JP2013097698A - Operation information collection device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To appropriately notify event information indicating that the accident of a vehicle has occurred to a remote place by using the switching of a power supply source of the vehicle as an index.SOLUTION: When power supply from a battery B of a vehicle 1 to a power source section 121 or a control section 101 and a communication module 103 of an operation information collection device 10 is interrupted, and a power supply source is switched to a backup power source 121a incorporated in the power source section 121, it is confirmed whether or not the occurrence of negative acceleration is accompanied such that the vehicle 1 suddenly stops or suddenly decelerates due to an accident. Then, when the occurrence of the negative acceleration is accompanied, the event information of the accident occurrence is transmitted (reported) to a personal computer 31 of a vehicle manager 3 by electronic mail, and transmitted (reported) to an ASP 9 on the Internet 7. When receiving the event information of the accident occurrence, the ASP 9 transmits (reports) the event information to the personal computer 31 of the vehicle manager 3 by electronic mail, and carries the event information of the accident occurrence on an exclusive site accessible by the personal computer 31.

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle operation information collecting apparatus that is supplied with power from an auxiliary power supply when power supply from the power supply is cut off.

  In the operation information collection device that is installed in the vehicle and collects the travel status such as travel speed and acceleration / deceleration as operation information, when the power supply from the power supply is cut off, it switches to the power supply from the auxiliary power supply and continues to operate Have been proposed (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  In addition, in order to cope with theft of expensive electrical equipment mounted on the vehicle, when power supply from the power supply is cut off, the power supply from the auxiliary power supply is received to the remote management office etc. by wireless The applicant has also proposed to notify in the past. In this proposal, from the viewpoint of dealing with theft, when the power supply is switched from the power source to the auxiliary power source, a notification is given to a remote location triggered by the opening of the vehicle door (for example, Patent Documents). 3).

JP 2000-278885 A JP 2000-341196 A JP 2003-31395 A

  By the way, the phenomenon that the power supply of the vehicle is switched from the power source to the auxiliary power source can also occur when the vehicle encounters a traffic accident. Therefore, when an event that has occurred in a vehicle is recorded as operation information with an in-vehicle recording device or notified to a remote management office, the switching of the power supply source from the power source to the auxiliary power source can be changed. It is conceivable to notify the management office as urgent event information for the purpose.

  On the other hand, since the above-mentioned conventional proposal of the present applicant is intended for theft countermeasures, the opening of the door is used as a trigger for notification, and the notification trigger for responding to an accident that does not necessarily involve the opening of the door is used. not appropriate. In addition, in the past proposals of this application, when the power supply source is switched, the door is locked to prevent theft, and a technique suitable for application in case of an accident in which a situation such as rescue of an occupant may occur. Is hard to say.

  In addition, it is conceivable to notify the remote location by using the switching of the power supply source as a trigger without triggering the opening of the door, but in this case, even if an unintended situation such as replacing the battery with a new one occurs Notification may be made and the original purpose of accident response may not be properly performed.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to appropriately notify event information indicating that when a vehicle accident has occurred to a remote location using the switching of the power supply source of the vehicle as an indicator. It is to provide an operation information collection device that can do.

In order to achieve the above object, the operation information collection device of the present invention described in claim 1
When the power supply from the power source is cut off and the power supply source is switched to the auxiliary power source, the operation information collection device automatically notifies the event information to the vehicle manager at a remote location by the wireless communication device.
An acceleration decrease determination means for determining whether or not the disconnection of the power supply from the power supply is accompanied by generation of a negative acceleration having an absolute value exceeding a predetermined value in the vehicle;
When the disconnection of the power supply from the power supply is accompanied by the occurrence of the negative acceleration in the vehicle, event information on the occurrence of an accident is sent to the vehicle manager by the wireless communication device during the power supply from the auxiliary power supply. Accident information reporting means to automatically report,
It is characterized by providing.

  According to the operation information collecting apparatus of the present invention described in claim 1, when the power supply from the power source is cut off, when the vehicle decelerates or stops at a negative acceleration such that the absolute value exceeds a predetermined value. The event information of the occurrence of an accident is automatically notified during the power supply from the auxiliary power source, separately from the event information that is automatically notified in other cases where the power supply from the power source is cut off.

