JP2015038672A - Vehicle operation management apparatus and vehicle information collecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle operation management apparatus configured to manage operation status of its own vehicles by use of an OBD system, to enable low-cost and simple vehicle management.SOLUTION: An operation management apparatus for a plurality of vehicles with an OBD system mounted thereon includes: a vehicle information collecting device which is connected to an information output connector of the OBD system, and acquires and outputs vehicle information detected by the OBD system wirelessly; a data center which receives the vehicle information acquired by the vehicle information collecting device and stores an operation management application for managing operation of the vehicles; and an operation manager terminal which is owned by an operation manager and can communicate with the data center. When an acceleration sensor included in the vehicle information collecting device to detect engine vibration detects engine vibration, the vehicle information collecting device acquires vehicle information from the OBD system.

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle operation management device and a vehicle information collection device equipped with an in-vehicle failure diagnosis system (OBD system).

  The OBD system (On Board Diagnosis System) detects and monitors vehicle abnormalities (sudden abnormalities) and notifies the driver (hereinafter also referred to as the driver) by displaying an alarm when an abnormality occurs. This system was developed as a device for storing and holding data. OBD systems are installed in most vehicles sold in North America, Europe, and some Asian countries. The OBD system has been refined year by year, and OBD II (a new standard introduced in the mid-90s) can now monitor engine control information almost completely, as well as other vehicle information. ing.

  Vehicle information that can be acquired by the current OBDII system includes engine load, engine speed, throttle opening, coolant temperature, intake air temperature, outside air temperature, accelerator opening, engine torque, mass air flow, fuel remaining amount, etc. . FIG. 1 shows a state in which a vehicle 2 equipped with an OBDII system 1 is connected to a failure diagnosis tool 3 in a maintenance shop. The vehicle information described above is detected from the sensor 5 attached to the engine 4 of the vehicle 2 and input to the ECU 6 of the OBDII system 1. The vehicle information collected by the sensor 5 is stored in an ECU (Engine Control Unit) 6 having a failure diagnosis function, and when a failure is found in the vehicle by the diagnosis of the ECU 6, the ECU 6 displays a failure display lamp. 8 is turned on. In recent years, a light emitting diode (LED) is used for the failure display lamp 8.

  When the failure indication lamp 8 is turned on, the vehicle 2 is brought into a maintenance shop for maintenance. In the maintenance shop, vehicle information can be obtained by connecting the information input connector 9 of the failure diagnosis tool 3 to a vehicle information output connector (hereinafter referred to as OBD connector) 7 of the OBDII system 1. In the maintenance shop, it is possible to carry out repair by identifying the fault location and grasping the fault status by using the vehicle information input from the OBDII system 1 to the fault diagnosis tool 3. Such an OBDII system is disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Non-Patent Document 1.

JP 2004-164601 A

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport “Establishment of Advanced On-Board Fault Diagnosis System (OBD System) Study Group” June 4, 2003 (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism website)

  However, in the conventional OBDII system, information on individual vehicles can only be obtained by analyzing the OBDII system mounted on the vehicle. For this reason, in the conventional OBDII system, it has been impossible to easily manage the vehicle at low cost by obtaining information on the driving state of the vehicle by the driver of the own vehicle.

  Therefore, the present invention uses an existing OBDII system, connects a device to an OBD connector, manages the operation status of the company's own vehicle, and can manage the vehicle easily at a low cost. An object is to provide a device for collecting vehicle information.

  The vehicle operation management device of the present invention that achieves the above object is an operation management device for a plurality of vehicles equipped with an OBD system, and is connected to an information output connector of the OBD system and detects vehicle information detected by the OBD system. A vehicle information collection device that can be acquired and output wirelessly, an acceleration sensor that can detect engine vibration built in the vehicle information collection device, and vehicle information acquired by the vehicle information collection device, When an acceleration sensor detects engine vibrations, with a data center that stores an operation management application that manages the operation of multiple vehicles and an operation manager terminal that is owned by the operation manager and that can communicate with the data center The vehicle information collecting device obtains vehicle information from the OBD system.

