JP2007249477A - Onboard information transmission device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an onboard information transmission device for certainly transmitting information to a driver. <P>SOLUTION: The onboard information transmission device is characterized by comprising: a notification means for notifying a crew of information; a transmission completion determination means for determining whether or not the information is transmitted to the crew; and a notification control means for notifying the crew of the information by an alternative notification means when it is determined that the information has not been transmitted to the crew. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an on-vehicle information transmission device that is attached to a vehicle and transmits various types of information.

  The vehicle is equipped with a display device such as a display to convey information to the driver. Among the information to be conveyed to the driver, important information that should be surely communicated to the driver and other things that do not necessarily need to be surely communicated to the driver There is information. Information that should be surely communicated to the driver is information that affects driving, such as vehicle failure information and approach information of nearby obstacles. Other information that is not so important is the guidance of the navigation device. Information, traffic information, news, etc. Information that only needs to be confirmed when the driver is needed.

  In view of this, a vehicle display device and its display method have been devised that improve the recognition by displaying highly important vehicle information with different brightness from other information (see Patent Document 1). In addition, a map display device has been devised that displays information that the user wants to know on the lower front side of the map (see Patent Document 2).

JP 2005-41355 A Japanese Patent No. 3620918

  In the examples of Patent Documents 1 and 2, when a display device such as a display breaks down, there is no means for transmitting information to the driver. However, a method for switching to other means to transmit information is not studied. In addition, no countermeasure is taken into account when information cannot be recognized due to some kind of failure in the driver.

  With the above problem as a background, an object of the present invention is to provide an in-vehicle information transmission device that reliably transmits information to a driver.

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention

  An in-vehicle information transmission device for solving the above-described problem is a notification means for notifying an occupant of information, a transmission completion determination means for determining whether information has been transmitted to the occupant, and a determination that information has not been transmitted to the occupant. A notification control means for notifying the information by an alternative notification means.

  With the above configuration, the information can be reliably transmitted to the occupant including the driver, and the information is notified by the alternative notification means only when the information cannot be transmitted to the occupant. Never feel annoying.

  In addition, the in-vehicle information transmission device of the present invention includes importance setting means for setting the importance of the information according to the content of the information, and importance determination for determining whether the information is important information based on the importance. And the notification control means can be configured to notify the information by the alternative notification means when it is determined that the information is important information.

  With the above configuration, only the important information that should be surely transmitted to the occupant including the driver is notified by the alternative notification means. Therefore, the important information is notified reliably and unnecessary information is notified and the occupant does not feel bothered.

  The in-vehicle information transmission device of the present invention further includes an operation detection unit that detects an operation on the in-vehicle information notification device, and the transmission completion determination unit determines that the information is transmitted to the occupant when a predetermined operation is detected. It can also be configured to.

  With the above configuration, it is possible to reliably determine that the information has been notified by performing an operation to the effect that the information has been transmitted.

  The on-vehicle information transmission device of the present invention includes a failure detection unit that detects a failure of the notification unit, and the notification control unit is configured to notify the information by the alternative notification unit when a failure of the notification unit is detected. You can also

  With the conventional technology that changes the display brightness depending on the importance of information, it is impossible to transmit all information if the display device serving as a notification means fails. It is also possible to convey information to the driver by the alternative notification means.

  In addition, the in-vehicle information transmission device according to the present invention includes an out-of-vehicle notification means for notifying a third party outside the vehicle of the information when it is determined that the information has not been transmitted to the occupant by the alternative notification means. It can also be configured.

  Depending on the content of the information, it may be desirable to notify the passenger from outside the vehicle. With the above configuration, it is possible to convey information to a third party outside the vehicle without passing through the passenger.

  The on-vehicle information transmission device of the present invention includes physical condition detection means for detecting the physical condition of the occupant, and when it is determined that the information has not been transmitted to the occupant by the alternative notification means, the physical condition detection means indicates the physical condition of the occupant. If it is detected and it is determined that there is an abnormality in the physical condition of the occupant, it may be configured to include an outside notification means for notifying a third party outside the vehicle of the information.

  If it is determined by the above configuration that there is an abnormality in the physical condition of the occupant, that is, if it is determined that important information has not been transmitted to the occupant, the person who should convey that information (for example, a third party outside the vehicle) ).

