JP2605785Y2 - Emergency sound detector - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an emergency sound detector for detecting the approach of an emergency vehicle while driving the vehicle. The driver can easily determine the direction of the emergency vehicle and the distance to the emergency vehicle. It is something that can be grasped.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recent automobiles have high sound insulation, and it is difficult to hear outside sounds when the windows are closed. This tendency is particularly strong when listening to a car audio device at a large volume. For this reason, even if the emergency vehicle is approaching, it is delayed to notice this, and the emergency vehicle may be troubled.

In order to solve such inconveniences, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2-274007 and 3-6.
No. 797, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 4-23319, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No.
JP-A-57083, JP-A-61-91440 and the like have been conventionally proposed. This is done by placing a microphone outside the vehicle and collecting sounds outside the vehicle, detecting the alarm sound emitted by the emergency vehicle from among them, reducing or reducing the volume of the car audio device, or interrupting music playback. By injecting a message notifying the approach of an emergency vehicle into a car audio device and reproducing it from a speaker, or by displaying the approach of the emergency vehicle on a panel of driving instruments, the driver is notified of the approach of the emergency vehicle. It was done.

[0004]

According to the conventional emergency sound detector, the driver can know the approach of the emergency vehicle, but can know the direction of the emergency vehicle and the distance to the emergency vehicle. Instead, the vehicle must look around itself to confirm its existence, and there is a problem that the evacuation operation is troublesome so as not to obstruct the passage of the emergency vehicle.

The purpose of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, so that the driver can easily grasp the direction of the emergency vehicle and the distance to the emergency vehicle so that the driver can smoothly understand the direction. It is an object of the present invention to provide an emergency sound detection device capable of performing an evacuation operation.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention is distribution by varying the vehicle exterior side mirror (door mirror, say fender mirror or the like) in staggered positions a plurality of microphones mutually or directional orientation The emergency sound is detected from the collected signals of the plurality of microphones, respectively.
The direction of arrival of the emergency sound is determined from the time difference or level difference between the detected emergency sounds of the microphones, and the obtained direction of arrival of the emergency sound is reported to the driver.

[0007] The invention furthermore, the seeking distance from the level value of a plurality of at least 1 horn sound collection signals of the microphones to the emergency sound source, to the emergency sound source which is the calculated The distance is notified to the driver.

Further, the present invention further detects that the detected emergency sound of at least one microphone has been continuously repeated for a predetermined time or a predetermined number of times in a prescribed repetition cycle, and determines that the emergency sound is a normal emergency sound. Then, when this determination is made, by performing a plurality of times to calculate the arrival direction based on the emergency sound detected at each time,
When the same operation result is obtained a predetermined number of times in succession, this is treated as a normal operation result.

In this invention , the arrival direction informing means or the arrival direction informing means and the distance informing means are arranged on an inner mirror inside the vehicle.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF] According to this invention, by disposing at different vehicle external to the side mirror by shifting the position of a plurality of microphones mutually or directional orientation, detected from the sound collection signal of each microphone The arrival time of the emergency sound is determined based on the time difference or level difference of the emergency sound, and the driver can easily know the direction in which the emergency vehicle is located, and smoothly perform the evacuation operation so as not to obstruct the passage of the emergency vehicle. Can be performed. In addition, since the microphone is arranged on the side mirror, the microphone can be incorporated at the stage of manufacturing the side mirror as an automobile part, and as compared with a case where the microphone is separately incorporated into the body of the vehicle at the stage of assembling the vehicle, the assembly of the vehicle is improved. The work on the line can be simplified.

Further, according to this invention, since further notifies seeking distance from the level value of the microphone of the sound collection signal to an emergency sound source, the driver can know the distance to an emergency vehicle to facilitate Thus, a more accurate evacuation operation can be performed.

[0012] According to this invention, operation of the arrival direction when emergency sound is determined that the emergency sound look normal when repeated several times in a specified period, and is further determined that the emergency sound regular Only when the result is the same for a predetermined number of consecutive times, the calculation result is notified as a normal result, so that an unnecessary evacuation operation due to erroneous detection can be prevented.

Further, according to this invention, since the arranged direction of arrival notifying means or arrival direction informing means and the distance informing unit in the vehicle interior of the inner mirror, the notification is carried out near the driver, the driver notification Can be easily confirmed.

