JP2007022352A - Vehicle safety checking device and vehicle safety checking method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve safety in vehicular traveling by completely prohibiting vehicular traveling, not by just warning when safety is not confirmed. <P>SOLUTION: In an information collecting processing portion 12 in a vehicle safety checking device, a safety standard value indicating the safety of a vehicle, a date of manufacture, and history information of maintenance are stored in a safety information holding table 16 collecting a present value of each item necessary for verifying safety check from each connected equipment 1 to 7. A safety check processing portion 14 verifies safety check about age, a traveling distance, an automobile inspection, a brake, and steering by using information collected by the information collecting processing portion 12 and information held in the safety information holding table 15. As a result of verification, in case that the safety of even one item cannot be confirmed, the fact and a reason thereof are indicated in a display, and vehicular traveling is completely prohibited. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for monitoring the state of a vehicle, and more particularly to confirmation of a vehicle state from the viewpoint of vehicle traveling safety.

  Nowadays, it has become possible to drive a vehicle safely for a long period of time because of the high quality of the vehicle and the easy procurement of repair parts from the market. However, on the other hand, it is a reality that there are some people who do not conduct vehicle inspections or perform illegal modifications. Therefore, it is advantageous if the vehicle can perform safety confirmation before the start of traveling from a safety or legal point of view. Various proposals have been made as techniques for performing travel control according to the state of the vehicle (for example, Patent Documents 1 to 3).

JP 2005-1643 A JP-A-10-181567 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-43016

  However, even if attention is given by a warning or the like, traveling itself can be performed, or items for confirming safety are insufficient, so safety confirmation is not always sufficient.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle safety confirmation device and a vehicle safety confirmation method for improving the safety of vehicle travel.

  In order to achieve the object as described above, the vehicle safety confirmation device according to the present invention is a storage means for storing a safety reference value obtained by quantifying, for each item, a state that the vehicle should maintain in order to drive the vehicle safely. And information collection means that collects the current state information of the vehicle corresponding to each item for which safety standard values are set, and for each item, the current value obtained from the current state information and the safety standard value are compared. And safety confirmation processing means for permitting the vehicle to run only when the current values satisfy the safety standard values for all items.

  In addition, one of the items is any one of an elapsed date and time since manufacture, a travel distance after manufacture, or a brake state.

  The vehicle safety confirmation method according to the present invention is implemented before the start of vehicle travel by an in-vehicle computer, and reads a safety reference value obtained by quantifying the state to be maintained by the vehicle for each item in order to travel the vehicle safely from the storage means. A step of collecting the current state information of the vehicle corresponding to each item for which the safety standard value is set, and for each item, the current value obtained from the current state information and the safety standard value are respectively compared. And allowing the vehicle to travel only when the current value satisfies the safety standard value for all items.

  In addition, one of the items is any of an elapsed date and time since manufacture, a travel distance since manufacture, and a brake state.

  According to the present invention, when the safety cannot be confirmed, the vehicle travel is completely prohibited rather than merely a warning, so that the safety of the vehicle main body can be reliably ensured.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a vehicle safety confirmation device according to the present invention. The vehicle safety confirmation device 10 according to the present embodiment is mounted on a vehicle. The ABS ECU 1, the EPS ECU 2, the engine ECU 3, the authentication system ECU 4, the security system ECU 5, and the navigation system 6 are also mounted on the vehicle. And various memories 7 and communication cables (not shown) are connected to be able to exchange information. Each of the ECUs 1 to 5 is an electronic control device that controls the operation of the braking, steering, engine, authentication system, and security system. The various memories 7 are non-volatile memories mounted in any ECU or other device such as the engine ECU 3, and in the present embodiment, the travel distance since the vehicle was manufactured and the current time measured by the radio clock. Is used. Since the navigation system 6 has a display serving as a user interface, the display screen of the navigation system 6 is used in the present embodiment. Of course, even if the navigation system 6 is not installed, the present embodiment can be implemented, but at that time, it is necessary to prepare display means separately.