  The vehicle information collection device of the present invention that achieves the above object is a vehicle information collection device used in an operation management apparatus for a plurality of vehicles equipped with an OBD system, and outputs vehicle information of the OBD system of each vehicle. A wireless communication device connected to the connector and capable of acquiring vehicle information detected by the OBD system and outputting the information wirelessly and an acceleration sensor capable of detecting engine vibration are built in, and the acceleration sensor detects engine vibration. Sometimes it is characterized by obtaining vehicle information from the OBD system.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the state in which the vehicle carrying the OBDII system was connected to the failure diagnosis tool in a maintenance shop. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the operation management apparatus of the vehicle of this invention. It is a block block diagram which shows in detail the internal structure of each site | part of the vehicle operation management apparatus shown in FIG. (a) is a screen figure which shows an example of the display screen of the smart phone used for the vehicle operation management apparatus shown in FIG. 2, (b) is a partial screen figure which shows a different display of the display screen shown in (a). is there. It is a screen figure which shows another example of the display screen of the smart phone used for the operation management apparatus of the vehicle shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on specific examples with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the vehicle operation management device 10 of the present invention. The vehicle 2 is equipped with an OBDII system (not shown). The vehicle operation management apparatus 10 according to this embodiment includes a vehicle information collection device 21, a smartphone 22, an application in the data center 30, and an operation manager terminal 14.

  The vehicle information collecting device 21 is a vehicle information collecting device including a communication device, and is used by being connected to an OBD connector of the OBDII system (vehicle information output connector of the OBDII system) and collecting vehicle information detected by the OBD system. Is what you get. The vehicle information collecting device 21 is also simply referred to as device 21 hereinafter. The OBD connector is generally around the feet of the driver's seat, in the center console, or around the feet of the passenger seat. The smartphone 22 is owned by the driver of the vehicle 2, and a smartphone application (hereinafter referred to as a smartphone application) for communicating with the device 21 is installed.

  The vehicle information acquired by the device 21 is sent from the communication device to the smartphone 22. On the display screen 22D of the smartphone 22, the acquired information can be viewed by the driver of the vehicle 2. The vehicle information sent to the smartphone 22 is then sent from the smartphone 22 to the data center 30 and stored in the database 15. An operation management application is installed in the database 15 of the data center 30 to manage vehicle information input from a plurality of vehicles 2 and display the management result on the display screen 14D of the operation manager terminal 14. it can. The operation management application can be installed later on a smartphone already owned by a vehicle driver.

  In the vehicle operation management device 10 of the present invention, communication between the device 21 and the smartphone 22, communication between the smartphone 22 and the data center 30, and communication between the data center 30 and the operation manager terminal 14 are bidirectional. is there. Therefore, it is possible to send a message from the operation manager terminal 14 to the smartphone 22.

  The above is a flow of vehicle information when the driver of the vehicle 2 has the smartphone 22, but the driver of the vehicle 2 may not have the smartphone 22. When the driver of the vehicle 2 does not have the smartphone 22, the vehicle information is sent from the communication device of the device 21 to the data center 30 through a path indicated by a one-dot chain line in FIG. Communication between the data center 30 and the operation manager terminal 14 is the same whether the driver of the vehicle 2 has the smartphone 22 or not. The size of the device 21 when using the smartphone 22 is 50 mm in depth, 30 mm in width, and 30 mm in height. The size of the device 21 when not using the smartphone 22 is 50 mm in depth, 46 mm in width, and 25 mm in height.

  FIG. 3 shows in detail the internal structure of each part in the vehicle operation management apparatus 10 of the embodiment shown in FIG. The vehicle 2 has an engine 4, and the OBDII system 1 has an ECU (not shown), and acquires vehicle information from the engine 4 and the like. The information input connector 9 of the vehicle information acquisition device 21 is connected to the OBD connector 7 of the OBDII system 1, and vehicle information is acquired from the OBDII system 1. The device 21 includes an acceleration sensor 5A. The acceleration sensor 5A detects engine vibration to detect whether the engine is operating.