  By the way, the phenomenon that the power supply from the power supply is cut off in the vehicle occurs due to various causes such as damage to the power supply path and replacement of the power supply. Among them, when negative acceleration that the absolute value exceeds the predetermined value occurs in the vehicle, if the power supply from the power source is cut off and the power supply source is switched to the auxiliary power source, the vehicle will be involved in an accident. It can be estimated that the power supply from the power source was cut off due to sudden deceleration or sudden stop.

  Therefore, event information indicating the occurrence of an accident in the vehicle can be appropriately notified to a remote place by using the switching of the power supply source of the vehicle as an index by automatically notifying the vehicle manager of the event information on the occurrence of the accident described above. it can.

  In addition, the operation information collection device of the present invention described in claim 2 is the operation information collection device of the present invention described in claim 1, wherein the event information on occurrence of the accident includes position information of the vehicle. It is characterized by.

  According to the operation information collecting apparatus of the present invention described in claim 2, in the operation information collecting apparatus of the present invention described in claim 1, the vehicle location information is included in the event information of the occurrence of the accident, thereby In addition to simply recognizing the fact that a car accident has occurred, the vehicle manager can quickly identify the place where the accident is likely to occur at a remote location and make various arrangements for dealing with a car accident immediately. Can be made.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the event information which shows that at the time of vehicle accident occurrence can be appropriately notified to a remote place by using the switching of the power supply source of the vehicle as an index.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the operation information management system operated including the operation information collection apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the outline | summary of the transmission process of the event information of accident occurrence which the control part of the operation information collection apparatus shown in FIG. 1 performs according to the program of ROM.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an operation information management system operated including an operation information collection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. An operation information management system shown in FIG. 1 includes an operation information collection device 10 mounted on a vehicle 1 and a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a computer) installed in a vehicle manager 3 such as a remote business office that manages the operation state of the vehicle 1. (Abbreviated as “personal computer”.) 31 is configured to perform communication using the wireless public telephone line network 5 and the Internet 7.

  The operation information collection device 10 collects speed, acceleration, engine speed, etc. as operation information of the vehicle 1 in a time series at regular intervals, as well as the state of each part of the vehicle 1 (opening / closing of the door) and the operation status ( Whenever changes occur in loading, unloading, breaks, etc.), such information is collected as event information which is one of the operation information. The collected operation information may be stored in a non-volatile memory 109 or a removable memory device (not shown), and a dedicated program may be read later by the personal computer 31 of the vehicle manager 3, or the wireless public telephone network 5 or It may be transmitted to the personal computer 31 of the vehicle manager 3 periodically (periodically) or in real time by wireless communication using the Internet 7.

  The above-described operation performed by the operation information collection device 10 is performed by the control of the control unit 101 configured by a microcomputer, for example. The control unit 101 detects the current position of the vehicle 1 in which the communication module 103 (corresponding to the wireless communication device in the claims) for performing communication via the wireless public telephone line network 5 and the operation information collecting device 10 is mounted. Connected to a GPS (Global Positioning System) module 105 for display, a display unit 107 such as a liquid crystal display or LED for displaying an operation state, and a non-volatile memory 109 such as a flash memory for storing various data and programs Has been. Respective antennas (communication antennas and GPS antennas) 11 and 12 provided outside the operation information collecting apparatus 10 are connected to the communication module 103 and the GPS module 105.

  Further, various interfaces (I / F) 111 to 119 are connected to the control unit 101. An ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) vehicle-mounted device 13 mounted on the vehicle 1 is connected to the external I / F 111. From the ETC vehicle-mounted device 13, data of entering / exiting the highway (toll road) of the vehicle 1 is input. A speed sensor 14 that detects the traveling speed of the vehicle 1 is connected to the speed I / F 113, and data relating to the vehicle speed is input. An engine rotation sensor 15 is connected to the rotation I / F 115 and data relating to the engine speed of the vehicle 1 is input.

  Various sensors 16 of the vehicle 1 are connected to the digital 5ch input I / F 117. The various sensors 16 include, for example, a door sensor of the vehicle 1. From the various sensors 16, detection signals (sensor signals, for example, detection signals of door open / closed states by door sensors) by the respective sensors are input.

  An external device 17 and an acceleration sensor 18 (if necessary) are connected to the external I / F 119. The external device 17 includes, for example, a switch unit mounted on the vehicle 1. The switch unit has a plurality of switches that are operated by an occupant when an event such as loading, unloading, or a break occurs. A signal for notifying the occurrence (or termination) of an event corresponding to the operated switch is input from the switch unit.