  Further, the physical condition detection means in the in-vehicle information transmission device of the present invention includes a camera for photographing the driver, a skin temperature sensor for detecting the skin temperature of the driver, a skin potential sensor for detecting the skin potential of the driver, and the driver's skin temperature sensor. It can also comprise so that the detector which consists of 1 type, or 2 or more types of combinations chosen from the audio | voice sensor which detects an audio | voice may be included.

  The above sensors are well known and widely used, and since they are small and light, they can be easily installed in a vehicle near the driver's seat. With the above configuration, it is possible to reliably detect the physical condition of the driver with an inexpensive configuration.

  Moreover, the vehicle-mounted information transmission device of the present invention can also be configured to include storage means for storing the determination result of the transmission completion determination means or the detected physical condition of the occupant.

  With the above-described configuration, it is possible to analyze what has failed to be transmitted to the occupant later, and to determine which means to use for notification.

  The purpose of providing an in-vehicle information transmission device that reliably conveys information to the driver with a simple configuration is to notify the information by the alternative notification means when it is determined that the information has not been transmitted to the occupant by the normal notification means. Realized by the configuration.

  Embodiments of an in-vehicle information transmission apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the in-vehicle information transmission device 1. The in-vehicle information transmission apparatus 1 includes an operation switch group 2, a failure detection unit 3, a physical condition detection unit 4, a memory 9, a display 10, a transmitter / receiver 13, a voice synthesis circuit 24, a speaker 15, a vehicle speed sensor 23, a vibrator 25, and a LAN. (Local Area Network) An I / F (interface) 26, a camera 28, a vehicle outside alarm device 29, a voice recognition unit 30, a microphone 31, a display device 32, a control circuit 8 connected to these, and the like are provided.

  As the operation switch group 2, for example, touch panels 22 and 33 integrated with the display units 10 and 32 or mechanical switches are used. The touch panels 22 and 33 are configured such that an electric circuit is wired in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction through a gap called a spacer on a glass substrate and a transparent film on the screens of the display units 10 and 32, and the user touches the film. Since the pressed portion of the wiring is short-circuited to change the voltage value, a so-called resistive film method is widely used in which this is detected as a two-dimensional coordinate value (X, Y). In addition, a so-called capacitance method may be used. In addition to the mechanical switch, a pointing device such as a mouse or a cursor may be used. Moreover, you may arrange | position the mechanical switch of the operation switch group 2 in the escutcheon which covers the indicator | displays 10 and 32 and its periphery, and becomes a design frame (refer FIG. 2).

  It is also possible to input various instructions using the microphone 31 and the voice recognition unit 30. In this method, a voice signal input from the microphone 31 is processed by a voice recognition technique such as a well-known hidden Markov model in the voice recognition unit 30, and converted into an operation command corresponding to the result. Various instructions can be input through the operation switch group 2, the touch panels 22 and 33, and the microphone 31. The operation switch group 2, the touch panels 22, 33, and the microphone 31 correspond to the operation detection unit of the present invention.

  The failure detection unit 3 includes at least one sensor that monitors the state of each unit of the vehicle 101 (see FIG. 2) and detects that an operation other than a predetermined operation has occurred. As sensors, sensors that detect driving performance such as vehicle speed (discussed later), brake fluid pressure, brake pedal position, etc., sensors that detect engine driving performance such as engine speed, accelerator opening, intake air volume, intake negative pressure , Sensors that detect exhaust gas purification performance such as intake air temperature, air-fuel ratio, cooling water temperature, actuator temperature, etc., sensors that detect drive performance of the drive system excluding the engine, such as line pressure, oil temperature, and turbine speed, There are sensors that detect circuit temperature, battery temperature, battery current, and the like.