[0014]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below. FIG.
(A) shows an example of arrangement of microphones with respect to a door mirror. The door mirror 10 is provided in a sash portion triangular zone 20 sandwiched between a sash portion 16 of a door glass 14 of a vehicle front door 12 and a front pillar 18.
It is mounted on the front door 12 and arranged. The door mirror 10 includes a base 22 fixed to the front door 12.
And a body portion 24 attached to the base portion 22 so as to be rotatable in the horizontal direction and displaceably disposed so as to protrude from and retract with respect to the front door 12. A mirror 26 is mounted on the body 24.

A unidirectional microphone 31 of the same type having a waterproof, windproof, and vibration-proof structure is provided in a lower portion of the body portion 24 in a forward direction (or a slightly rightward direction) and a backward direction (or a slightly rightward direction). , 32 are provided. Two unidirectional microphones (33, 34) are similarly arranged on the door mirror 11 on the left side of the vehicle (FIG. 2B). One example of the directional characteristics of these microphones is shown in a plan view in FIG.

FIG. 2C shows an example of the arrangement of the notification means. This is because an emergency sound arrival direction indicator 36 is provided in a part of the field of view of the inner mirror 35, and a small speaker is embedded in the inner mirror 35, and the sound exit (alarm) is provided in a part of the peripheral edge of the inner mirror 35. Output port) 38 is provided. In the emergency sound arrival direction display section 36, a picture 40 indicating the planar shape of the vehicle is drawn in the center, and the surroundings (front, front,
Arrow-shaped direction indicators 41 to 48 are disposed at the left, right and intermediate positions thereof. Direction indicator 4
Two light emitting diodes of yellow and red are arranged on the back side of 1 to 48, respectively.

When the arrival direction of the emergency sound is calculated based on the sound pickup signals of the microphones 31 to 34, the direction indicators 41 to 41 are calculated.
Those indicating the corresponding direction out of 48 are lit, and the driver is informed of the direction. At this time, the distance to the emergency vehicle is calculated based on the sound pressure level of the emergency sound. If the distance to the emergency vehicle is long, the yellow light emitting diode is turned on. Approximate distance to the vehicle (far or near)
Is notified to the driver. Also, the type, direction,
An alarm message notifying the distance (approaching state) and the like is issued from the speaker.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a control configuration for detecting an emergency sound based on the collected signals of the microphones 31 to 34 in FIG. 2 and informing the inner mirror 35 of the approach of the emergency vehicle. Here, the circuit configuration for detecting the emergency sound based on the collected signals of the microphones 31 to 34, calculating the direction of arrival, calculating the distance, and the like is all disposed in the inner mirror 35.

In the emergency sound detection device 1 of FIG. 1, the sound pickup signals of the microphones 31 to 34 are transmitted to the door mirrors 10 and 1 respectively.
1 is amplified by the microphone amplifiers 51 to 54 disposed in the inner mirror 3 and the inner mirror 3 through the signal cables 56 to 59.
It is led to 5. The collected sound signal guided to the inner mirror 35 is input to the emergency sound detection means 60.

Here, the emergency sound detecting means 60 extracts frequency band components including various emergency sounds from the collected signals of the microphones 31 to 34, and the frequency of the emergency sound signal exists for one of the extracted components. The presence or absence of the emergency sound is confirmed by detecting whether or not the emergency sound is determined, and the type of the emergency sound is determined as necessary. Further, the repetition period of the emergency sound signal is defined for the determined type of the emergency sound. It is determined whether or not the emergency sound band extraction component of each of the microphones 31 to 34 is a regular emergency sound by checking whether or not the regular repetition period is obtained.

That is, the emergency sound detecting means 60 first removes road noise, engine noise, extraneous noise and the like included in each collected sound signal by the band-pass filters 61 to 64, and removes the band components including the emergency sound. Extract. The frequency of the emergency sound is as follows: the ambulance's peak sound is a repetition of 960 Hz and 770 Hz;
, The band-pass filter 66
Can be set to, for example, 700 to 1000 Hz.