  The acceleration sensor 18 detects the acceleration of the vehicle 1. The acceleration of the vehicle 1 can also be obtained by calculating the time series change of the vehicle speed data from the speed sensor 14 by the control unit 101. Therefore, when this calculation process is a burden on the processing of the control unit 101, the acceleration sensor 18 may be connected to the external I / F 119 for use. Data relating to the acceleration of the vehicle 1 is input from the acceleration sensor 18.

  The control unit 101 and the communication module 103 described above operate by receiving power from the power supply unit 121 provided in the operation information collection device 10. The power supply unit 121 is a so-called constant voltage power supply, and supplies a power supply having a voltage suitable for the operation of the control unit 101 and the communication module 103. The power supply unit 121 receives power supply from a battery (vehicle power supply) B (corresponding to a power supply in the claims) of the vehicle 1 and supplies constant voltage power to the control unit 101 and the communication module 103. The ETC vehicle-mounted device 13 operates by receiving power supply from the battery B through another route.

  As a backup when power supply from the battery B is interrupted, the power supply unit 121 includes a backup power supply 121a (corresponding to an auxiliary power supply in the claims). The backup power source 121a can be constituted by, for example, a storage battery or the like that is charged with the power while the power is normally supplied from the battery B. When the power supply from the battery B is interrupted, the power supply unit 121 switches from the mode operating with the power from the battery B to the mode operating with the power from the backup power supply 121a. When the power is restored, the power supply unit 121 switches from a mode that operates with power from the backup power supply 121a to a mode that operates with power from the battery B. The switching of the operation mode of the power supply unit 121 is notified to the control unit 101 by a signal.

  In the present embodiment, the communication module 103 described above uses an application service provider (hereinafter referred to as the following) on the Internet 7 to be described later via the communication antenna 11 by packet communication using the wireless public telephone line network 5 (mobile phone line network). (Abbreviated as “ASP”.) The operation information data provided to the vehicle manager 3 is transmitted to the server 91 of 9. Although the communication module 103 also has a reception function, in this embodiment, the transmission function is mainly used.

  In addition, the control part 101 is the data of operation information, and about the data which has urgency, such as event information of the accident occurrence mentioned later, in parallel with transmission to the server 91 of ASP9, the personal computer 31 of the vehicle manager 3 Can be transmitted from the communication module 103 to the vehicle manager 3 in the form of a warning notice or the like by an e-mail with an address that can be received in the above. As a transmission form at this time, for example, an e-mail addressed to an address receivable by mailing software installed in the personal computer 31 can be used. The template data of the address and the notification sentence can be registered and stored in advance in the nonvolatile memory 109, for example.

  Further, when the event information of the accident occurrence is transmitted to the personal computer 31 on the vehicle manager 3 side or the server 91 of the ASP 9, it is determined whether or not the event information of the accident occurrence is transmitted, The control unit 101 determines whether to transmit event information. However, these determinations can be set in advance as valid / invalid on the operation information collection device 10 side, and each determination is made to be performed by the control unit 101 only when each setting is valid. Can do. For these settings, for example, in addition to the operation of a setting switch (not shown) and a touch panel (not shown) provided on the display unit 107, an external device (not shown) such as a personal computer is separately connected to the external I / F 119. By performing this operation, it can be stored in the nonvolatile memory 109 or the like.

  The wireless public telephone line network 5 is connected to a server 81 of a mobile telephone line operator 8 and a database 83 as data storage via a connection center 51. The database 83 stores address data and the like necessary for communication between the wireless public telephone line network 5 side and the Internet 7 side. The server 81 refers to this address data and the like, and Controls communication with the Internet 7 side.

  The server 81 of the mobile phone line operator 8 is connected to the Internet 7 via an Internet service provider (hereinafter abbreviated as “ISP”) 71. A server 91 of an ASP 9 is connected to the Internet 7 via another ISP 73, and the personal computer 31 on the vehicle manager 3 side is connected via a modem or a router (not shown) via another ISP 75. It is connected.

  The server 91 of the ASP 9 receives operation information data (packet communication data) received from the operation information collecting device 10 by the server 81 of the mobile phone line operator 8 via the wireless public telephone line network 5 via the Internet 7. . Then, the server 91 processes the received operation information data into a chart or management form data depending on the content, and places it on a dedicated site (not shown) accessible from the personal computer 31 on the vehicle manager 3 side. .

