JP2011227552A - Entering/leaving identification device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically identify "entering" state and "leaving" state of a vehicle with high accuracy without allowing a person such as a driver to perform a special input operation under various situations.SOLUTION: An entering/leaving identification device includes: position information holding means for holding position information concerning a specified spot; present position obtaining means for obtaining information of a present position of a vehicle; vehicle state identification means for identifying a leaving state and an entering state; vehicle position identification means for identifying whether the present position of the vehicle is within a range of a specified region to be fixed by the held position information of the specified spot; and passage time detection means for detecting the length of a passage time when the vehicle position is within the specified region after an obtained state is switched from the entering state into the leaving state. When the passage time detected by the passage time detection means becomes equal to or more than a prescribed time, the leaving state is automatically switched from the leaving state into the entering state.

Description

  The present invention relates to an entry / exit identification device for a vehicle that can be used for an application such as an automatic operation recording device mounted on a vehicle.

  For example, in a transportation company that owns a vehicle such as a truck for business use, if the information such as the speed of the vehicle that changes from time to time is recorded and kept during business operation, the recorded information can be used for various purposes. Available to: For example, by analyzing this data, you can determine whether the driver is operating efficiently, obtain information to calculate the cost of the operation, or manage the driver's safe driving It is possible to use it.

  Therefore, a carrier or the like conventionally uses a digital vehicle operation recording device as disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 mounted on a vehicle. In this type of vehicle operation recording device, it is necessary to collect operation data with one segment from the start to the end of commercial operation. Further, it is not necessary to collect operation data from the end of the commercial operation until the start of the next commercial operation.

  Therefore, in the vehicle operation recording device, it is necessary to distinguish between start and end of commercial operation. Generally, when a commercial operation is started, it is recognized as a “shipping” state, and when a commercial operation is finished, it is recognized as a “warehousing” state. In general, the “shipping” state and the “shipping” state are distinguished according to the state of the driver's switch operation.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for automatically performing a shipping process even when the driver does not perform an input operation for switching to the “shipping” state. Specifically, when it is detected that the vehicle has traveled a predetermined distance when it is not in the “shipping” state, the processing in the “shipping” state is automatically executed. In response to an operation data output request, it is proposed that the operation data be output only when the travel distance after the “shipping” process is equal to or greater than a predetermined distance.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for automatically performing a warehousing process even when the driver does not perform an input operation for switching to the “warehousing” state. Specifically, it is proposed to automatically execute the “receipt” process when an input operation for switching to the “receipt” state is not performed even at a predetermined time.

  Moreover, the prior art relevant to this invention is disclosed by patent document 3 and patent document 4. FIG. In the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 3, it is proposed that a GPS function for detecting the position of a vehicle is mounted on a device on the vehicle in an automatic daily report creation system. Furthermore, using information on latitude / longitude such as predetermined transportation start and end points, information is automatically sent from the vehicle to the external management computer when the vehicle arrives at the transportation start and end points. To transmit automatically.

  The prior art disclosed in Patent Document 4 proposes that an arrival information notification system automatically notifies a specific partner whether or not a moving person has arrived in the vicinity of a destination. Specifically, the mobile communication terminal compares the current position information with the position information of a predetermined destination, and arrives at the destination when the difference between the destination and the current position is within a predetermined value. It is disclosed that

JP-A-6-331393 JP-A-6-331392 JP 2003-196355 A JP 2008-227717 A

  When using the techniques of Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2, an input operation for switching from the “entry” state to the “exit” state and an input operation for switching from the “exit” state to the “entry” state are operated. Even if the person has forgotten, the recording start operation and the recording end operation of the vehicle operation recording device can be automatically performed.

  However, for example, when a vehicle in the “entry” state moves over a long distance within a site such as a business office of a carrier, the patent document 1 is not actually in the “exit” state. In this technique, there is a possibility that the “incoming” state is switched to the “outgoing” state without permission. In addition, in the case where the time from the “shipping” state to the “shipping” state changes irregularly within a wide range, the technique of Patent Document 2 actually continues the “shipping” state. Regardless, there is a possibility of switching from the “shipping” state to the “warehousing” state.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a vehicle in a “warehouse” state and “ An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular entry / exit identification device capable of automatically identifying the “exit” state with high accuracy.