The physical condition detection unit 4 uses at least one of the following sensors. The physical condition detection unit 4 corresponds to the physical condition detection means of the present invention.
(1) Skin temperature sensor 4a: It is attached mainly to the grip portion of the steering handle 36 such as 35a and 35b in FIG. 2, and detects the skin temperature of the driver and outputs it to the control circuit 8. Alternatively, a wristband type sensor wound around the wrist of the driver may be used. Moreover, you may use the apparatus which measures the surface temperature of an object from the reflection state of the infrared rays irradiated to the object like a thermo tracer.
(2) Skin potential sensor 4b: The skin potential sensor 4b is attached mainly to the grip portion of the steering handle 36 such as 35a and 35b in FIG. Alternatively, a wristband type sensor wound around the wrist of the driver may be used. It is known that the skin potential is lower during sleep than during awakening. Thereby, it can also be determined whether it is a sleep state.
(3) Voice sensor 4c: The voice of the driver input from the microphone 31 is extracted by the voice recognition unit 30 and stored in the memory 9 as reference data in advance. The driver is prompted to utter at a predetermined timing, and when the difference between the voice and the reference data exceeds a predetermined range, it is determined that the driver's physical condition is abnormal.

  In addition to the above sensor, a perspiration sensor that detects the degree of perspiration, a heart rate sensor that detects a heart rate, a pulse wave sensor that detects a pulse wave, and the like may be used.

  Further, the physical condition may be detected from the image of the driver photographed by the camera 28. For example, the physical condition of the driver can be detected by comparing with the reference data stored in advance in the memory 9 or the like from the movement of the driver's line of sight or the inclination of the head.

  The transceiver 13 includes a known wireless communication device and an antenna, and performs communication with a wireless communication facility outside the vehicle. For example, traffic information, weather information, etc. are received from a VICS (Vehicle Information and Communication System) center (not shown).

  The control circuit 8 is configured as an ordinary computer, and includes a well-known CPU 81, ROM 82, RAM 83, I / O 84 which is an input / output circuit, A / D conversion unit 86, drawing unit 87, image processing unit 88, switching unit 89, and A bus line 85 for connecting these components is provided. The CPU 81 performs control using the control program 82P and data stored in the ROM 82. The control circuit 8 corresponds to the transmission completion determination means, notification control means, importance level setting means, and importance level determination means of the present invention.

  The A / D conversion unit 86 includes a well-known A / D (analog / digital) conversion circuit, and converts analog data input to the control circuit 8 from the physical condition detection unit 4 into digital data that can be calculated by the CPU 81, for example. It is.

  The drawing unit 87 generates display screen data to be displayed on the display units 10 and 32 from display data or display color data stored in the ROM 82 or the memory 9.

  The image processing unit 88 includes an image processing circuit that analyzes an image captured by the camera 28 by a known technique such as pattern recognition.

  The switching unit 89 switches information notifying means such as the display units 10 and 32, selects the notifying means according to a command from the CPU 81, and sends information to be notified to the selected notifying means.

  The memory 9 is composed of a rewritable storage medium such as an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable & Programmable Read Only Memory) or a flash memory, and information necessary for the operation of the in-vehicle information transmission device 1 And data is stored. The memory 9 holds the stored contents even when the in-vehicle information transmission device 1 is turned off. Further, a hard disk device may be used as the memory 9. The memory 9 corresponds to the storage means of the present invention.

  The displays 10 and 32 are constituted by known color liquid crystal displays, and include a dot matrix LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and drive circuits 11 and 34 for performing LCD display control. The drive circuits 11 and 34 use, for example, an active matrix drive system in which a transistor is attached to each pixel so that the target pixel can be reliably turned on and off, and display commands and display screens sent from the control circuit 8 are used. Display based on data. Note that an organic EL (ElectroLuminescence) display or a plasma display may be used as the displays 10 and 32. The display 10 corresponds to the notification means of the present invention, and the display 32 corresponds to the alternative notification means of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows an installation example of the display units 10 and 32.

  The drive circuits 11 and 34 include a failure detection circuit. This failure detection circuit displays status information including whether the pixel is turned on / off, whether the backlight is lit at a predetermined luminance, or whether other display devices are operating normally. The status information is generated and sent to the control circuit 8. The drive circuits 11 and 34 correspond to the failure detection means of the present invention.

  The speaker 15 is connected to a known voice synthesis circuit 24, and the digital voice data stored in the memory 9 or the ROM 82 is converted into analog voice by the voice synthesis circuit 24 in accordance with a command of the control program 82P. Note that speech synthesis methods include a recording / editing method in which speech waveforms are stored as they are or after being encoded and connected as necessary, and a text synthesis method in which corresponding speech is synthesized from character input information. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the speaker 15 is installed inside the door of the vehicle 101.