  It should be noted that when the event information about the occurrence of the accident is received from the operation information collecting apparatus 10 via the wireless public telephone line network 5 or the Internet 7, the server 91 of the ASP 9 described above that the event information about the occurrence of the accident has occurred. An e-mail including a warning notice is transmitted to the personal computer 31 in the same manner as posted on a dedicated site or transmitted by the control unit 101 of the operation information collecting apparatus 10.

  Next, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 2, a determination process for determining whether or not to output event information about the occurrence of an accident, which is executed by the microcomputer of the control unit 101 of the operation information collecting apparatus 10 in accordance with a program stored in a ROM (not shown), is referred to. I will explain. While receiving the power supply from the battery B or the backup power source 121a, the control unit 101 repeatedly executes the determination process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2 at regular intervals.

  First, the control unit 101 confirms whether or not the power from the battery B is supplied based on a signal indicating switching of the operation mode from the power supply unit 121 (step S1). If it is supplied (YES in step S1), the operation information collection device 10 (on-vehicle device) is normally operated (step S3), and the determination process is terminated.

  On the other hand, when the power from the battery B is not supplied (NO in step S1), the backup power supply 121a (auxiliary power supply) built in the power supply unit 121 is switched to the power supply source of the control unit 101 or the communication module 103. After that (step S5), it is confirmed whether or not the determination (abnormal final event determination) of whether or not the event information of the occurrence of the accident is in a situation is set to “valid” (present) (step S7). .

  If it is not valid (NO in step S7), the event information ("abnormal final event" information) is not generated and the operation information collection device 10 is turned off (step S9), and the determination process is terminated. To do. If it is valid (YES in step S7), the latest acceleration of the vehicle 1 is compared with the abnormal end event determination acceleration (step S11). This abnormal end event determination acceleration is a so-called threshold value for determining whether or not it is a situation for transmitting event information of occurrence of an accident. In this embodiment, an absolute negative acceleration exceeding a predetermined value is detected as an abnormal value. End event determination acceleration. This negative acceleration is set to a value corresponding to the acceleration when the vehicle 1 is suddenly stopped or decelerated due to an accident.

  In this comparison, specifically, it is confirmed whether or not the latest acceleration of the vehicle 1 is lower than the abnormal end event determination acceleration (absolute negative acceleration exceeding a predetermined value). Here, the latest acceleration of the vehicle 1 may be calculated by the control unit 101 from a change in the vehicle speed detected by the speed sensor 14. When the acceleration sensor 18 is connected, the latest detected value of the acceleration sensor 18. It is good. Further, the abnormal end event determination acceleration can be registered and stored in advance in the nonvolatile memory 109, for example.

  Comparing the latest acceleration of the vehicle 1 with the abnormal end event determination acceleration, the latest acceleration is a value equal to or higher than the abnormal end event determination acceleration, and the vehicle 1 is abnormally terminated instead of switching the power supply source accompanying sudden stop or sudden deceleration. If it is determined that the event has not occurred (NO in step S13 if the event information on the occurrence of an accident is not transmitted), the event information on the occurrence of the accident (information on "abnormal final event") is not generated. The information collecting apparatus 10 is powered off (step S15), and the determination process is terminated.

  On the other hand, in the comparison between the latest acceleration of the vehicle 1 and the abnormal end event determination acceleration, the latest acceleration is lower than the abnormal end event determination acceleration, and the power supply source is switched when the vehicle 1 suddenly stops or suddenly decelerates. If it is determined that an abnormal end event has occurred (if the event information indicating the occurrence of an accident is in a state of being transmitted, YES in step S13), the transmission setting of the event information indicating the occurrence of the accident (“abnormal final event”) is “ It is confirmed whether it is set to “valid” (present) (step S19).

  If not valid (NO in step S19), an abnormal final event is generated and stored in the nonvolatile memory 109 or a removable memory device (not shown) together with other operation information data, but transmitted to the server 91 of the ASP 9 Alternatively, the determination process is terminated without performing transmission by e-mail of an address that can be received by the personal computer 31 on the vehicle manager 3 side (step S21).