  A smartphone application 23 is installed in the smartphone 22, and the smartphone 22 acquires vehicle information through the device 21 and Bluetooth connection (described as Bluetooth (registered trademark) connection in the drawing). Further, the smartphone 22 has a GPS (Global Positioning System) function, and receives a radio wave from the GPS satellite 12 to detect the position of the vehicle 2 on the earth. The vehicle information and the position information acquired by the smartphone 22 are sent to the data center 30 using the mobile phone communication network 3G. Vehicle information and position information from a plurality of vehicles are sent to the data center 30.

  The data center 30 includes a terminal information receiving system 31, a terminal database system 32, a business application system 33, an application platform 34, and a business database system 35, which are connected to each other via an internal bus 36. Vehicle information and position information received by the terminal information receiving system 31 are stored in the terminal database system 32. Further, operation management data is created by the business application system 33 and the application platform 34 based on the data stored in the terminal database system 32 and stored in the business database system 35.

  The business application system 33 is connected to the Internet network 11 and acquires map information from the map information service 13 provided outside the data center 30 through the Internet network 11. In addition, the business application system 33 communicates with the operation manager terminal 14 through the Internet network 11 to send operation management data to the operation manager terminal 14 and receive a message from the operation manager terminal 14 to the driver of the vehicle 2. This is sent to the smartphone 22 and the message content is displayed on the display screen of the smartphone 22.

  In the vehicle operation management device 10 of the embodiment configured as described above, the part indicated by the broken line is a part newly added in the present invention. In the vehicle operation management apparatus 10, when the acceleration sensor 5 </ b> A detects the engine vibration by the acceleration sensor 5 </ b> A that can detect the engine vibration built in the vehicle information collection device, the device 21 detects the engine vibration from the OBD system II. Get vehicle information. When the acceleration sensor 5A does not detect engine vibration, the device 21 does not acquire vehicle information from the OBD system II, and the operating current of the device 21 is suppressed. Since the current consumption of the acceleration sensor 5A is approximately 500 nA, the power consumption of the device 21 is very small when the device 21 does not acquire vehicle information from the OBD system II.

  Here, functions that can be realized by the vehicle operation management device 10 of the embodiment configured as described above will be described.

(1) Realization of the sleep mode of the ECU In the existing OBD system II application, the ECU of the OBD system II communicates with the periodic failure diagnosis tool (corresponding to the device of the present invention), and the failure diagnosis tool acquires the engine speed. doing. Since communication by the failure diagnosis tool is performed regardless of the operating state of the engine, 27 mA is required as an operating current of the ECU. On the other hand, since the operating current for the ECU to enter the sleep mode needs to be 5 mA or less, the ECU cannot enter the sleep mode in the existing application of the OBD system II. Therefore, in the application of the existing OBD system II, the power consumption of the ECU is large.

  In contrast, in the present invention, communication between the device and the ECU is controlled based on whether or not an acceleration sensor installed in the device detects engine vibration. When the engine is running, the device of the present invention works the same as an existing OBD system II application. On the other hand, when the engine is stopped, the acceleration sensor does not detect engine vibration, so the device does not communicate with the ECU. Since the current flowing through the acceleration sensor while the engine is stopped is negligible as described above, the operating current of the ECU is 4.7 mA, which satisfies the condition for the ECU to enter the sleep mode. Therefore, the power consumption of the ECU can be reduced in the application of the OBD system II of the present invention.

(2) Reduction of traffic In the application of the existing OBDII system, since the device continues to issue commands to the ECU of the OBDII system, the traffic between the device and the smartphone becomes high. Since the ECU gives priority to the command on the driving side, the acquisition of information on the OBDII system is postponed. In contrast, in the present invention, the smartphone issues a command to the device only once at regular intervals. At that time, if no result is returned from the device, this is recorded, and the command is issued again after a fixed time. The device determines the operating status of the ECU, controls communication between the device and the ECU, and transmits the result. For this reason, communication frequency decreases and the traffic between a device and a smart phone can be reduced.

(3) Message Display In the operation management device of the present invention, the operation manager can notify the driver of the vehicle of work content instructions, alerts, and other messages. Use Google's "Google Cloud Messaging (registered trademark)" to display in real time when connecting to the Internet, or save to the cloud (data center) if you cannot connect to the Internet and connect to the Internet Re-send when In addition, by accumulating communication contents and displaying a list, whether or not a message is output is guaranteed. Furthermore, it is possible to determine whether the reading is unread or read.