  The vehicle speed sensor 23 includes a rotation detection unit such as a known rotary encoder. For example, the vehicle speed sensor 23 is installed in the vicinity of the wheel mounting unit to detect the rotation of the wheel and send it to the control circuit 8 as a pulse signal. In the control circuit 8, the rotation speed of the wheel is converted into the speed of the vehicle 101.

  Vibrator 25 has the same configuration as that included in a known mobile phone and notifies an incoming call, and includes a motor and its drive circuit, and is built in, for example, seat 37 (see FIG. 2).

  The LAN I / F 26 is an interface circuit for exchanging data with other in-vehicle devices and sensors via the in-vehicle LAN 27. In addition, data acquisition from the failure detection unit 3, the physical condition detection unit 4, or the vehicle speed sensor 23 may be performed via the LAN I / F 26.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the camera 28 includes, for example, an infrared projection area imaging camera 28a and an infrared projection lamp 28b. Infrared light is projected onto the head face of the driver by the infrared projection lamp 28b, and the reflected light is photographed by the infrared projection area imaging camera 28a. The camera 28 is provided, for example, on a column cover of a steering wheel as shown in FIG. Further, the installation location of the camera 28 is not particularly limited as long as the driver's head and face such as the interior of the rearview mirror, the ceiling, and the upper part of the instrument panel can be photographed. Alternatively, a method of photographing with natural light without using infrared light may be used. The camera 28 corresponds to the operation detection means of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the outside alarm device 29 is installed, for example, in the rear part of the vehicle 101 and is configured as an LCD display or LED display such as the display 10 or 32. Moreover, it is good also as a structure which reports to the exterior including the mobile telephone device which is not illustrated. Further, a lighting device such as the room lamp 103 or the tail lamp 102 of the vehicle 101, a hazard lamp (not shown), or the like may be used as an outside alarm. Moreover, you may report to the exterior using the transmitter / receiver 13. FIG. In addition, the vehicle outside notification device 29 corresponds to the vehicle outside notification means of the present invention.

  By having such a configuration, when the control program 82P is activated by the CPU 81 of the control circuit 8, the in-vehicle information transmission device 1 notifies the vehicle based on information from various sensors as shown in FIG. It generates information, determines whether the information is to be transmitted in the information determination unit 110, selects a target device to be notified in the transmission device switching unit 113 according to the determination result, and transmits information to the vehicle occupant. Make a transmission. Then, the information completion determination unit 111 determines whether or not the information transmission is completed, and selects a target device to be notified by the transmission device switching unit 113 according to the determination result (different from the above-mentioned transmission time). Information is transmitted again, or the driver condition determination unit 112 determines the physical condition of the driver, and the transmission device switching unit 113 selects the target device to be notified according to the physical condition and transmits the information. Do something. Note that the information determination unit 110, the information completion determination unit 111, the driver state determination unit 112, and the transmission device switching unit 113 correspond to processes performed by the control program 82P.

  The information transmission process of the present invention will be described using the flowchart of FIG. This process is included in the control program 82P and is repeatedly executed together with other processes. First, for example, traffic information is received by the transceiver 13. Also, information on various sensors is acquired from the failure detection unit 3. In addition, information on other in-vehicle devices is acquired via the in-vehicle LAN 27. Then, it is checked whether there is information to be transmitted to the driver from the acquired information (S1).

  Whether the information is to be transmitted to the driver is determined by the importance of the information. FIG. 6 shows an example of classification of information importance. Information that needs to be dealt with urgently, such as a failure that hinders the traveling of the vehicle 101, such as an engine control system or a traveling control system, is classified as an importance level A, and audio equipment that does not directly affect the traveling of the vehicle 101 Are classified into importance B, and traffic information and weather information that can be repeatedly acquired are classified into importance C. Here, it is assumed that the information to be surely transmitted is information classified into the importance level A. It should be noted that information to be surely transmitted may be settable by a user (driver). The setting contents are stored in a predetermined area of the memory 9.

  Each information includes an index corresponding to the importance at the head of the data, for example, importance A is 00, importance B is 01, importance C is 10 (both are binary numbers). . By reading this index, it can be determined whether or not the information is to be transmitted reliably. Also, when setting information to be transmitted reliably, an index value is set. In the above-described example, information that is less than or equal to the set index value is information to be transmitted reliably. That is, in the example of FIG. 6, the set value is “00”.

