JP2018022392A - Emergency alarm system, vehicle and emergency alarm method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an emergency alarm system capable of issuing an emergency alarm in a wide range at a low cost.SOLUTION: A vehicle has reception means for receiving an emergency signal transmitted from a master device and alarm means for outputting an emergency alarm from an outbound output device on the basis of the received emergency signal when the vehicle has the output device. The vehicle also has inter-vehicle communication means for communicating with neighboring vehicles. It is desirable that the alarm means performs cooperative processing with the neighboring vehicles by communication via the inter-vehicle communication means and determines an output timing of the emergency alarm from the output device. The vehicle may be an electric vehicle and the output device may be a speaker used for outputting a pseudo engine sound.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to an emergency warning system.

  Alarm systems are known to inform the general public of the occurrence of serious disasters. Patent Document 1 discloses a system that issues an alarm using an outdoor speaker based on an emergency signal transmitted from a master station device. Patent Documents 2 and 3 disclose that an alarm is performed using a speaker or a mobile phone device inside a vehicle based on an emergency signal transmitted from a master station device.

JP 2000-101526 A JP 2013-069130 A European Patent Application No. 2224753

  In emergency warning systems, it is desirable to deliver alarms over as wide a range as possible. In the method using an outdoor speaker as in Patent Document 1, there is a problem in that it is necessary to install a large number of speakers in order to provide a wide range of alarms, which is very expensive.

  The method of using the device used by the alarm receiver for other purposes as in Patent Documents 2 and 3 does not require much additional cost, but a person away from the vehicle or the mobile phone device notices the emergency alarm. Most likely not.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an emergency warning system capable of reporting an emergency warning in a wider range while reducing costs.

The first aspect of the present invention is:
Receiving means for receiving an emergency signal transmitted from the master device;
An alarm means for outputting an emergency alert from the output device based on the received emergency signal, when an output device for the outside of the vehicle is provided;
It is a vehicle provided with.

  Thus, by outputting an emergency warning using the output device for the outside of the vehicle, the warning can be transmitted to a person outside the vehicle, and the cost of installing an outdoor speaker does not occur.

In this aspect, it is desirable to prevent the emergency alerts from a plurality of vehicles from overlapping and becoming difficult to hear when there are a plurality of vehicles in the same area. Therefore, the vehicle according to this aspect further includes a vehicle-to-vehicle communication unit that communicates with a nearby vehicle, and the warning unit performs a cooperative process with a nearby vehicle by communication via the vehicle-to-vehicle communication unit, It is also preferable to determine an output timing of an emergency alarm from the output device. For example, the emergency alarm output timing can be determined by cooperative processing so that the emergency alarms do not overlap among a plurality of vehicles. Note that the determination of the output timing includes a determination that the emergency warning is not output, and only some of the vehicles in the vicinity may output the emergency warning as a representative.

  In addition, for the same purpose as described above, the alarm unit can also randomly determine the output timing of the emergency alarm from the output device. By randomly determining the output timing, it can be expected to avoid duplication of alarms. In this case, it is also preferable that the output timing is determined at random only when the vehicle-to-vehicle communication means can grasp that there is a vehicle nearby, and in other cases, an alarm is output immediately.

  In this aspect, the vehicle may be an electric vehicle, and the output device may be a speaker used for outputting a pseudo engine sound. With the spread of electric vehicles, it is expected that such external speakers will also spread.

  The vehicle according to this aspect preferably includes a second output device for in-vehicle use, and the warning means preferably outputs an emergency warning from the second output device based on the received shape signal. Examples of the second output device are an image display device (display) and an audio output device (speaker). In this way, it is possible to notify an occupant in the vehicle of an emergency warning.

  In this aspect, even when the alarm means receives the emergency signal, if there is an alarm alarm outdoor speaker within a predetermined distance, the alarm means outputs an emergency alarm from the outside output device. It is also preferable not to output. The predetermined distance (threshold value) here may be determined based on the volume of the outdoor speaker or the volume of the output device for the outside of the vehicle.

