermal image data creation unit 15
And the sensor signal is amplified by the signal amplification circuit 23,
The signal processing unit 22 performs a correction process and a determination process on the sensor signal. In this determination process, a case where a sensor signal of a preset level and a preset area or more are continuously input is regarded as an intrusion act.

In step S90, it is determined whether a human body has entered the vehicle interior. If there is no human body intrusion, the process returns to step S50, and the above-described processing is repeated. On the other hand, if it is determined that an intrusion has occurred, the process proceeds to step S100, where an ON control signal is sent to the data transmission circuit 27, and an alarm signal is generated by the data transmission circuit 27 so that the driver possesses it. This alarm signal is sent to a remote controller key or the like, and an alarm is generated through the alarm unit 19.

Further, when the driver gets on the vehicle again without intrusion while the driver is away from the vehicle, an OFF operation signal is transmitted from the outside using the remote control key or the like. Send to At this time, the operation mode control circuit 17 shifts to the sleep mode and stops the operation of each unit.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are circuit diagrams showing the configuration and operation of the infrared area sensor 13. FIG. FIG.
5 shows the operation when the infrared area sensor 13 is in the operation mode A, and FIG. 5 shows the operation when the infrared area sensor 13 is in the operation mode B. 4 and 5,
Although only 3 × 2 = 6 pixels are shown for simplification, the basic operation is not changed even if the number of pixels increases. Hereinafter, the operation will be described using the pixel (1, 1) as an example.

The inside of each pixel 201 is shown using an equivalent circuit. That is, an electromotive force means 202 composed of a photovoltaic element that receives light to generate electric power or a thermoelectromotive element that receives heat to generate electric power, and an internal resistance 20
3, the access SW 204 is connected in series and equivalently shown. The electromotive force means 202 includes a thermocouple or a thermopile for generating a thermoelectromotive force, and a photodiode for generating a photoelectromotive force.

A predetermined Y address line 241 for specifying a Y address, a plus signal line 211 for outputting a signal from the access SW 204, and a minus signal line 221 are connected to the pixel (1, 1). The Y address line 241 is
It is connected to the gate terminal of the access switch 204 and enables the signal of the pixel to be sent to the plus signal line 211.

The connection method of each of the plus signal lines 211 to 213 and each of the minus signal lines 221 to 223 is switched by the connection mode switching circuit 300 for each operation mode.

Next, the operation of the infrared area sensor 13 in the operation modes A and B will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 4, when the instruction from the operation mode control circuit 17 is the operation mode A, the line A which is one of the mode signals 18 becomes High level and the MOS switch 30
1, 302 and 303 are turned on. As a result, the minus terminals 221 to 223 of each pixel are all in a conductive state (shown by a thick line in the drawing), and the plus terminal is connected to the plus signal line according to the signals of the X address and the Y address.
Normal operation of the imaging device is enabled.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, when the operation mode B is instructed, the line B, which is one of the mode signals 18, becomes High level and the MOS switches 311 and 3
12 turns on. In this case, the minus signal line 222 of the pixel (2, 1) and the pixel (2, 2) is connected to the pixel (1, 1).
And the plus terminal 211 of the pixel (1, 2). Similarly, the minus signal line 223 is connected to the plus signal line 212. In this state, the Y1 address line 241 is set to Hig.
When set to the h level, the pixels (1, 1), (2, 1),
(3, 1) are connected in series, and a signal obtained by adding these three sensor signals appears at the output 14 of the infrared area sensor 13. Since this signal is larger than the signal in the operation mode A, signal amplification becomes unnecessary. Although FIG. 4 shows only three pixels for simplicity of description, in an area sensor in which many pixels are integrated, a large output can be obtained because the number of elements is increased by the number of elements in the column direction.

As described above, the infrared area sensor 13 in which a plurality of pixels capable of detecting the presence of an object are arranged on the array,
A thermal image data creating unit 15 that determines the presence of an object based on the detection result from the infrared area sensor 13 is provided, and the infrared area sensor 13 operates when a plurality of pixels operate in a predetermined order. , Thermal image data creation unit 1
5, an operation mode A in which the first detection result is transmitted to a plurality of pixels, and a plurality of pixels operate simultaneously, and a second detection result that is an added value of the plurality of pixels and is larger than the first detection result is
Since it is possible to switch the operation mode B to be transmitted to the thermal image data creation unit 15, in the operation mode B, a large signal output subjected to the addition processing can be obtained from the detection pixels. Since the operation of the unit can be restricted, it is possible to contribute to power saving. As a result, power consumption can be significantly reduced as compared with the related art.

In the operation mode B, since a plurality of pixels can be connected in series to increase the signal voltage, power can be saved with a simple configuration. Further, since the pixel is a photovoltaic type or a thermoelectromotive type, signal values can be added while the pixels are connected in series.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration to which an object detection device according to an embodiment of the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a table showing an operation mode of the object detection device 11 and an operation state of each unit.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the object detection device 11;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an operation of the infrared area sensor 13 in an operation mode A;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an operation of the infrared area sensor 13 in an operation mode B;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 13 infrared area sensor 15 thermal image data creation unit 17 operation mode control circuit 19 alarm unit 21 power supply circuit 23 signal amplification circuit 25 signal processing circuit 23 data transmission circuit 201 pixel (1, 1) 202 heat or photovoltaic power generator 203 parasitic Internal resistance 204 Address SW 210 Common plus output terminal 220 Common minus output terminal

Claims (3)

[Claims] A detection element group in which a plurality of elements capable of detecting the presence of an object are arranged on an array; and object detection means for determining the presence of the object based on a detection result from the detection element group. In the object detection device, the detection element group includes: a first mode in which a plurality of elements operate in a predetermined order to transmit a first detection result to the object detection unit; And a second mode in which a second detection result, which is an addition value of a plurality of elements and is larger than the first detection result, is transmitted to the object detection means. An object detection device that is a feature. 2. The object detection device according to claim 1, wherein in the second mode, the plurality of elements are connected in series to increase a signal voltage. 3. The object detection device according to claim 2, wherein the element is a photovoltaic type or a thermoelectromotive type.