In order to achieve the above-described object, the vehicle entry / exit identification device according to the present invention is characterized by the following (1) to (5).
(1) A vehicle loading / unloading identification device that is mounted on a vehicle and identifies a shipping state that indicates that the vehicle is in operation and a storage state that indicates a state other than that,
Position information holding means for holding position information relating to at least one specific point;
Current position acquisition means for acquiring the latest position information regarding the current position of the vehicle;
Vehicle state identification means for identifying the leaving state and the entering state;
Vehicle position identification that refers to the position information of the vehicle acquired by the current position acquisition means and identifies whether the position is within a specific area determined according to the position information held by the position information holding means Means,
The elapsed time for detecting the length of the elapsed time when the position of the vehicle is within the range of the specific area after the state grasped by the vehicle state identification means is switched from the entry state to the exit state. A detecting means, and
The vehicle state identification means automatically switches from the leaving state to the warehousing state when the elapsed time detected by the elapsed time detecting means becomes a predetermined time or more.
(2) The vehicle entry / exit identification device according to (1),
The vehicle state identification means automatically switches from the warehousing state to the leaving state when the position of the vehicle is outside the range of the specific area when the state grasped by itself is the warehousing state. thing.
(3) The vehicle entry / exit identification device according to (1),
The elapsed time detecting means clears the elapsed time counted so far to an initial value when the position of the vehicle is outside the range of the specific area.
(4) The vehicle entry / exit identification device according to (1),
The vehicle position identification means determines a circular area determined according to one point of position information held by the position information holding means and a predetermined radius as the range of the specific area.
(5) The vehicle entry / exit identification device according to (1),
The position information held by the position information holding means, information corresponding to the size of the specific area, and a threshold value for identifying the magnitude of the elapsed time, and contents of data held Further comprising an updatable non-volatile memory.

According to the vehicular entry / exit identification device having the configuration (1), the “entry” state and the “exit” state of the vehicle can be automatically identified with high accuracy. For example, if a site such as a business office of a carrier is assigned in advance as the specific area, it can be automatically identified whether the current position of the vehicle is inside or outside the site. In other words, when a vehicle in a commercial operation state (“shipping” state) approaches a sales office and a predetermined time has elapsed after entering the site, the vehicle state identifying means automatically switches from the leaving state to the warehousing state. For this reason, it is not necessary for a human to operate a switch or the like in order to switch to the warehousing state. Moreover, even if the position of the vehicle falls within the range of the specific area, it does not switch to the warehousing state unless a predetermined time elapses in that state, so that malfunction can be prevented. For example, if the range of the specific area and the site area of the actual sales office are slightly deviated, even before the vehicle enters the warehouse, when the vehicle approaches the office area, There is a possibility of being temporarily mistaken for entering. In such a case, the vehicle exits from the range of the specific area before the predetermined time elapses, so that the unloading state can be maintained.
According to the vehicle entry / exit identification device having the configuration (2), it is possible to automatically switch from the entry state to the exit state without a human operating a switch or the like.
According to the vehicular entry / exit identification device having the configuration (3), the elapsed time can be accurately grasped. For example, when the range of the specific area and the site range of the actual sales office are slightly shifted, when the vehicle travels near the site of the sales office, the vehicle is temporarily inside the specific area There is also a possibility that the outer state and the outside state are detected alternately. Even in such a case, it is possible to grasp the correct elapsed time by initializing the count value of the elapsed time.
According to the vehicular entry / exit identification device having the configuration (4), since the number of pieces of information (one point of coordinates and radius) to be determined and input in advance is small, the operation is easy. Moreover, since the range of the specific area is circular, the process of identifying whether the position of the vehicle is within the range is simplified.
According to the vehicle entry / exit identification device having the configuration (5) above, parameters (positional information, radius, etc., and threshold of elapsed time) used for automatic identification between the delivery state and the entry state are changed as necessary. can do. Further, since these parameters are held in the nonvolatile memory, it is not necessary to repeat the parameter input operation every time the apparatus is turned on.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to automatically identify the “entry” state and the “exit” state of a vehicle with high accuracy without a special input operation by a person such as a driver under various circumstances. Is possible.

  The present invention has been briefly described above. Further, details of the present invention will be further clarified by reading through the modes for carrying out the invention described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It is a flowchart which shows the main operation | movement of the loading / unloading identification apparatus for vehicles of embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the hardware of the vehicle operation recording apparatus carrying the vehicle entry / exit identification apparatus. It is a figure which shows the specific example (1) of the positional relationship of a vehicle and a base. It is a figure which shows the specific example (2) of the positional relationship of a vehicle and a base. It is a figure which shows the specific example (3) of the positional relationship of a vehicle and a base.