The emergency sound determination circuit 66 determines whether or not the signals extracted by the band pass filters 61 to 64 are normal emergency sounds. Here, the emergency sound band extraction component of the forward sound of the right door mirror 10 is used. When the level of the extracted component is equal to or higher than a predetermined minimum level, the type of emergency sound (vehicle) (an ambulance, a police car, etc.) is determined from the frequency, and the emergency sound is transmitted at a prescribed repetition period ( 960Hz and 770 at 1.3 second cycle in case of ambulance beep
Repeat Hz. In the case of police car woo-woo, 8 in 4 second cycles
It is determined whether the sound is a regular emergency sound (that is, whether it is due to noise) by testing whether the sound is repeated for a predetermined time or a predetermined number of times continuously at a change of 00 to 900 Hz).

As a result, when the emergency sound determination circuit 66 determines that the emergency sound is a normal emergency sound, a signal indicating the determination (a normal emergency sound determination signal) and a signal indicating the type of the emergency sound are output. . A signal indicating the type of emergency sound is input to the arithmetic circuit 72. In addition, the normal emergency sound determination signal is generated by the timer 6
8 is started. The timer 68 is troublesome for the driver if the voice synthesis circuit 70 is frequently activated and an alarm message is issued when the emergency sound is continuously detected. An alarm message is issued every 30 seconds, 1 minute, etc. The timer 68 outputs a signal "1" for a predetermined time when a regular emergency sound determination signal is input. Even if the normal emergency sound determination signal is input again while the output rises to "1", the timer 68
Is not retriggered.

While the output of the timer 68 rises to "1", the arithmetic circuit 72 sets each band-pass filter 6
Regarding the emergency sound band extraction component output from 1 to 64,
The arrival direction of the emergency sound is determined by comparing the phase difference (arrival time difference) and the level difference with each other. In addition, any one of the emergency sound extraction components (for example, a microphone signal in the direction in which the arrival direction is determined) or a plurality of (for example, the sum of all four signals) output from each of the band-pass filters 61 to 64 is output. The pressure level is detected, and it is determined whether the distance to the emergency vehicle is long or short based on whether the pressure level is larger or smaller than a predetermined threshold value. Then, while the output of the timer 68 is "1", the arithmetic circuit 72 repeatedly performs the above-described determination of the arrival direction and the distance, and tests the determination result.
If the same result is obtained continuously for a predetermined number of times (for example, three times) (only one of the arrival direction and the distance may be verified), the determination result of the arrival direction and the distance is determined to be correct, and the notification is performed. A signal for driving the means 74 (a signal for selecting the type of alarm message generated from the voice synthesizing circuit and a signal for turning on the light emitting diodes of the direction indicators 41 to 48) is output. Note that the alarm message type selection signal is output while the timer 68 is operating.
Output only once.

The notifying means 74 includes a voice synthesizing circuit 70 for generating an alarm sound, a speaker 76 for generating the alarm sound, and yellow indicating the direction indicators 41 to 48 of the emergency sound arrival direction display section 36. Light emitting diodes 81 to
86 and red light emitting diodes 91 to 98. The voice synthesizing circuit 70 includes, for example, the type of emergency vehicle (ambulance, police car, etc.) and the distance to the emergency vehicle (far, near)
The following alarm message indicating the contents of each combination is stored in the memory (ROM).

[0026] Ambulance / Far: "Pip, an ambulance is approaching. Ambulance / Nearby: "Pip, an ambulance is approaching. Slow down to the left. If you are inside an intersection, exit immediately and stop. Police car, far: "Pip, a police car is approaching. Police Car / Near: "Pip, a police car is approaching.
Slow down to the left. If you are inside an intersection, exit immediately and stop. 』

Further, an alarm message indicating the direction of arrival of the emergency vehicle may be further combined and stored in accordance with the direction of arrival of the emergency sound (for example, "Pip, an ambulance is approaching from behind", etc.). it can.

The voice synthesizing circuit 70 is in a state where it can be started while the timer 68 is operating.
Is activated when an alarm message type selection signal is output from, and reads out the corresponding message sound from the memory and outputs it. The arithmetic circuit 72 outputs the alarm message selection signal only once while the timer 68 is operating.
Only starts once. The alarm message sound output from the voice synthesis circuit 70 is uttered from the speaker 76.