  When the acquired information is not information to be surely transmitted (the information is not included in the importance level A) (S2: No), the information is notified by the display 10 or the speaker 15 (S12). Thereafter, the process ends without determining whether the information has been transmitted to the driver.

  On the other hand, when the acquired information is information to be surely transmitted (the information is included in the importance level A) (S2: Yes), the information is displayed by the display 10 which is a default notification means (S3). .

  When it is determined that the driver has performed an input operation using any one of the operation switch group 2, the touch panel 22, and the microphone 31 and has recognized the information displayed on the display device 10 (S4: Yes), this process is terminated. In the example of FIG. 7, a “confirmation” button is displayed on the screen of the display 10 together with information, and when the “confirmation” button is pressed, it is determined that the driver has recognized the information.

  Alternatively, a method may be used in which the driver's eyes are photographed by the camera 28 and the driver recognizes the information based on the driver's gaze point. Hereinafter, an example of a driver's visual action detection process will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration for visual recognition behavior detection. As shown in FIG. 8, an infrared transmission filter 28c is provided in the light projection part of the infrared light projection lamp 28b constituting the camera 28 and the light receiving part of the infrared light projection area imaging camera 28a. The processing unit 88 performs a general binarization process and a feature point extraction process in the image processing module 88a based on the video signal output from the infrared projection area imaging camera 28a, so that the head and face part of the driver. The gaze point detection module 88b detects the head face direction Dh and the gaze direction Ds in order to calculate the driver's gaze point P based on the extracted head face image.

  Next, specific functions of the image processing unit 88 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the gazing point detection process in the present embodiment, and represents functions realized by the image processing module 88a and the gazing point detection module 88b. These modules are included in an image processing program executed by a well-known microcomputer (not shown) included in the image processing unit 88.

  First, the infrared projection lamp 28b projects light onto the driver's head and face, and the analog video signal of the head and face captured by the infrared projection area imaging camera 28a is taken into the image processing module 88a and the image is displayed. The signal is converted into digital multi-value image data for each pixel by performing a general binarization process (S21).

  First, a driver's face image part is extracted from the obtained multi-valued image data using a general image processing method, and a plurality of feature points (for example, the eyes, the corners of the eyes, the nostrils, etc.) included in the extracted face image part are extracted. ) Position is detected (S22). Next, the position of the reflection point and the position of the pupil generated in the cornea of the driver's eyeball by the projection of the infrared projection lamp 28b are detected from the extracted image data of the face image portion (S23).

  Then, by calculating the inclination of the driver's head and face in a predetermined three-dimensional coordinate space based on the position of the detected feature point, the head and face direction Dh, which is the direction in which the driver's head and face is directed, is measured. (S24). Further, based on the detected corneal reflection point, pupil position, and head-face direction Dh, a gaze direction Ds that is the direction of the driver's line of sight is detected (S25).

  By determining whether or not the detected gaze direction Ds corresponds to a predetermined position such as the display 10 or 32 stored in advance in the memory 16 or the like as coordinates in the predetermined three-dimensional coordinate space, P is detected, and when the detected gazing point P is, for example, the display 10, the information is output to the control circuit 8 (S26).

  When the driver's gazing point P is the display device 10, the control circuit 8 determines that the driver has recognized the information displayed on the display device 10.

  Returning to FIG. 5, if it is not determined that the driver has recognized the information within a predetermined time such as 10 seconds after the information is displayed on the display 10, the “confirm” button is displayed in the example of FIG. 7. If not pressed (S4: No), the information is displayed on the display 10 a predetermined number of times, for example, three times at a predetermined time interval such as 1 minute (S5: Yes → S3).

  If it is not determined that the driver has recognized the information even though the information has been displayed a predetermined number of times (S5: No), the information is displayed on the display 32 as an alternative notification means (S6). Since the information is also displayed on the display 32 as shown in FIG. 7, when the “confirm” button is pressed, or the driver recognizes the information by gazing at the display 32 from the image taken by the camera 28. Is determined (S7: Yes), this processing is terminated.

  On the other hand, when the driver does not recognize the information displayed on the display device 32 (S7: No), as described above, the predetermined number of times, for example, three times at a predetermined time interval such as one minute. Information is displayed on the display 32 (S8: Yes → S6).

