JP2002274328A - Security device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve reliability by precisely detecting a state that a vehicle door is illegally opened and at the same time suppress costs. SOLUTION: When an unlock detection part 8 detects that a vehicle door lock mechanism is unlocked from a vehicle inside in a state where a window glass switch 5 detects the closed state of vehicle window glass with an ignition switch 11 turned off, a door lock switch 6 detects the locked state of the vehicle door lock mechanism, and a seat switch 7 is turned off (a state of no person being in the vehicle), a control device 2 actuates a horn 11 and at the same time forcedly prohibits to start a vehicle engine through an engine start prohibition part 12, and performs alarming action such as transmitting an alarm signal including vehicle present position information to a vehicle holder through a telephone device 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a security device for a vehicle, which is useful for improving security against theft of valuables placed inside the vehicle and against theft of the vehicle itself.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a vehicle, various measures have been considered to cope with vandalism on the vehicle, for example, to cope with an illegal act of breaking a window glass and releasing a vehicle door lock mechanism. In order to provide a security device for a vehicle, a shock sensor for detecting a shock applied to a window glass or a break in the window glass is provided, and an alarm signal is generated using a detection output of the shock sensor. I have.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional security device for a vehicle, an alarm signal is output even when an impact irrelevant to the above-mentioned illegal act is applied to the window glass, so that a malfunction occurs. Since the possibility is relatively high, it is difficult to sufficiently increase the reliability. Also, since it is necessary to attach an impact sensor to the movable window glass, various measures are required for the attachment structure and the structure for extracting the detection output. As a result, there is also a problem that the cost is increased.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has been made in view of the fact that the door lock mechanism cannot be unlocked from the inside of the vehicle when nobody is inside the vehicle. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle security device capable of accurately detecting a state in which a vehicle door is illegally opened, improving reliability and reducing costs.

[0005]

To achieve the above object, the means described in claim 1 can be adopted. According to this means, for example, when the vehicle driver (and other passengers) leaves the parked vehicle, the vehicle window glass is closed and the vehicle door lock mechanism is locked to cope with theft. When this happens, the closing detecting means and the locking detecting means come to the detection state, and the state where there is no person in the vehicle is detected by the person detecting means. In such a state, when the vehicle door lock mechanism is unlocked from the inside of the vehicle, that is, in a state that is originally impossible, for example, a third party breaks the vehicle window glass and When a state in which the door lock mechanism is considered to be unlocked from the inside of the vehicle occurs, the control means outputs an alarm signal in response to the inversion of the unlock detection means to the detection state. As a result, it is possible to accurately judge that there has been an illegal act on the parked vehicle based on the warning signal, so that it is possible to take various measures against the illegal act, and thereby the vehicle is vandalized And the security against theft of the vehicle itself is improved.

In this case, since there is little possibility that a fluctuation factor corresponding to a state outside the vehicle is mixed in each output from the close detecting means, the lock detecting means, the human detecting means and the unlock detecting means, the outputs are not changed. Based on this, it is possible to accurately detect a state where the vehicle door is illegally opened by a third party, and the reliability of the alarm signal is improved.
Further, since it is not necessary to attach a sensor to the movable part as in the conventional configuration, it is possible to suppress a rise in cost due to an increase in the scale of the apparatus. In addition, the closing detection means, the lock detection means, the human detection means, and the unlock detection means, which are the components required for outputting the alarm signal, are those originally provided in the vehicle or those which can be added at a relatively low cost. And the function of the control means can be obtained by using a microcomputer (e.g., a computer for ECU) originally mounted on a general vehicle, so that existing hardware resources can be effectively used, As a result, the cost can be further reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the alarm signal is output, the voice output means performs an emergency call operation by voice. A direct warning can be given to abandon the continuation of the tort, resulting in minimizing theft damage.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the warning signal is output, the opening prohibiting means forcibly prohibits the opening of the vehicular trunk lid, and the vehicle has a trunk through function. In this case, the trunk through function is forcibly invalidated, so that at least articles in the trunk can be effectively prevented from being stolen.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 schematically shows a configuration of a vehicle security device according to the present embodiment and a portion related thereto according to a combination of functional blocks. In FIG. 1, a vehicle 1 is equipped with a control device 2 (corresponding to control means in the present invention) to which power is supplied from a vehicle-mounted battery (not shown).
Are connected to the following means.