  Specific embodiments relating to the vehicle entry / exit identification device of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As a representative example, the vehicle entry / exit identification device of the present invention is assumed to be used in a state of being mounted on a vehicle operation recording device or connected to a vehicle operation recording device. The vehicle operation recording device has a function of automatically collecting information such as the vehicle speed during operation of the vehicle (shipping state) and storing it in a storage device together with date and time information.

  The structural example of the vehicle operation recording apparatus 100 carrying the vehicle entry / exit identification apparatus of this embodiment is shown by FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the vehicle operation recording apparatus 100 includes a control unit 10, a communication module 21, a volatile memory 22, a GPS module 23, an external interface 24, a display unit 25, a power supply unit 31, a speed signal interface 32, A rotation signal interface 33, an input signal interface 34, an external interface 35, and a nonvolatile memory 36 are provided.

  A communication antenna 41, a GPS antenna 42, an external device 43, a vehicle power source 44, a vehicle speed sensor 45, an engine rotation sensor 46, various vehicle sensors 47, and an external device 48 are mounted on a vehicle on which the vehicle operation recording device 100 is mounted. It is equipped. These communication antenna 41, GPS antenna 42, external device 43, vehicle power supply 44, vehicle speed (speed) sensor 45, engine rotation sensor 46, various vehicle sensors 47, and external device 48 are respectively connected to communication module 21, GPS module 23, and external device 48. The interface 24, the power supply unit 31, the speed signal interface 32, the rotation signal interface 33, the input signal interface 34, and the external interface 35 are connected.

  The communication antenna 41 is an antenna used for performing wireless data communication between an in-vehicle device and a management device outside the vehicle via a base station of a mobile phone communication network. The GPS antenna 42 is an antenna for receiving radio waves from GPS satellites.

  The external devices 43 and 48 are devices mounted on the vehicle, and can be used by being connected to the vehicle operation recording device 100. Specific examples of the external devices 43 and 48 include an operation unit (switch unit) and a drive recorder. The operation unit is used to give an instruction to the vehicle operation recording apparatus 100 and to input and update various parameters by a user operation.

  The vehicle speed sensor 45 generates a pulse signal according to the rotation amount (rotation speed) of the wheel. The vehicle speed can be detected by measuring this pulse signal. The engine rotation sensor 46 outputs a signal corresponding to the rotation amount of the engine drive unit. By measuring this signal, for example, the engine speed per minute can be detected. Specific examples of the various vehicle sensors 47 include an accelerator opening sensor.

  The control unit 10 controls the vehicle operation recording device 100 including the vehicle entry / exit identification device of the present invention. Specifically, the control unit 10 is configured by a microcomputer and realizes various functions by executing a program prepared in advance. The functions of the vehicle entry / exit identification device are also realized by the microcomputer of the control unit 10 executing a predetermined program.

The communication module 21 provides a communication function for performing wireless data communication via a mobile phone communication network.
The volatile memory 22 is a rewritable and readable semiconductor memory, and is used to temporarily hold various information when electric power is supplied from the vehicle power supply 44 to the vehicle operation recording apparatus 100.

The GPS module 23 receives radio waves from a plurality of GPS satellites via the GPS antenna 42, and obtains the current position (latitude, longitude) of the vehicle on which the device is mounted based on the received signal by a known calculation process. have.
The display unit 25 is used to display information such as stored numerical values and input numerical values.

  The non-volatile memory 36 is a recording medium capable of holding stored information even when the power supply supplied to the vehicle operation recording device 100 is cut off. It is a detachable recording medium. The nonvolatile memory 36 holds various parameters necessary for the operation of the vehicle operation recording device 100 (including the vehicle entry / exit identification device) in addition to the operation record data recorded by the vehicle operation recording device 100. It has storage areas 36a, 36b, 36c.

  Next, the operation of the vehicle entry / exit identification device mounted on the vehicle operation recording device 100 shown in FIG. 2 will be described. This vehicular entry / exit identification device performs an operation for automatically identifying the “exit” state and the “entry” state. That is, even if the user does not perform a switch operation such as a special button, when the vehicle on which the vehicle operation recording device 100 is installed starts a commercial operation, it is recognized as a “going out” state, and when the user finishes the commercial operation, the “entering” state Recognize as

  This vehicle entry / exit identification device detects the position of the vehicle as one of the conditions for distinguishing between the “exit” state and the “entry” state. For example, when managing a vehicle owned by a carrier, by distinguishing whether or not the current position of the vehicle is within a specific area corresponding to the site of the carrier's sales office, etc. It is possible to distinguish between a state with a high possibility of “good” and a state with a high possibility of “going out”.