Direction indicator 4 of emergency sound arrival direction indicator 36
Light-emitting diodes 81-88, 91-
98 indicates the direction and distance (far, near) corresponding to the drive signal according to the determination result of the arrival direction and distance of the emergency sound output from the arithmetic circuit 72. As described above, the approaching state of the emergency vehicle is notified to the driver by voice and display, so that the driver can calm down and perform the evacuation operation.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the operation of the emergency sound detector 1 of FIG. 1 described above. The emergency sound determination circuit 66 outputs a regular emergency sound determination signal each time the emergency sound is detected a predetermined number of times (for example, three times) in a prescribed repetition cycle. The timer 68 is triggered by the normal emergency sound determination signal and rises to "1" for a predetermined set time (for example, 30 seconds and 1 minute). The arithmetic circuit 72 outputs "1" from the timer 68.
While standing up, the phase difference and level difference and the sound pressure level value of the emergency sound band extraction component of the sound pickup signals of the microphones 31 to 34 are detected to determine the arrival direction and distance of the emergency sound, and the predetermined number of times ( If the same result is obtained continuously (for example, three times), a signal for selecting an alarm message having the content corresponding to the determination result is output to the voice synthesis circuit 70, and this is triggered. The emergency sound arrival direction display unit 3
The yellow (in the case of far) or red (in the case of close) light emitting diode in the corresponding direction among the six direction indicators 41 to 48 is turned on. Once the alarm message is issued, the voice synthesizing circuit 70 is not retriggered even if the arithmetic circuit 72 repeats the same determination result three times continuously while the output of the timer 68 rises to "1". In addition, the display of the emergency sound arrival direction display section 36 is updated every time three consecutive identical determination results are obtained. If the same determination result is not obtained three consecutive times within a certain period after the display is started, the display is turned off.

Next, a specific example of each part of the emergency sound detection device of FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 4 shows a specific example of the microphone amplifiers 51 to 54. Unidirectional microphone 31
For example, WM- manufactured by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
034C or the like can be used.

FIG. 5 shows a specific example of the band pass filters 61 to 64. FIG. 6 shows pass band characteristics of the band pass filters 61 to 64 of FIG.
Here, the center frequency f ₀ is 865 Hz, the lower limit f _min of the pass band is 770 Hz, the upper limit f _max is 960 Hz, and Q is 86.
5 ÷ (960−770) = 5.

FIG. 7 shows a specific example of the emergency sound determination circuit 66. Here, a case in which the peak sound of an ambulance is determined is shown. The presence of other types of emergency sounds can be determined by separately preparing an emergency sound determination circuit that detects a unique frequency and a repetition period. The operation of the circuit of FIG.
Shown in

In FIG. 7, a circuit 100 is a circuit for detecting 960 Hz corresponding to a beep sound using a tone decoder IC 101, and a circuit 102 is a tone decoder IC.
This is a circuit for detecting 770 Hz corresponding to a peep sound by using 103. The digital bandpass filter 104 is a circuit for testing whether or not the peak sound detected by the circuits 100 and 102 has a predetermined repetition period.
That is, the flip-flop circuit 106 includes the circuit 100,
It is set and reset alternately by the output of 102. One-shot multivibrator outputs a short pulse at the rising edge of Q output of flip-flop circuit. The one-shot multivibrator 110 is triggered by the falling edge of the output pulse of the one-shot multivibrator 106, and its output from the inverted Q output becomes "0" for a time slightly shorter than the prescribed repetition period (1.3 seconds) of the peak tone. Output a signal. Also, the one-shot multivibrator 11
2 is triggered by the falling edge of the output pulse of the one-shot multivibrator 106, and outputs a signal that becomes "1" from the Q output for a slightly longer time than the prescribed repetition period of the peak tone. One-shot multivibrator 10
Outputs of 8, 110 and 112 are input to an AND circuit 114.

When a peak sound is detected at a prescribed repetition period, the one-shot multivibrators 110 and 11
The next short pulse is output from the one-shot multivibrator 108 while both outputs of “1” are “1”, so that this short pulse can pass through the AND circuit 114. However, if the detection of the peak sound deviates significantly from the prescribed repetition cycle, the output of either one of the one-shot multivibrators 110 and 112 becomes “0”.
While the one-shot multivibrator 10
Since the next short pulse is output from 8, this short pulse cannot pass through the AND circuit 114. In this way, a short pulse is output from the AND circuit 114 each time a peak tone is detected at a prescribed repetition period.