  A second aspect of the present invention is an emergency warning system including a master device that generates an emergency signal and transmits the emergency signal to the vehicle, and the vehicle according to the first aspect.

  In addition, this invention can also be grasped | ascertained as a vehicle provided with at least one part of the said means, or an emergency warning system. The present invention can also be understood as an emergency warning method for executing at least a part of the above processing. The present invention can also be understood as a computer program for causing a computer to execute this method, or a computer-readable storage medium in which this computer program is stored non-temporarily. Each of the above means and processes can be combined with each other as much as possible to constitute the present invention.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the emergency alert system which can alert | report an emergency alert in a wider range can be implement | achieved, suppressing cost.

The figure which shows the outline | summary of an emergency alert system in this embodiment, and the functional structure of a master apparatus and a vehicle. The flowchart which shows the flow of a process in a master apparatus. The flowchart which shows the flow of the process in a vehicle.

  The emergency alert system according to the present embodiment transmits an emergency signal from a master device to notify an emergency alert in a vehicle. At this time, the vehicle not only notifies an occupant in the vehicle using an in-vehicle output device, but also has an output device for the outside of the vehicle. Alarm.

FIG. 1A is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an emergency warning system according to the present embodiment. The emergency alert system according to the present embodiment includes a master device 1, a relay device 2, and a vehicle 3. FIG. 1B is a diagram showing a functional configuration of the master device 1 and the vehicle 3.

  The master device 1 is a device managed by an authority having the authority to issue an emergency alert. The master device 1 includes an information processing device (computer) including an arithmetic device, a storage device, an input / output device, a communication device, and the like. The master device 1 may be configured by a single computer, or may be configured in cooperation with a plurality of computers. The master device 1 provides the functions shown in FIG. 1B when a computer executes a program.

  The emergency signal input unit 11 receives an input of an emergency signal for notifying the occurrence of an emergency. When and how the emergency signal is generated is not particularly limited. For example, the occurrence of an earthquake or tsunami is predicted based on information obtained from a sensor such as a seismometer, and an emergency signal can be generated when it is predicted that enormous damage will occur. The prediction of an emergency situation may be performed by the master device 1 or may be performed by another device. Alternatively, the operator may manually input the occurrence of an emergency to the emergency signal input unit 11.

  The security unit 12 can detect the occurrence of tampering or impersonation by attaching an electronic signature to the emergency signal. The emergency signal transmission unit 13 transmits the emergency signal with the electronic signature to the vehicle 3 via the relay device 2.

  The relay device 2 relays the emergency signal transmitted from the master device 1 to the vehicle 3. The relay device 2 is, for example, a communication satellite or a relay base station. The communication between the master device 1 and the relay device 2 may be wired communication, wireless communication, or a combination of these as appropriate. The relay device 2 transmits the emergency signal acquired from the master device 1 to the vehicle 3 by wireless communication.

  As shown in FIG. 1B, the vehicle 3 includes an emergency signal receiving unit 31, a security unit 32, an inter-vehicle communication unit 33, an alarm control unit 34, an outside speaker 35, and an in-vehicle speaker 36 as functional units.

  The emergency signal receiving unit 31 is a receiver that receives an emergency signal transmitted from the master device 1. The security unit 32 verifies the electronic signature attached to the emergency signal and detects tampering or impersonation of the emergency signal.

  The inter-vehicle communication unit 33 is a communication device that performs wireless communication with neighboring vehicles. The wireless communication system for inter-vehicle communication is not particularly limited. The inter-vehicle communication unit 33 periodically transmits information such as an identifier of the own vehicle, a position, a speed, and whether or not an external speaker is provided to the surroundings (for example, every 100 milliseconds). Thereby, each vehicle which comprises a system can grasp | ascertain the presence or absence of the vehicle which exists in the circumference | surroundings, and its information.