  The vehicle safety confirmation device 10 according to the present embodiment includes an information collection processing unit 12, a safety confirmation processing unit 14, and a safety information holding table 16. As will be apparent from the description of the operation described later, in this embodiment, verification for safety confirmation is performed for each item of aging, mileage, vehicle inspection, brakes, and steering state, but the information collection processing unit 12 Each item information necessary for verifying the safety confirmation, for example, the current state values of the brake and steering from the ECUs 1 and 2 for ABS and EPS, the current mileage from various memories 7, etc. The current value is collected from each of the connected devices 1-7. The safety confirmation processing unit 14 verifies the safety confirmation for each of the above items using the information collected by the information collection processing unit 12 and the information held in the safety information holding table 16.

  As shown in FIG. 2, information necessary for safety confirmation processing in the present embodiment that is not stored in the various memories 7 is registered in the safety information holding table 16. In this embodiment, the number of years and mileage for which safety standard values are set, the date of manufacture of the vehicle corresponding to the master information, and history information on maintenance inspections such as vehicle inspections and periodic inspections as history information on safety confirmation, etc. Information necessary for vehicle safety confirmation is retained. The safety reference value in the present embodiment is item data obtained by quantifying the state that the vehicle should maintain in order to travel the vehicle safely. In the present embodiment, the travel distance is less than 200,000 km, If it is within 15 years since then, each upper limit value (200,000 km, 15 years) is set as a safety reference value on the assumption that the vehicle can travel safely. This safety reference value can be set differently depending on the vehicle. In the present embodiment, the safety information holding table 16 is provided for the purpose of holding information that is used for safety confirmation but is not held in the vehicle as existing information. Is converted into electronic data and already held as existing information on the vehicle, it is not necessary to separately hold it in the safety information holding table 16, and the existing information may be used as it is.

  Next, the safety confirmation process implemented in this Embodiment is demonstrated using the flowchart shown in FIG.

  Although the safety confirmation process is started by turning on the ignition key, each of the devices 1 to 6 is activated in the same manner, and executes each functional process such as driver authentication. And the information collection process part 12 collects the information which shows the present state of a vehicle from each apparatus 1-7 connected (step 110). In the present embodiment, as described later, safety confirmation is performed for each item. However, the order in which safety confirmation is performed is not limited to the order of the flow illustrated in FIG. 2 and may be a different order. For example, you may make it the information collection process part 12 process in the order which received information, such as a test result, from each apparatus 1-7. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the information collection processing unit 12 collects information necessary for safety confirmation in a lump.

  In the driver authentication process by the authentication system ECU 4, authentication is performed as to whether the driver is an authorized person, so the safety confirmation processing unit 14 confirms the authentication result by the driver authentication process (step 120). If the driver is an authorized person (step 130), then the safety confirmation processing unit 14 reads the manufacturing date extracted from the safety information holding table 16, the current time extracted from the various memories 7, and Are compared, and the aging is calculated by comparing the aging with the number of years set as the safety reference value in the safety information holding table 16 (step 140). . This is a safety check from the viewpoint of safety, and if it is within 15 years from the date of manufacture, it is determined that the vehicle can still travel safely (step 150). Subsequently, the safety confirmation processing unit 14 compares the total travel distance from the manufacture of the vehicle taken out from the various memories 7 with the travel distance set as the safety reference value in the safety information holding table 16. The travel distance is confirmed (step 160). This is a safety check from a safety point of view, and if it is less than 200,000 km from the date of manufacture, it is determined that the vehicle can still travel safely (step 170).

  In addition, the verification for safety confirmation of the above-mentioned aging and mileage is not only based on the comparison with the safety standard value (upper limit value (200,000 km, 15 years)) corresponding to the life of the vehicle, but also from the last maintenance inspection. By separately setting a safety reference value to be compared with the aging or travel distance, a safety confirmation test in a short span may be performed. As a result, safety can be maintained even when the vehicle use opportunity fluctuates extremely.