The output of the digital bandpass filter 104 is input to a detection accuracy improvement circuit 116. The detection accuracy improving circuit 116 is a circuit for determining that a pea sound is a regular pea sound when a pea sound is continuously detected a predetermined number of times (here, three times) in a predetermined repetition cycle. The output pulse of the AND circuit 114 is the inverter 1
It is input to the one-shot multivibrator 120 via 18 and triggers it. The one-shot period of the one-shot multivibrator 120 is set as, for example, 4.5 seconds as [repetition period of the peak tone (1.3 seconds) × 3 times + α], during which a signal “1” is output.

The preset counter 122 changes the output of the one-shot multivibrator 120 from "0" to "1".
Is reset to "3" each time the signal rises, and is counted down every time a short pulse is output from the AND circuit 114 while the output of the one-shot multivibrator 120 is "1". When it becomes "0", the output rises from "0" to "1". Therefore, between the time when the short pulse is output from the AND circuit 114 and the one-shot multivibrator 120 is triggered and the time when the output of the one-shot multivibrator 120 falls to “0”, the peak tone is generated at a regular repetition cycle for three times. The output of the preset counter 122 becomes “1” only when the detection is performed consecutively, thereby improving the detection accuracy of the peak tone. When the one-shot period of the one-shot multivibrator 120 ends, the preset counter 122 is preset to “3” again, and its output falls to “0”. The output of the preset counter 122 is sent to the timer 68. In addition, when performing notification that specifies the type of emergency vehicle, the preset counter 122
Is also sent to the arithmetic circuit 72 to notify the determined emergency sound type.

FIG. 9 shows a specific example of the timer 68. The timer 68 is constituted by a one-shot multivibrator. When the output of the emergency sound judging circuit 66 rises to "1", the timer 68 is triggered and activated, and the signal "for a predetermined one-shot period (30 seconds, 1 minute, etc.)" 1 "is output.

FIG. 10 shows a specific example of the speech synthesis circuit 70. The voice synthesizing IC 124 stores various alarm message voices as described above, which combine the type and distance of the emergency vehicle and, if necessary, the arrival direction, and the output of the timer 68 rises to "1". The alarm message can be activated during a certain period, and is activated by a signal for selecting the type of the alarm message input from the arithmetic circuit 72 and reads out the corresponding alarm message. This alarm message is converted into an analog signal by a D / A converter 126 inside the IC 124 and output, and is amplified by an amplifier 130 via a low-pass filter 128 and supplied to a speaker 76.

FIG. 11 shows a specific example of the arithmetic circuit 72. The arithmetic circuit 72 includes a data selector 132,
134, a phase comparator 136, a microcomputer 138 with a built-in 5-channel A / D converter, and an LED drive circuit 140 for driving the light emitting diodes 81 to 88 and 91 to 98 of the emergency sound arrival direction display section 36 (FIG. 1). Have been. When the output of the timer 68 rises to "1", the microcomputer 138 sends a selection signal D to the data selectors 132 and 134.
1 to D4 to output four microphone input signals I1 to I4.
Out of the two signals (for example, the signals I1 and I3 of the left and right microphones 31 and 33) to be compared with each other. The phase comparator 136 is
The phase difference (arrival time) between the two selected signals is detected, and a voltage having the magnitude shown in FIG. 12 is output according to the phase difference. The microcomputer 138 performs A / D conversion of the detected voltage and compares whether the time difference between the two signals is larger than a predetermined threshold value. If the time difference is larger than the predetermined threshold value, the phase is advanced. It is determined that an emergency sound has arrived from.

In the front-back direction, the microphone 31,
When it is difficult to determine the direction of arrival based on the phase difference due to the short distance between 32 (or 33, 34), the direction of arrival is determined based on the sound pressure level difference. In order to make a determination based on the sound pressure level difference, the microcomputer 138 inputs four microphone input signals I1 to I4 from the analog input terminals A _{IN2 to} A _IN5 and A / D converts them. Then, one of the left and right (or both) microphone input signals (for example, the microphone 31
And 32) are compared with each other to determine whether the difference is greater than a predetermined threshold value. It is determined that the emergency sound has arrived. In addition, a sound pressure level value of any one or a plurality of microphone input signals (for example, a signal of the microphone determined to be the direction of arrival) is detected, and it is determined whether the value is larger than a predetermined threshold value. In comparison, if the distance is smaller than the threshold value, it is determined that the distance to the emergency vehicle is long, and if it is larger, it is determined that the distance is short.