  The alarm control unit 34 determines when and how to notify an emergency alert when receiving an emergency signal. The security unit 32 and the alarm control unit 34 may be configured by a general-purpose computer and a software program, or may be configured by a dedicated logic circuit.

  The outside speaker 35 is a sound output device that outputs sound toward a person outside the vehicle. The outside speaker 35 is, for example, a speaker used for outputting a pseudo engine sound in an electric vehicle (including a hybrid vehicle). The in-vehicle speaker 36 is an audio output device that outputs audio toward a passenger inside the vehicle.

Note that not all vehicles constituting the emergency warning system are provided with the outside speaker 35. Some vehicles constituting the emergency warning system may include only the in-vehicle speaker 36 and notify the emergency warning only to passengers in the vehicle.

  Next, processing in the emergency alert system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a process flow in the master device 1, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process flow in the vehicle 3.

  First, the operation of the master device 1 will be described with reference to FIG. In step S11, the emergency signal input unit 11 receives an emergency signal input. For example, an emergency signal is input to the emergency signal input unit 11 when a large earthquake is predicted to occur based on information obtained from a seismometer. The emergency signal may include information regarding contents to be notified. For example, information on the epicenter, depth, tsunami occurrence possibility, and the like can be included. Since the emergency signal is transmitted by digital data communication, the emergency signal can include relatively rich information, for example, information can be included in multiple languages. Here, it is assumed that the emergency signal input to the emergency signal input unit 11 includes information on the contents of the notification, but the master device 1 may generate an emergency signal including such information.

  In step S12, the security unit 12 gives an electronic signature to the emergency signal. By this electronic signature, it can be confirmed that the emergency signal is generated by the master device 1, and it is possible to detect the occurrence of falsification or impersonation. Note that the security unit 12 may be used to confirm whether or not the input to the emergency signal input unit 11 has been authorized.

  In step S <b> 13, the emergency signal transmission unit 13 transmits the emergency signal to which the electronic signature is given to the vehicle 3 via the relay device 2. The emergency signal transmission unit 13 performs processing such as encoding and packet division capable of error detection or error correction at the time of transmission.

  The emergency signal transmitted from the master device 1 is distributed to the vehicle 3 via one or more relay devices 2.

  The operation of the vehicle 3 will be described with reference to FIG. In step S <b> 21, the emergency signal receiving unit 31 receives an emergency signal from the relay device 2. If it is confirmed by checksum or error detection that the received emergency signal is not destroyed, the emergency signal is passed to the security unit 32 and the electronic signature is verified. If the verification of the electronic signature fails, since the falsification has occurred, the emergency signal is discarded and the subsequent processing is not performed.

  In step S <b> 23, the warning control unit 34 notifies the emergency warning to the passengers in the vehicle using the in-vehicle speaker 36. However, when the same emergency signal as the emergency signal that has already been received is received, the alarm control unit 34 does not perform repeated notification.

  At the time of alarm notification in step S23, if the occupant has set the output language in advance, it is also preferable to reproduce the alarm contents in the set language (for example, Japanese, English, French, etc.). . When information in multiple languages is included in the emergency signal, it is possible to cope with multiple languages.

  Although the alarm notification using the speaker has been described here, the emergency alarm may be notified using a display device such as a display.

In step S <b> 24, the alarm control unit 34 confirms whether or not the host vehicle includes the outside speaker 35. When the vehicle exterior speaker 35 is provided, the process proceeds to step S25, and an alarm is notified using the vehicle exterior speaker 35. On the other hand, if the outside speaker 35 is not provided, the process is terminated.

  In step S <b> 25, the alarm control unit 34 determines an alarm output timing in cooperation with a neighboring vehicle via the inter-vehicle communication unit 33. For example, it is conceivable that each vehicle notifies the surroundings of the alarm output timing of the own vehicle via the inter-vehicle communication unit 33. When notification of warning output timing is received from another vehicle, the warning output timing may be determined so as to notify with a time difference so that the warnings do not overlap, or the warning notification may be omitted. .