The telephone device 3 having the antenna 3a is constituted by, for example, an automobile telephone, and has a vehicle owner,
Alternatively, an alarm signal can be transmitted to a security company or a police station contracted with the owner. The GPS receiver 4 provided with the antenna 4a is provided for acquiring information indicating the current position of the vehicle from GPS satellites and providing the information to the control device 2. Note that it is realistic that the GPS receiver 4 is configured using a GPS receiver for a car navigation device.

The window glass switch 5 (corresponding to a closing detecting means) is provided, for example, on a weather strip corresponding to the upper edge of each vehicle window glass (not shown).
When the corresponding windowpane is closed, the windowpane is pressed and turned on, generates a closing detection signal in response to the turning on, and gives it to the control device 2. The door lock switch 6 (corresponding to a lock detection unit) is configured to generate a lock detection signal when the vehicle door lock mechanism (not shown) is in a locked state and to provide the lock detection signal to the control device 2. The seat switch 7 (corresponding to a person detecting unit) is configured to be turned on when a person is sitting on the vehicle seat, and to provide an ON signal to the control device 2. The seat switch 7 is desirably provided on all seats in the vehicle, but may be provided at least on the driver seat.

An unlock detecting section 8 (corresponding to an unlock detecting means) generates an unlock detecting signal when the vehicle door lock mechanism (not shown) is unlocked from the inside of the vehicle, and supplies the unlock detecting signal to the control device 2. It has a configuration.
The unlock detection unit 8 can be realized by, for example, a switch that detects the movement of an operation knob provided for locking and unlocking the vehicle door lock function inside the vehicle.

The trunk lid opening prohibiting section 9 (corresponding to opening prohibiting means) exhibits a state in which the opening of the vehicular trunk lid (not shown) is forcibly prohibited in its operating state. The operation is controlled. In this operation state, the trunk lid opening prohibition unit 9 forcibly prohibits the unlock operation by the key of the trunk lid lock mechanism.
A configuration in which the operation of opening the trunk lid by the operation lever provided on the driver's seat side is also forcibly prohibited (for example, a configuration including a mechanism for causing the operation of the operation lever to idle in the operating state).
It has become. When the vehicle is provided with a trunk through function, the trunk lid opening prohibition portion 9 is provided.
Has a configuration in which the trunk-through function is forcibly disabled (for example, a configuration in which the operation of a knob for tilting the rear seat back forward) is disabled.

The speaker 10 (corresponding to audio output means)
It is provided for outputting various sounds, and a speaker for an audio device can actually be used. The horn 11 (corresponding to a sound output means) is originally provided in a vehicle as a device corresponding to the security standards of a road transport vehicle. The engine start prohibition unit 12 is provided to forcibly prohibit the start of the vehicle engine in response to a command from the control device 2.
This can be realized by a circuit that gives a command to U to prohibit engine start, or a mechanism that forcibly prohibits operation of the ignition key.

The control device 2 operates based on the GPS receiver 4, the window glass switch 5, the door lock switch 6, the seat switch 7, the outputs from the unlock detecting section 8, and the pre-stored program and the telephone device. 3. The operation control of the trunk lid opening prohibiting section 9, the speaker 10, the horn 11, and the engine start prohibiting section 12 is performed. Hereinafter, the control contents and related actions will be described based on the flowchart of FIG. explain.