When the arrival direction and the distance of the emergency vehicle are determined in this way, a signal for selecting an alarm message according to the determination result is output from the microcomputer 138 to the voice synthesis circuit 70. When notifying the type of the emergency vehicle as the alarm message, the microcomputer 138 inputs the judgment result of the emergency sound type from the emergency sound judgment circuit 66 and outputs the alarm message selection signal with reference to the judgment result. I do. The microcomputer 138 is L
By driving the ED drive circuit 140 corresponding to the direction and the distance corresponding to the determination result, the light emitting diodes 81 to 88, 91 to 9 of the emergency sound arrival direction display section 36 (FIG. 1) are driven.
8 is turned on.

An example of an arrival direction determination procedure in the microcomputer 138 in FIG. 11 will be described with reference to FIG. (1) STEP1: When the timer 68 (FIG. 1) is started, for example, the sound pickup signals of the microphones 31 and 32 of the right door mirror are used (the addition signal of the microphones 31 and 33 of the right and left door mirrors and the addition signal of the microphones 32 and 34). Can be used.), And measure the sound pressure in the forward and rearward directions. If the front direction is higher than the rear direction by, for example, 5 dB or more, it is determined that the vehicle is coming from the front direction. Conversely, if the rear direction is higher than the front direction by 5 dB or more, the vehicle is coming from the rear direction. judge. If the difference between them is 5 dB or less, it is determined that the vehicle is coming from a direction that is neither before nor after (ie, left or right).

(2) STEP 2 When the determination result of STEP 1 is obtained, the phase difference in the left-right direction is detected using the left and right microphones in the determined direction. That is, when it is determined to be the forward direction, the phase difference between the collected sound signals of the microphones 31 and 33 is detected. When it is determined to be the backward direction, the phase difference between the collected sound signals of the microphones 32 and 34 is detected. If it is not later,
The phase difference between the collected signals of the microphones 31 and 33 or the phase difference between the collected signals of the microphones 32 and 34 is detected. Then, in consideration of the distance between the left and right door mirrors, if there is a phase difference of, for example, 1.5 ms or more, it is determined that the right or left phase in the direction determined in the front-rear direction is coming from the earlier one, If there is no difference of 1.5 ms or more in the phase difference, it is determined that the signal arrives from a direction that is neither left nor right (that is, before or after). The details are as follows.

[ Sound pressure difference before and after] × [Phase difference between left and right] = [Result of determination of direction of arrival] Front direction is high Right direction is fast Front right direction 〃 Left direction is fast Front left direction 同時 Simultaneous Front direction Rear direction is high Right is fast Backward right 〃 Left is fast Back left 〃 Simultaneous Backward Same level in front and back Right is fast Right 〃 Left is fast Left

(3) STEP 3 When an emergency car is actually running, sounds come from various directions due to reflections from buildings, mountains, etc.
Steps 1 and 2 are repeated, and a determination result is output only when the same direction is determined three times in succession. Once the determination result is output, latching is performed until the next three consecutive determinations are made, and there is no change in the display direction. Also, for a certain time (for example, 3
If the next determination result is not obtained for more than 0 second, the latch of the determination result is released and the display disappears.

The distance is detected, for example, after the end of STEP 3 by the microphone of the arrival direction (for example, the microphone 31).
Or 32) sound pressure level value or all microphones 31 to 3
4 can be performed based on the sound pressure level value of the total added value of the collected sound signals.

[0048]

[Modification] In the above embodiment, the case where the microphone is attached to the door mirror has been described. However, if the vehicle is equipped with a fender mirror, the microphone can be attached to the fender mirror.

In the above embodiment, two microphones were attached to each of the left and right mirrors. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, by attaching four unidirectional microphones to the front and rear and left and right of one mirror, it is possible to determine the arrival direction and distance of the emergency sound based on the front and rear sound pressure level differences and the left and right sound pressure level differences.

In the above-described embodiment, the arrival direction and the distance of the emergency sound are determined. However, by detecting a temporal change in the sound pressure level or the like, it is determined whether the emergency vehicle is moving away from the vehicle. Can also be determined.