  In addition, the operation management application creates a list by accumulating messages to the drivers of the vehicles specified by the operation manager or belonging to a specific group, and transmits the messages to the drivers as well as the messages. A reception result notification as to whether the driver of the vehicle has received can be returned to the operation manager. As described above, in the vehicle operation management device of the present invention, the vehicle information and the message from the vehicle operation manager can be confirmed from the smartphone, and the daily operation record information can be transmitted from the smartphone. And since the daily report is automatically made on the data center side based on the operation record, the burden on the office work of the business driver can be reduced, and this operation management device uses the information transmitted from the driver as the operation manager. Can be managed using an operation manager terminal such as a personal computer.

(4) Correspondence to other terminals OBDII protocols include IOS15765-4 (CAN), IOS14320 (KWP2000), ISO141-2, J1850VPW, J1850PWM, and the like. By rewriting the ROM of the device, the device of the present invention can correspond to various ECUs. In addition, the application side can cope with other terminals.

(5) Use of vehicle identification number By registering the vehicle number in the application platform of the data center, even if the device is replaced, the vehicle information on the data center side does not change, and the vehicle can be continuously managed. is there.

(6) Use of Bluetooth (registered trademark) In existing applications, Wi-Fi, which is an authenticated interconnection standard between devices, is used for connection between a device and a mobile phone (smart phone). When connecting a device and a smartphone with Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi cannot be used for connection between the smartphone and another system. On the other hand, when Bluetooth communication is used between a device and a smartphone as in the present invention, Wi-Fi can be used in addition to a mobile phone communication network (3G) for connection between the smartphone and a data center platform. .

(7) Others The vehicle operation management device of the present invention has the following functions in addition to the above.
(a) Vehicle management This allows new registration, change, deletion and daily report of vehicle information.
(b) Group management New registration, change, and deletion of group information can be performed. For example, new registration, change, and deletion of vehicles belonging to a specific group can be performed.
(c) Specified vehicle tracking The position trajectory of the specified vehicle can be displayed for a specified period. For example, one vehicle can be designated and the daily travel route can be displayed on a map displayed on a display screen of a smartphone or an operation manager terminal. In addition, daily reports can be created automatically based on travel data. Thus, it is possible to perform appropriate vehicle management by clarifying the daily work contents.
(d) Whole / group vehicle tracking It is possible to display the final data reception points of all the vehicles registered in the organization or belonging to a specific group. For example, the current positions of all vehicles or a specified vehicle group can be displayed on a map displayed on a display screen of a smartphone or an operation manager terminal. Also, vehicle information can be displayed, and the current situation of the vehicle can be immediately grasped.

  FIG. 4A shows an example of a display screen 22D of the smartphone 22 used in the vehicle operation management apparatus 10 shown in FIG. For example, the message 41 from the operation manager, the vehicle speed 42, the average speed 43, the average fuel consumption 44, the instantaneous fuel consumption 45, the travel time 46, the travel distance 47, and the operation state 48 of the vehicle can be displayed on the display screen 22D. . The average speed 43 and the average fuel consumption 44 are average values from the start of the engine to the stop, and once the engine is stopped, the distance to that point is reset. The contents of the display screen 22D of the smartphone 22 can be displayed on the display screen 14D of the operation manager terminal 14 shown in FIG.

  Further, the display “actual vehicle” of the vehicle operation state 48 shown in FIG. 4A is the one in which the vehicle is running, and “end-of-car” is displayed when the vehicle operation is stopped. Further, as shown in FIG. 4B, “start vehicle” is displayed in the operation state 48 of the vehicle before the vehicle starts to move.

  FIG. 5 shows another example of the display screen 22D of the smartphone 22 used in the vehicle operation management apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 2, and the vehicle operation state 48 can be displayed in more detail. is there. In this example, “loading”, “standby”, and “rest” can be displayed in addition to “actual vehicle” as the operation state 48 of the vehicle. The smartphone 22 can be replaced with a mobile phone or a tablet having an equivalent function.