  As a specific example of the method for specifying the area of the site, the area of the site is specified as a circular area here. In other words, a circular base range as shown in FIG. 3 is defined as a specific region using the base position (latitude, longitude) representing the center position of the site and the radius of the circle. By identifying whether the current position of the vehicle is on the inner side or the outer side of the base range, it is possible to distinguish between a state with a high possibility of “entry” and a state with a high possibility of “exit”.

  However, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, the vehicle may temporarily pass through the inside of the base range while continuing the “shipping” state. In addition, when the base range is circular, there is a difference between the circular base range and the actual site area, so the state shown in FIG. 5 may occur even when passing outside the site. High nature. Therefore, it is not possible to accurately grasp the “incoming” state and the “outgoing” state simply by identifying whether the current position of the vehicle is inside or outside the base range. Therefore, the length of time during which the vehicle exists inside the base range is detected, and the “incoming” state and the “outgoing” state are identified in consideration of the length of time.

  In order to carry out the control as described above, it is necessary to predetermine the position (latitude, longitude) of the base, the radius of the circle, and the time threshold as parameters. These parameters can be registered on the nonvolatile memory 36 by the control unit 10 executing steps S11, S12, and S13 shown in FIG.

  That is, in the initial state before using the vehicular entry / exit identification device, the aforementioned operation unit (switch unit) is connected as the external device 43, and a user performs a predetermined input operation to set a desired value to the parameter. Can be registered as In this case, the process of the control unit 10 proceeds from step S10 to S11 in FIG. Therefore, if the user first inputs the location (latitude, longitude) of the base in step S11, this information can be registered in the storage area 36a of the nonvolatile memory 36. Note that information on a plurality of bases can be registered at the same time. Next, if the user inputs the radius of the circle at the base in step S12, this information can be registered in the storage area 36b of the nonvolatile memory 36. Furthermore, if the user inputs the time threshold value in step S13, this information can be registered in the storage area 36c of the nonvolatile memory 36.

After the necessary parameters are registered in this way, the operation of the vehicle entry / exit identification device can be started in step S20 shown in FIG.
In step S <b> 21, the controller 10 identifies whether the current state of the vehicle is “entry” or “exit”, and refers to the “entry” state or the “exit” state. The information of the entry / exit flag indicating this state is held on the non-volatile memory 36 so that it does not disappear even when the power is shut off, and is automatically updated by processing to be described later.

  The entry / exit flag is read by the control unit 10 from the nonvolatile memory 36 when the vehicle operation recording device 100 is turned on, updated as necessary, and immediately before the vehicle operation recording device 100 is turned off. Is stored in the nonvolatile memory 36.

  In the case of “shipping” state, the process proceeds from step S21 to S22. In step S22, the control unit 10 clears the stay time counter to zero. This stay time counter is used to count the length of time that the vehicle is continuously present inside the aforementioned base range.

  In step S23 (vehicle position identifying means), the control unit 10 acquires information on the latest current position (latitude, longitude) of the vehicle using the GPS module 23, and determines whether the current position is inside the base range. Identify. That is, it is discriminated whether the current vehicle position is inside a circular area determined by the center position and radius of the base registered as parameters in the nonvolatile memory 36. If it is inside the base range, the process proceeds to step S24, and if it is out of the range, the process returns to step S22 to clear the stay time counter again.

In step S24 (elapsed time detection means), the control unit 10 updates the value of the stay time counter (adds 1 to the previous value).
In step S <b> 25, the control unit 10 compares the value of the stay time counter (stay time) with a threshold value of time (entry determination time) registered in the nonvolatile memory 36 as the parameter. If the stay time counter value is less than the threshold value, the process returns to step S23, and if the stay time counter is greater than or equal to the threshold value, the process proceeds to step S26.

  In step S26 (vehicle state identification means), the control unit 10 considers that the current vehicle state is “entry” and changes the contents of the entry / exit flag to “entry”.

  On the other hand, if the contents of the loading / unloading flag is in the “loading” state in step S21, the process proceeds to step S27. In step S27, the control unit 10 acquires information on the latest current position (latitude, longitude) of the vehicle using the GPS module 23, identifies whether the current position is inside the base range, and the vehicle Wait until you are outside the base range. When the vehicle goes outside the base range, the process proceeds to step S28.