Also, in the configuration of FIG. 1, when a plurality of types of emergency sounds are simultaneously generated from different directions, the arrival direction of the emergency sounds cannot be determined, and as a result, there is a possibility that a notification may not be made. . To solve this, for example, the emergency sound detection means 60 and the arithmetic circuit 72 of FIG. 1 are provided in parallel for each type of emergency sound, and the bandpass filters 61 to 64 are set to the frequency of the emergency sound to be detected. If the detection is performed by individually setting the corresponding bands, it is possible to determine and notify each emergency sound type. Further, the notification means can be arranged other than the inner mirror.

[0052]

As has been described above devised], according to the invention, it is disposed at different vehicle external to the side mirror by shifting the position of a plurality of microphones mutually or directional orientation, each The direction of arrival of the emergency sound is obtained and reported from the time difference or level difference of the emergency sound detected from the sound pickup signal of the microphone, so that the driver can easily know the direction in which the emergency vehicle is located, so that the driver can pass through the emergency vehicle. The evacuation operation so as not to disturb can be performed smoothly. In addition, since the microphone is arranged on the side mirror, the microphone can be incorporated at the stage of manufacturing the side mirror as an automobile part, and as compared with a case where the microphone is separately incorporated into the body of the vehicle at the stage of assembling the vehicle, the assembly of the vehicle is improved. The work on the line can be simplified.

Further, according to this invention, since further notifies seeking distance from the level value of the microphone of the sound collection signal to an emergency sound source, the driver can know the distance to an emergency vehicle to facilitate Thus, a more accurate evacuation operation can be performed.

Further, according to this invention, operation of the arrival direction when emergency sound is determined that the emergency sound look normal when repeated several times in a specified period, and is further determined that the emergency sound regular Only when the result is the same for a predetermined number of consecutive times, the calculation result is notified as a normal result, so that an unnecessary evacuation operation due to erroneous detection can be prevented.

Further, according to this invention, since the arranged direction of arrival notifying means or arrival direction informing means and the distance informing unit in the vehicle interior of the inner mirror, the notification is carried out near the driver, the driver notification Can be easily confirmed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of arrangement of microphones and an example of arrangement of a notification unit in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a time chart showing an outline of an emergency sound detection operation by the emergency sound detection device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing a specific example of the microphone amplifiers 51 to 54 of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing a specific example of the band-pass filters 61 to 64 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a characteristic diagram of the bandpass filter of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram showing a specific example of the emergency sound determination circuit 66 of FIG.

8 is a time chart showing the operation of the emergency sound determination circuit 66 of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a circuit diagram showing a specific example of a timer 68 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a specific example of the speech synthesis circuit 70 of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a circuit diagram showing a specific example of the arithmetic circuit in FIG. 1;

12 is a diagram illustrating output characteristics of the phase comparator 136 of FIG.

13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an arrival direction determination processing unit by the microcomputer 138 in FIG. 11;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Emergency sound detection apparatus 10, 11 Door mirror (side mirror) 31, 32, 33, 34 Microphone 35 Inner mirror 60 Emergency sound detection means 66 Emergency sound judgment circuit (emergency sound judgment means) 72 Arithmetic circuit (arrival direction operation means, distance) (Calculation means, calculation result verification means) 74 Notification means (arrival direction notification means, distance notification means)