  If it is not determined that the driver has recognized the information even though the information is displayed a predetermined number of times on the display 32 (S8: No), the physical condition of the driver is detected by the physical condition detector 4 (S9). . When at least one of the driver's skin temperature, skin potential, and voice state detected by the physical condition detector 4 is outside the normal value range of the driver stored in a predetermined area of the memory 9 (S10: Yes) determines that an abnormality has occurred in the driver, and notifies the third party outside the vehicle by using the above-mentioned vehicle outside alarm device 29 that the information to be notified to the driver and the physical condition of the driver are abnormal (S11).

  When displaying information on the display 32, the vibrator 25 may be operated to inform the driver that the information is displayed by vibration.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the notification order of notification means used when displaying information is stored in the memory 9. In the example of FIG. 10, the display device 10 is the default notification means at the first notification rank. When the outside alarm device 29 includes a plurality of devices, a notification order is determined for each device. The display 10 or the display 32 and the speaker 15 or the vibrator 25 may be used in combination. In addition, it is good also as a structure which a driver | operator selects an alerting | reporting means and determines alerting | reporting order. At the time of notification, the notification order is referred to, and notification is performed in the order of higher notification order (smaller numerical value).

  In the example of FIG. 5, only the information on the importance level A is notified up to the notification by the outside alarm device 29, but the information on the importance level B may be notified by an alternative notification means (display device 32).

  Further, when the driver does not recognize the information notified by the display device 10 (S5: No), the processing may be terminated after the notification by the alternative notification means (display device 32) (S6 → end). ). Moreover, it is good also as a structure which complete | finishes this process, when a driver does not recognize the information alert | reported by the indicator 32 (S8: No).

  Further, the state of each notification means such as the indicators 10 and 32 or the vehicle outside notification device 29 and the physical condition of the driver may be stored in the memory 9. An example is shown in FIG. For example, first, when the vehicle-mounted information transmission device 1 is started, the above-described status information in each notification means is acquired to determine whether it is normal, the state of the physical condition detector 4 is detected to detect the physical condition of the driver, Memorize these results. While the in-vehicle information transmission device 1 is in operation, the state of each notification means and the physical condition of the driver are stored at a predetermined period or when the information to be notified is acquired. The stored contents may include date and time information when the state of each notification means and the physical condition of the driver are stored.

  And when notifying the information acquired according to the notification order of FIG. 10, it is possible to notify the information quickly by skipping the abnormal notification means and notifying by the notification means of the next order. It becomes.

  Further, the notification result by each notification means may be stored in the memory 9. An example is shown in FIG. Information 1 to 3 includes the contents of information to be transmitted to the driver. For example, the notification result of the information 2 indicates that the driver did not recognize the information in the notification by the display device 10 but recognized by the display of the display device 32. The notification result of information 3 indicates that the driver has been notified outside the vehicle because the driver has not recognized the information. At this time, whether or not the driver has recognized the information (whether the operation switch group 2 or the like is operated), the state of each notification means, the detection result of the physical condition detector, and the like may be stored together.

  You may comprise so that the alerting | reporting result by each alerting | reporting means may be memorize | stored in an external apparatus (Personal computer 124 etc. of FIG.13 (b)). The external device includes, for example, a personal computer and an Internet server. From the in-vehicle information transmission device 1 to the external device, for example, when the in-vehicle information transmission device 1 is activated at the beginning of the day, the notification results up to the previous day stored in the memory 9 are collected together and the transmitter / receiver 13 or the outside notification. It is sent to an external device via a communication network such as a public line via the device 29. In this case, the device ID for identifying the in-vehicle information transmission device 1 stored in advance in the memory 9 is also sent to the external device.

  The external device stores the received notification result as a database for each device ID (vehicle-mounted information transmission device 1) or driver. Depending on the stored contents, for example, it is possible to confirm the contents of information notified by the alternative notification means, or to confirm later what caused the abnormality to be determined when an abnormality occurs in the driver. it can.

  The date / time information is generated based on a real-time counter (not shown) included in the CPU 81. In addition, the control circuit 8 may include a clock IC (not shown) called a real-time clock IC so that the CPU 81 acquires date and time information from the clock IC. Moreover, you may acquire date information from another vehicle equipment via in-vehicle LAN27.