  Subsequently, the safety confirmation processing unit 14 refers to the maintenance inspection history information stored in the safety information holding table 16 and the current time, and confirms whether the vehicle inspection is currently valid (step 180). This is a safety check from a legal point of view. If the vehicle inspection is within the validity period, the vehicle is allowed to travel (step 190). Finally, the safety confirmation processing unit 14 refers to the brake and steering inspection results from the ABS and EPS ECUs 1 and 2 to confirm the state of the brake and steering (step 200). This is a safety check from the viewpoint of safety. If no abnormality is detected in both cases, the vehicle is allowed to travel (step 210).

  As described above, if no abnormality is detected for all the inspection items for the vehicle, the safety confirmation processing unit 14 determines that the safety has been confirmed, permits the vehicle to travel, and causes the engine ECU 6 to start the engine. Tell permission. As a result, the engine is started (step 220) and vehicle travel is started.

  On the other hand, when there is even one item that cannot be confirmed in the above-described inspection, the safety confirmation processing unit 14 prohibits the vehicle from traveling because the safety confirmation cannot be performed. As a result, the safety confirmation processing unit 14 displays a message on the screen of the navigation system 6 to prohibit the vehicle from traveling (step 230). At this time, together with the prohibition message, for example, displaying the reason for prohibiting the vehicle traveling such as the travel distance reaching 200,000 km or detecting an abnormality in the brake becomes clear. Therefore, it is suitable for the user. Thereafter, the safety confirmation processing unit 14 turns off the ignition key and completely prohibits vehicle travel (step 240).

  According to the present embodiment, when the safety cannot be confirmed as described above, the vehicle travel is completely prohibited rather than merely being a warning, so that the safety of the vehicle can be reliably ensured.

  In the present embodiment, aging, travel distance, and the like are exemplified as items for safety confirmation, but are not limited to the items described above. For example, the brake and steering are drive system devices, and are important confirmation items for ensuring safe driving, so they are specified as safety confirmation items in the present embodiment, but the states of other devices are also included in the items. You may do it.

It is the block block diagram which showed one Embodiment of the vehicle safety confirmation apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is the figure which showed the structural example of the data registered into the safety information holding table in this Embodiment. It is the flowchart which showed the safety confirmation process in this Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  1 ECU for ABS, 2 ECU for EPS, 3 ECU for engine, 4 ECU for authentication system, 5 ECU for security system, 6 navigation system, 7 various memories, 10 vehicle safety confirmation device, 12 information collection processing unit, 14 safety confirmation Processing unit, 16 safety information holding table.

Claims (4)

Storage means for storing a safety reference value obtained by quantifying, for each item, a state to be maintained by the vehicle in order to drive the vehicle safely;
Information collecting means for collecting vehicle current state information corresponding to each item for which safety standard values are set;
For each item, the current value obtained from the current state information is compared with the safety standard value, and safety confirmation processing means that permits the vehicle to run only when the current value satisfies the safety standard value for all items,
A vehicle safety confirmation device comprising: The vehicle safety confirmation device according to claim 1,
One of the items is any one of an elapsed time since manufacture, a travel distance since manufacture, or a brake state. Carried out by the in-vehicle computer before the vehicle starts running,
A safety standard value obtained by quantifying the state to be maintained by the vehicle for each item in order to drive the vehicle safely from the storage means is read out, and current state information of the vehicle corresponding to each item for which the safety standard value is set is obtained. Collecting steps,
For each item, comparing the current value obtained from the current state information with the safety standard value, and allowing the vehicle to run only when the current value satisfies all the safety standard values;
The vehicle safety confirmation method characterized by including. In the vehicle safety confirmation method according to claim 3,
One of the items is one of an elapsed date and time since manufacture, a travel distance since manufacture, and a brake state.

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