That is, the control program shown in FIG. 2 is configured to be started when, for example, an ignition switch (not shown) of the vehicle is turned off.
It is determined whether or not the vehicle door lock mechanism is locked based on a lock detection signal from the door lock switch 6 (step A1). If the door is not locked, the process stands by. On the other hand, when the vehicle door lock mechanism is locked, it is determined whether or not the window glass is in a closed state based on a closing detection signal from the window glass switch 5 (step A2). When the windowpane is not closed, the process returns to step A1 after executing step A3 of outputting a warning message indicating that the windowpane is opened by an audio signal through the speaker 10.

On the other hand, when the window glass is closed, it is determined whether or not a person is present in the vehicle based on an ON signal from the seat switch 7 (step A4). Then, if there is a person in the vehicle, the process returns to step A1, but if not, the process shifts to the monitoring mode (step A5). In the state where the mode is shifted to the monitoring mode as described above, a state where the presence or absence of the door lock signal from the door lock switch 6 (that is, whether or not the vehicle door lock mechanism is unlocked) is monitored. still,
When the mode is shifted to the monitoring mode in this manner, for example, by flashing an indicator (for example, a light emitting diode) for notifying the outside that the monitoring mode is working, the vehicle user is notified and the vehicle is controlled by a third party. It is good also as a structure which performs a check against wrongdoing.

After shifting to the monitoring mode, the system waits until the vehicle door lock mechanism is unlocked, that is, until the door lock signal from the door lock switch 6 disappears (step A6). Then, it is determined whether or not the unlocking has been performed by an operation from the inside of the vehicle based on the unlock detection signal from the unlock detecting section 8 (step A7).

If "NO" in the step A7, that is, if the vehicle door lock mechanism is unlocked by a normal operation, the monitoring mode is released in a step A8.
And then return. On the other hand, if "YES" in the step A7, that is, if the vehicle door lock mechanism is locked and the window glass is closed and there is no person in the vehicle, the vehicle door lock mechanism When unlocked from the inner side, that is, when a state which cannot be realized originally occurs, the process proceeds to the alarm processing routine A9.

In the alarm processing routine A9, an alarm signal is generated. Based on the alarm signal, for example, a control for making an emergency call such as intermittently operating the horn 11, for example, stopping the operation of the horn 11 During the period, a control for making an emergency call to output a check sound (for example, a voice such as “I just reported to the police”) from the speaker 10, and the trunk lid opening prohibition section 9 is operated to open the trunk lid. (Forcibly disable the trunk-through function if the function is provided), obtain the current position information of the vehicle through the GPS receiver 4, and display the current position information. Control to transmit the alarm signal including the information to the vehicle owner or a security company or police station contracted with the owner through the telephone device 3; It has a configuration for controlling, to forcibly prohibit the starting of the vehicle engine through the locking portion 12.

In short, according to the configuration of the present embodiment, the following operations and effects can be obtained. That is,
When the vehicle driver (and other passengers) leaves the parked vehicle, the vehicle window glass is closed and the vehicle door lock mechanism is locked to prevent theft. In response, the window switch 5 outputs a close detection signal and the door lock switch 6 outputs a lock detection signal. Also, at this time, the output of the ON signal from the seat switch 7 is stopped because there are no more people in the vehicle. The control device 2 shifts to the monitoring mode when the output of the ON signal is stopped in a state where the close detection signal and the lock detection signal are output.

In the monitoring mode, when the output of the lock detection signal from the door lock switch 6 is stopped and the output of the unlock detection signal is output from the unlock detection section 8, the control device 2 controls the vehicle door. It is determined that the lock mechanism has been unlocked from the inside of the vehicle. The state of being unlocked from the inside of the vehicle in this way is a state that cannot be originally realized. For example, a third party breaks the window glass for the vehicle and unlocks the door lock mechanism for the vehicle from the inside of the vehicle. This is equivalent to a state considered to have occurred, and when such a state occurs, the control device 2
Will output an alarm signal. As a result, it is possible to accurately judge that there has been an illegal act on the parked vehicle based on the warning signal, and to operate the horn 11 or forcibly start the vehicle engine based on the warning signal. An alarm processing operation including various countermeasures such as prohibition is performed. As a result, the security against vandalism and theft of the vehicle itself is improved.