  FIG. 13 shows an example of the configuration of outside notification. FIG. 13A shows a configuration in which a third-party mobile phone 121 is notified via the base station 120 by a communication unit (not shown) or a mobile phone included in the vehicle outside indicator 29 of the vehicle 101. FIG. 13B shows a configuration in which a vehicle 125 including a third party mobile phone 123, a personal computer 124, a receiving means and a notifying means (not shown) is notified via a public line 122 such as the Internet. . In this case, the notified content includes important information, the physical condition of the driver, and the like, and a message of at least one of characters (including electronic mail) or voice is notified.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, these are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and the knowledge of those skilled in the art can be used without departing from the spirit of the claims. Various modifications based on this are possible.

The block diagram which shows the structure of a vehicle-mounted information transmission apparatus. The figure which shows the example of attachment positions, such as a camera and a sensor. The figure which shows the example of the attachment position of an alarm device outside a vehicle. The block diagram explaining an information transmission process. The flowchart explaining an information transmission process. The figure which shows an example of the classification example of the importance of information. The figure which shows an example of the display screen at the time of important information display. The block diagram which shows the function structure of visual recognition action detection. The flowchart explaining a gaze point detection process. The figure which shows an example of the alerting | reporting order | rank of an alerting | reporting means. The figure which shows an example of the memory | storage content of an alerting | reporting means and a physical condition. The figure which shows an example of the memory content of an alerting | reporting result. The figure which shows an example of a structure of alerting | reporting outside a vehicle.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle-mounted information transmission apparatus 2 Operation switch group (operation detection means)
3 Failure detection unit 4 Physical condition detection unit (physical condition detection means)
8 Control circuit (transmission completion determination means, notification control means, importance level setting means, importance level determination means)
9 Memory (memory means)
10 Display (notification means)
11 Drive circuit (failure detection means)
13 Transceiver (outside vehicle notification means)
15 Speaker 22 Touch panel (operation detection means)
23 Vehicle speed sensor 24 Speech synthesis circuit 25 Vibrator 28 Camera (operation detection means)
29 Outside vehicle alarm (outside vehicle alarm means)
31 Microphone (operation detection means, voice sensor)
32 Display (alternative notification means)
33 Touch panel (operation detection means)
34 Drive circuit (failure detection means)

Claims (8)

An informing means for informing the passenger of information;
Transmission completion determination means for determining whether the information is transmitted to the occupant;
When it is determined that the information has not been transmitted to the occupant, notification control means for notifying the information by an alternative notification means;
An in-vehicle information transmission device comprising: Importance setting means for setting the importance of the information according to the content of the information;
An importance level determination means for determining whether the information is important information according to the importance level,
The in-vehicle information transmission device according to claim 1, wherein when the information is determined to be important information, the notification control unit notifies the information by the alternative notification unit. Comprising an operation detecting means for detecting an operation on the in-vehicle information transmission device;
The in-vehicle information transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission completion determination unit determines that the information is transmitted to the occupant when a predetermined operation is detected. A failure detection means for detecting a failure of the notification means;
The in-vehicle information transmission apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the notification control unit notifies the information by the alternative notification unit when a failure of the notification unit is detected.   5. The vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising a vehicle outside notification unit that notifies the third party outside the vehicle of the information when the information is determined not to be transmitted to the occupant by the alternative notification unit. The vehicle-mounted information transmission device described. Comprising physical condition detecting means for detecting the physical condition of the occupant;
When it is determined that the information has not been transmitted to the occupant by the alternative notification means, the physical condition detection means detects the physical condition of the occupant, and it is further determined that an abnormality has occurred in the physical condition of the occupant The vehicle-mounted information transmission device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising vehicle outside notification means for transmitting the information to a third party outside the vehicle.   The physical condition detecting means is selected from a camera for photographing the driver, a skin temperature sensor for detecting the skin temperature of the driver, a skin potential sensor for detecting the skin potential of the driver, and a voice sensor for detecting the voice of the driver. The in-vehicle information transmission device according to claim 6, comprising a detector composed of one type or a combination of two or more types. The in-vehicle information transmission device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a storage unit that stores a determination result of the transmission completion determination unit or a physical condition of the detected occupant.

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