Claims (8)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A front-rear direction of a vehicle mounted on a side mirror outside the vehicle.
And Ma Ikuroho <br/> down disposed respectively mutually made different directional orientation by shifting the position to each other or to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, an emergency sound from the sound collection signals of a plurality of microphones respectively Emergency sound detecting means for detecting, emergency direction calculating means for determining the direction of arrival of the emergency sound in the front-rear direction of the vehicle from the mutual time difference or level difference of the emergency sounds detected by each microphone; The direction of arrival determined by
Emergency sound detection device formed by including a direction of arrival of emergency sound and arrival direction informing means for informing the driver of the vehicle about the front-rear direction. 2. The method of claim 1] it to the outside of the left and right side mirror of the vehicle
Re and arranged been microphones, and emergency sound detection means for detecting respectively an emergency sound from the sound collection signal of a plurality of microphones, the mutual time of detected emergency sound of each microphone
The arrival direction calculating means for calculating the direction of arrival of the emergency sound for the left and right direction of the difference or al the vehicle, the vehicle arrival direction obtained in this arrival direction calculating means
Emergency sound detection device comprising; and a DOA informing means for informing the driver of the vehicle as the direction of arrival of the emergency sound for the left and right direction. 3. The front left and right side mirrors of the vehicle are provided in front of the vehicle.
Displaced from each other in the rearward direction, or
A microstrip <br/> Kurohon disposed respectively each other with different directional orientations, and emergency sound detection means for detecting respectively an emergency sound from the sound collection signal of a plurality of microphones, are those detected Before and after emergency sound of each microphone
Mutual time difference or level difference between microphone emergency sounds
The direction of arrival of the emergency sound in the front-back direction of the vehicle.
Determine the phase of the emergency sound from the microphones on the left and right side mirrors.
The emergency sound in the left and right direction of the vehicle from the time difference
Direction of arrival, and the arrival direction before and after
Arrival direction calculation means for obtaining a direction obtained by combining the directions as the arrival direction of the emergency sound, and arrival direction notification for notifying the driver of the vehicle of the arrival direction of the emergency sound obtained by the arrival direction calculation means And an emergency sound detection device. 4. A distance computing means for obtaining the information of the distance at least from the level value of 1 horn sound pickup signal to the emergency sound source said one of said plurality of microphones, obtained in this distance computation means the The emergency sound detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a distance notification means for notifying a driver of the vehicle of information on a distance to an emergency sound generation source. Wherein said emergency sound detecting means detects that repeated continuously for the predetermined time or a predetermined number of times in repetition period of the provisions of the emergency sound Emergency sound of the detected at least one microphone An emergency sound determination means for determining a normal emergency sound is provided, and the arrival direction calculation means is detected at each time when the emergency sound determination means determines that a normal emergency sound is arriving. An operation result test means for performing the operation for obtaining the arrival direction based on the emergency sound a plurality of times and outputting the same operation result as a normal operation result when the same operation result is obtained a predetermined number of times in succession. The emergency sound detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein: 6. A plurality of microphones arranged on a side mirror outside the vehicle with their positions shifted from each other or with different directions of directivity, and an emergency sound is generated from a sound pickup signal of the plurality of microphones. Emergency sound detection means for detecting the respective emergency sounds, arrival direction calculation means for determining the arrival direction of the emergency sound from the mutual time difference or level difference between the detected emergency sounds of the respective microphones, and the emergency direction calculated by the arrival direction calculation means. the direction of arrival of decoy name comprises a an arrival direction informing means for informing the driver of the vehicle, emergency, wherein the arrival direction informing means is disposed inside the inner mirror of the vehicle Sound detection device. 7. A plurality of microphones arranged on a side mirror outside the vehicle with their positions shifted from each other or with different directions of directivity, and an emergency sound is generated from a sound pickup signal of the plurality of microphones. Emergency sound detection means for detecting the respective emergency sounds, arrival direction calculation means for determining the arrival direction of the emergency sound from the mutual time difference or level difference between the detected emergency sounds of the respective microphones, and the emergency direction calculated by the arrival direction calculation means. Direction-of-arrival notifying means for notifying the driver of the vehicle of the direction of arrival of the sound; information on the distance from the level value of at least one sound pickup signal of the plurality of microphones to the emergency sound source. /> and distance calculation means for obtaining, Ri name comprises a distance informing means for informing the information of the distance to the emergency sound source obtained in this distance computation means to the driver of the vehicle, An emergency sound detection device, wherein the arrival direction informing means and the distance informing means are arranged on an inner mirror inside the vehicle. Claim 8. Front and rear of the vehicle on side mirrors outside the vehicle
And the vehicle's left and right direction
With the microphones respectively arranged, Emergency sound is generated from the collected signals of these multiple microphones.
An emergency sound detection means for detecting each; Of the detected emergency sounds of each microphone,
From the level difference between the emergency sounds of the microphones,
Find the arrival direction of the emergency sound in the front-back direction , Left and right
From the level difference between the emergency sounds of the microphones,
Find the arrival direction of the emergency sound in the left-right direction,
The arrival direction of the emergency sound from the front and rear arrival directions and the left and right arrival directions
Direction-of-arrival calculation means for determining The arrival direction of the emergency sound calculated by the arrival direction calculation means
Direction-of-arrival notification means for notifying the driver of the vehicle; Equipped with
Emergency sound detector.