In this case, the window glass switch 5, the door lock switch 6, the seat switch 7, and the unlock detecting section 8
Since the possibility of fluctuation factors depending on the condition outside the vehicle is reduced in each output from, the state where the vehicle door has been illegally opened by a third party is accurately detected based on those outputs. As a result, the reliability of the alarm signal is improved. In addition, since it is not necessary to attach a sensor to the movable part unlike the conventional configuration, it is possible to suppress a rise in cost due to an increase in the scale of the apparatus. Moreover,
The window glass switch 5, the door lock switch 6, the seat switch 7, and the unlock detection unit 8, which are the components required for outputting the alarm signal, are originally provided in the vehicle or can be added at a relatively low cost. Of
Since the function of the control device 2 can also be obtained by using a microcomputer (for example, a computer for ECU) originally mounted on a general vehicle, existing hardware resources can be effectively used, thereby reducing costs. Can be further suppressed.

When the alarm signal is output, the horn 1
Since the emergency call operation is performed by voice through the speaker 1 or the speaker 10, a warning can be directly given to a third party who has performed the above-mentioned illegal act on the vehicle, and the illegal act can be continued. Can be abandoned, and as a result, theft damage can be minimized.

When the alarm signal is output, the trunk lid opening prohibiting section 9 forcibly prohibits the opening of the vehicular trunk lid. Since the function is also forcibly disabled, it is possible to effectively prevent at least a situation in which an article in the trunk is stolen.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be modified or expanded as follows. "Vehicle window glass" as used in the present invention is described as a general name indicating its function, and therefore is not limited to glass, but also includes reinforced plastic. The sheet switch 7 is used as the human detecting means.
However, not limited thereto, an ultrasonic sensor, an infrared sensor, or the like can be used. Instead of the unlock detection unit 8, for example, an unlock of the vehicle door lock mechanism (which can be detected based on the disappearance of the lock detection signal from the door lock switch 6) is performed by a keyless entry system or a vehicle key other than the key. It is also possible to provide unlock detection means configured to output an unlock detection signal when the detection is performed by the means. The telephone device 3, the GPS receiver 4, the engine start prohibition unit 12, and the like may be provided as needed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing an entire configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing control contents of a control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 is a vehicle, 2 is a control device (control means), 3 is a telephone device,
4 is a vehicle-mounted GPS receiver, 5 is a window glass switch (close detection means), 6 is a door lock switch (lock detection means), 7 is a seat switch (human detection means), and 8 is an unlock detection section (unlock detection means). ), 9 denotes a trunk lid opening prohibiting section (opening prohibiting means), 10 denotes a speaker (audio output means), 11 denotes a horn (audio output means), and 12 denotes an engine start prohibiting section.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A closed state detecting means for detecting a closed state of a window glass for a vehicle, a lock detecting means for detecting a locked state of a door lock mechanism for a vehicle, and a person detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of a person present in a vehicle. Unlock detection means for detecting that the vehicle door lock mechanism is unlocked from the inside of the vehicle, the closure detection means and the lock detection means exhibit a detection state, and the person detection means detects a person. Control means for outputting an alarm signal when the unlock detecting means reverses to a detecting state from a non-active state. 2. The vehicle security device according to claim 1, further comprising voice output means for performing an emergency call operation by voice when said warning signal is output. 3. When the warning signal is output, the opening of the vehicle trunk lid is forcibly prohibited, and if the vehicle has a trunk through function, the trunk through function is also forcibly disabled. 2. The vehicle security device according to claim 1, further comprising an opening prohibition unit that changes the state of the vehicle.