  As described above, the present invention uses the existing OBDII system and connects the device to the OBD connector, thereby managing the operation status of the company's own vehicle and easily managing the vehicle at a low cost. And since the traveling data of an actual vehicle is acquired and the operation condition of the company vehicle is managed, the information is accurate, and it is possible to know actual vehicle information instead of theoretical values. Moreover, if there is a computer (operation manager terminal) that can be connected to the Internet, it can be easily introduced, and even if a smartphone is used, it does not depend on the carrier or OS. Furthermore, since data is managed in the data center cloud, the vehicle can be managed without depending on the operation manager terminal.

1 OBDII system 2 Vehicle 4 Engine 5A Acceleration sensor 6 ECU
7 OBD connector (vehicle information output connector)
10 Operation Management Device 11 Internet Network 14 Operation Manager Terminal 21 Device (Vehicle Information Collection Device)
22 Smartphone 23 Smartphone application 30 Data center

Claims (13)

A plurality of vehicle operation management devices equipped with an OBD system,
A vehicle information collection device connected to the information output connector of the OBD system, capable of acquiring vehicle information detected by the OBD system and outputting the information wirelessly;
An acceleration sensor capable of detecting engine vibration built in the vehicle information collecting device;
A data center that receives the vehicle information acquired by the vehicle information collection device and stores an operation management application that manages the operation of the plurality of vehicles;
An operation manager terminal owned by an operation manager and capable of communicating with the data center,
The vehicle operation management apparatus, wherein the vehicle information collection device acquires the vehicle information from the OBD system when the acceleration sensor detects the engine vibration.   The vehicle operation management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a wireless communication device mounted on the vehicle information collecting device transmits the vehicle information to the data center through a mobile phone network.   A wireless communication device mounted on the vehicle information collecting device transmits the vehicle information to a mobile terminal owned by a driver of the vehicle using a short-range wireless communication standard radio wave, and the mobile terminal is connected to a mobile phone line. The vehicle operation management device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle information is transmitted to the data center through a network.   The operation management apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the portable terminal is a smartphone, and communication between the data center and the operation manager terminal is performed through an Internet line.   The operation management application outputs a command to the vehicle information collection device only once every predetermined time interval to collect the vehicle information, and determines the communication frequency between the vehicle information collection device and the OBD system. The operation management device according to claim 1, wherein the operation management device is lowered.   The vehicle operation management device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the operation management application is capable of transmitting a message input from the operation manager terminal to a driver of the vehicle. .   The message to the driver of the vehicle includes an instruction of the driver's work contents, a warning, and the message is displayed in real time when the driver can connect to the mobile phone network, and the message when the driver cannot connect The operation management device according to claim 6, wherein the operation management device is stored in the data center and is transmitted to the driver when the driver is connected to the cellular phone network.   The operation management application creates a list by accumulating messages from the operation manager to the driver of the vehicle, transmits the list to the driver, and sends the message to the driver of the vehicle. The operation management device according to claim 7, wherein a reception result notification as to whether or not a message has been received is returned to the operation manager. A vehicle information collecting device used in an operation management device for a plurality of vehicles equipped with an OBD system,
A wireless communication device connected to a vehicle information output connector of the OBD system of each vehicle, capable of acquiring vehicle information detected by the OBD system and outputting it wirelessly;
Built-in acceleration sensor that can detect engine vibration,
A vehicle information collection device that obtains the vehicle information from the OBD system when the acceleration sensor detects the engine vibration.   The vehicle information collecting device according to claim 9, wherein the wireless communication device transmits the vehicle information using a radio wave of a short-range wireless communication standard.   The device for collecting vehicle information according to claim 9, wherein the wireless communication device transmits the vehicle information through a mobile phone network.   When the driver of the vehicle owns a portable terminal, the wireless communication device can transmit the vehicle information using radio waves of a short-range wireless communication standard, and the driver of the vehicle does not own a portable terminal. The vehicle information collecting device according to claim 9, wherein the vehicle information can be transmitted to a data center through a mobile phone network.   The communication apparatus outputs a command to the vehicle information collection device only once every predetermined time interval to collect the vehicle information, and reduces the communication frequency between the vehicle information collection device and the OBD system. The vehicle information collection device according to claim 9, wherein the vehicle information collection device is a vehicle information collection device.

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