  In step S <b> 28, the control unit 10 regards the current vehicle state as “shipping” and changes the contents of the loading / unloading flag to “shipping”.

  Therefore, when a predetermined time or more has elapsed since the vehicle in the “shipping” state equipped with the vehicle entry / exit identification device moves to the inside of the base range as shown in FIG. However, since it progresses to step S26 from step S25, it switches to a "warehousing" state automatically. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, when the vehicle in the “entry” state moves from the inside to the outside of the base range, the process of the control unit 10 proceeds from step S27 to step S28, and thus automatically switches to the “exit” state. . Further, when the vehicle in the “shipping” state moves to the outside of the base range before the elapse of a predetermined time or more after moving to the inside of the base range as shown in FIG. Since the process goes from step S25 to S22 through S23, the “shipping” state is maintained as it is.

  If the time during which the vehicle stays inside the base range is short, the stay time counter is cleared in step S22 when the vehicle moves outside the base range, so that an accurate stay time can be grasped. For example, if the base range is slightly different from the actual site range, there is a situation where a vehicle in the “departure” state temporarily enters the inside of the base range due to a false detection and goes out of the base range. May be detected alternately and repeatedly. Even in such a case, since the stay time counter is cleared each time, an accurate stay time is detected.

  In the above embodiment, the vehicle entry / exit identification device identifies the base range as a circular area determined by the center position and the radius, but the base area is set as a rectangular area according to the actual site shape, for example. May be specified. In this case, for example, if there is position information of two points at both ends of the diagonal line of the rectangular area, the rectangular area can be specified. Alternatively, the area may be specified using position information of four points representing the corners of the rectangle.

  In addition, it is also possible to acquire information on the current position of the vehicle using a system other than the GPS. For example, when a mobile phone communication network is used, the position of the vehicle can be obtained using a plurality of radio base stations included in the communication network.

  As described above, the vehicle entry / exit identification device of the present invention can be assumed to be mounted on or used in an in-vehicle device such as a vehicle operation recording device, and the start and end timing of the operation of the in-vehicle device. It is possible to automatically identify the “shipping” state and the “warehousing” state for determining

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Control part 21 Communication module 22 Volatile memory 23 GPS module 24 External interface 25 Display part 31 Power supply part 32 Speed signal interface 33 Rotation signal interface 34 Input signal interface 35 External interface 36 Non-volatile memory 41 Communication antenna 42 GPS antenna 43 External apparatus 44 Vehicle Power Supply 45 Vehicle Speed Sensor 46 Engine Rotation Sensor 47 Various Vehicle Sensors 48 External Equipment 100 Vehicle Operation Recording Device

Claims (5)

A vehicle loading / unloading identification device for identifying a loading state indicating that the vehicle is in operation and a loading state indicating a state other than that, which is mounted on a vehicle,
Position information holding means for holding position information relating to at least one specific point;
Current position acquisition means for acquiring the latest position information regarding the current position of the vehicle;
Vehicle state identification means for identifying the leaving state and the entering state;
Vehicle position identification that refers to the position information of the vehicle acquired by the current position acquisition means and identifies whether the position is within a specific area determined according to the position information held by the position information holding means Means,
The elapsed time for detecting the length of the elapsed time when the position of the vehicle is within the range of the specific area after the state grasped by the vehicle state identification means is switched from the entry state to the exit state. A detecting means, and
The vehicle state identifying means automatically switches from the leaving state to the warehousing state when the elapsed time detected by the elapsed time detecting means exceeds a predetermined value.   The vehicle state identification means automatically switches from the warehousing state to the leaving state when the position of the vehicle is outside the range of the specific area when the state grasped by itself is the warehousing state. The vehicle entry / exit identification device according to claim 1.   The vehicle entry / exit according to claim 1, wherein the elapsed time detection means clears the elapsed time counted so far to an initial value when the position of the vehicle is outside the range of the specific area. Identification device.   The vehicle position identification means determines a circular area determined according to one point of position information held by the position information holding means and a predetermined radius as the range of the specific area. The vehicle entry / exit identification device according to claim 1.   The position information held by the position information holding means, information corresponding to the size of the specific area, and a threshold value for identifying the magnitude of the elapsed time, and contents of data held The vehicular entry / exit identification device according to claim 1, further comprising an updatable nonvolatile memory.

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