  On the other hand, if it is valid (YES in step S19), an abnormal final event is generated and stored in the nonvolatile memory 109 or a removable memory device (not shown) together with other operation information data, and the server 91 of the ASP 9 is used. And transmission by e-mail of an address that can be received by the personal computer 31 on the vehicle manager 3 side (step S23), and the determination process is terminated.

  As is apparent from the above description, in the present embodiment, the processing of step S11 and step S13 in the flowchart of FIG. 2 performed by the control unit 101 is processing corresponding to the acceleration decrease determination means in the claims. . Moreover, in this embodiment, the process of step S23 in FIG. 2 which the control part 101 performs is a process corresponding to the accident information notification means in a claim.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the power supply from the battery B of the vehicle 1 to the power supply unit 121 to the control unit 101 and the communication module 103 of the operation information collection device 10 is cut off, and the power supply source is When switching to the backup power supply 121a built in the power supply unit 121, it is confirmed whether or not the vehicle 1 is accompanied by generation of a negative acceleration that suddenly stops or suddenly decelerates due to an accident. If it is accompanied, the event information on the occurrence of the accident is transmitted (notified) to the personal computer 31 of the vehicle manager 3 by e-mail or transmitted (notified) to the ASP 9 on the Internet 7. When the ASP 9 receives the event information about the accident, it sends (notifies) it to the personal computer 31 of the vehicle manager 3 by e-mail, or posts the event information about the accident on a dedicated site accessible by the personal computer 31. .

  For this reason, when switching from the battery B of the power supply source without the sudden stop or sudden deceleration of the vehicle 1 to the backup power supply 121a occurs, the event information is automatically notified (transmitted) to the vehicle manager 3 side. Even if it exists, the event information on the occurrence of an accident can be automatically notified (transmitted) to the vehicle manager 3 side. Therefore, event information indicating the occurrence of an accident in the vehicle 1 can be appropriately notified to the vehicle manager 3 at the remote location using the switching of the power supply source of the vehicle 1 as an index.

  When transmitting (notifying) event information about the occurrence of an accident, information on the current position of the vehicle 1 acquired using the GPS antenna 12 and the GPS module 105 may be added and transmitted (notified).

  In this way, not only the fact that the vehicle 1 is estimated to have an accident is recognized, but also the occurrence location of the phenomenon that is presumed to be an accident (the current position of the vehicle 1) is determined as a remote vehicle manager 3. The vehicle manager 3 can quickly specify various arrangements related to the accident response of the vehicle 1.

  In the present embodiment, the operation information collection device 10 used in the operation information management system including the ASP 9 on the Internet 7 has been described as an example. However, the present invention can also be applied to an operation information collection device of an operation information management system that does not include an APS on the Internet and can communicate with the personal computer 31 of the vehicle manager 3 via the wireless public telephone line network 5 and the Internet 7. It is.

  The present invention is suitable for use when collecting the work state as operation information by the operation information collection device.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle 3 Vehicle manager 5 Wireless public telephone line network 7 Internet 8 Mobile phone line provider 9 Application service provider 10 Operation information collection device 11 Communication antenna 12 GPS antenna 13 ETC on-board equipment 14 Speed sensor 15 Engine rotation sensor 16 Various sensors 17 External device 18 Acceleration sensor 31 Personal computer 51 Connection center 71, 73, 75 Internet service provider 81 Server 83 Database 91 Server 101 Control unit (acceleration decrease determining means, accident information reporting means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 103 Communication module 105 GPS module 107 Display part 109 Non-volatile memory 111 External interface 113 Speed interface 115 Rotation interface 117 Digital 5ch input interface 119 External interface 121 Power supply part 121a Backup power supply (auxiliary power supply)
B Battery (Power)

Claims (2)

When the power supply from the power source is cut off and the power supply source is switched to the auxiliary power source, the operation information collection device automatically notifies the event information to the vehicle manager at a remote location by the wireless communication device.
An acceleration decrease determination means for determining whether or not the disconnection of the power supply from the power supply is accompanied by generation of a negative acceleration having an absolute value exceeding a predetermined value in the vehicle;
When the disconnection of the power supply from the power supply is accompanied by the occurrence of the negative acceleration in the vehicle, event information on the occurrence of an accident is sent to the vehicle manager by the wireless communication device during the power supply from the auxiliary power supply. Accident information reporting means to automatically report,
An operation information collecting device comprising:   The operation information collection device according to claim 1, wherein the event information of the occurrence of an accident includes position information of the vehicle.

Images