  The determination of the alarm output timing may be performed by a method other than that performed by communication with another vehicle. For example, each vehicle can randomly determine the alarm output timing. By randomly determining the alarm output timing, it can be expected to prevent duplication of alarms.

  In addition, when it is known that there is no vehicle equipped with a speaker outside the vehicle by the regular exchange of vehicle information (transmission of beacons) by the inter-vehicle communication unit 33, cooperative processing with a neighboring vehicle or random determination is performed. Without receiving it, it is advisable to notify an alarm immediately after receiving an emergency signal.

  In step S25, the warning control unit 34 notifies an emergency warning to the outside of the vehicle using the outside speaker 35 at the output timing determined in step S25. The language used for the alarm for the outside of the vehicle is the language specified by the master device 1 regardless of the setting in the vehicle 3.

  According to the present embodiment, since the outside speaker mounted on the vehicle is used, it is possible to notify the emergency warning in a wider range. Moreover, considering that the mounting rate of the outside speakers in the vehicle is increasing, the additional cost required to realize this embodiment is not excessive.

<Modification>
In the above description of the embodiment, only the vehicle issues an emergency alert, but a device other than the vehicle, such as an outdoor speaker, can also be used as an emergency alert output device. The vehicles that make up this system determine whether there are outdoor speakers in the vicinity, and if there are outdoor speakers in the vicinity, there is no outdoor speaker in the neighborhood without alarming using the outside speakers. It is also preferable that alarm notification is performed using a speaker outside the vehicle only when it does not exist. The presence of the outdoor speaker may be grasped by receiving a beacon from the outdoor speaker, or may be grasped using map information describing the location of the outdoor speaker.

  In the above description, the outside speaker provided in the vehicle has been described as a speaker for outputting a pseudo engine sound. However, the speaker may be a speaker used for other purposes, or a speaker dedicated to an alarm. Also good. Furthermore, the output device for notifying the alarm toward the outside of the vehicle is not limited to the speaker (sound output device), and may be a display (display device) for notifying the alarm by an image or characters.

1: Master device 2: Relay device 3: Vehicle 11: Emergency signal input unit 12: Security unit 13: Emergency signal transmission unit 31: Emergency signal reception unit 32: Security unit 33: Inter-vehicle communication unit 34: Alarm control unit 35: Speaker outside the car 36: Speaker inside the car

Claims (9)

Receiving means for receiving an emergency signal transmitted from the master device;
An alarm means for outputting an emergency alert from the output device based on the received emergency signal, when an output device for the outside of the vehicle is provided;
A vehicle comprising: It further comprises vehicle-to-vehicle communication means for communicating with nearby vehicles,
The warning means performs cooperative processing with neighboring vehicles by communication via the inter-vehicle communication means, and determines the output timing of an emergency warning from the output device.
The vehicle according to claim 1. The warning means randomly determines the output timing of an emergency warning from the output device,
The vehicle according to claim 1. The vehicle is an electric vehicle, and the output device is a speaker used to output a pseudo engine sound.
The emergency alert system according to any one of claims 1 to 3. A second output device for the interior of the vehicle;
The warning means outputs an emergency warning also from the second output device based on the received emergency signal.
The vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 4. The alarm means does not output an emergency alarm from the output device for the outside of the vehicle, even when the emergency signal is received, if there is an outdoor alarm alarm speaker nearby,
The vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 5. A master device that generates and transmits an emergency signal to the vehicle;
The vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
With emergency alert system. An emergency warning method executed by the vehicle in an emergency warning system including a master device and a vehicle,
A receiving step of receiving an emergency signal transmitted from the master device;
When the vehicle includes an output device for the outside of the vehicle, an alarm step for outputting an emergency alert from the output device based on the received emergency signal;
Including emergency warning methods.   The program for making a computer perform each step of the method of Claim 8.

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