JP2966212B2 - Control method for in-vehicle information communication system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control method for an in-vehicle information communication system for displaying information information transmitted from an information center via a telephone line on a display unit such as an LCD, and in particular, to obtain desired information. For omitting the redoing of the selection operation of the operation unit necessary for this.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, navigation systems for automobiles having various functions have been developed. Recently, the characteristics of CD-ROMs have been utilized to provide hotel information, sightseeing / recreation area information, cultural facility information, etc. on a CD-ROM. Of the CRT,
There has been proposed a display device that displays the information on a display unit such as an LCD to provide information to a driver.

[0003] However, the information stored on these CD-ROMs is only fixed information, and cannot provide information that changes every moment, such as traffic information, and cannot provide more complete information. .

[0004] On the other hand, the spread of wireless telephones has been remarkable in many cases. In many cases, wireless telephones are mounted on automobiles. Between a wireless telephone mounted on a vehicle and an information center for transmitting predetermined information including the above-mentioned constantly changing information. Is connected by telephone line,
A vehicle that transmits and receives data between a vehicle-mounted computer and an information center by applying the so-called personal computer communication technology, and can provide a driver with various information including change information transmitted from the information center. An information communication system is considered.

[0005] This type of in-vehicle information communication system is generally configured as shown in FIG. 2, and includes a radio telephone 2 connected to an information center via a telephone line 1 and a modem connected to the radio telephone 2. And an in-vehicle computer 4 which is a control unit that takes in transmission data from the information center via the modem 3 and the wireless telephone 2 into a built-in memory.
A display unit 5 for displaying a menu screen based on the transmission data captured by the on-board computer 4; and a selection menu for a search menu for obtaining desired information from the menu screen displayed on the display unit 5. And a key lock unit 7 which detects the start of traveling based on a vehicle speed pulse from a vehicle speed sensor or the like, outputs a key lock signal, and invalidates the operation of the operation keys.

Here, as operation keys of the operation unit 6, an up key 6a for moving the position of a cursor displayed on the display unit 5 under the control of the vehicle-mounted computer 4 and a down key 6b for moving the cursor downward. And a select key 6c for selecting this menu when the cursor matches a desired search menu name.

When the information center is called by operating the radio telephone 2 and the telephone line 1 is connected to the information center, data transmitted from the information center is received by the on-board computer 4 via the radio telephone 2 and the modem 3. Then, a menu screen as shown in FIG. 3 is displayed as an initial screen on the display unit 5 under the control of the vehicle-mounted computer 4,
The driver operates the up / down keys 6a and 6b of the operation unit 6.
Move the cursor to the desired menu name by operating
For example, as shown in the figure, a cursor is moved to a menu name of "map", and then the select key 6c of the operation unit 6 is turned on to select and operate map information, whereby a road map is displayed on the display unit 5.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4A, when the cursor is moved to the menu name of "information database" and the select key 6c is turned on, various operation procedures for accessing the information database of the information center are performed. A menu screen including menu names such as “access database” and “reproduce information” is displayed, as shown in FIG. By turning on the select key 6c in accordance with the menu name "Access the database", a menu screen as shown in FIG. 4C is displayed.

If there is no menu name corresponding to the menu screen shown in FIG. 4C, the cursor is moved to the menu name of "next page" and the select key 6c is turned on to display the next screen. The next menu screen as shown in FIG. 4 (d) is displayed, and if there is a menu name for obtaining desired information, for example, if it is necessary to know today's bargain information on Super OO, By moving the cursor to the menu name of "Supermarket information" and turning on the select key 6c to select and operate the supermarket information as shown in Is displayed on the display unit 5 and the driver can obtain the constantly changing information collected at the information center while staying in the car. Possible to become.

The same applies to the case of obtaining other traffic information, parking lot information, and the like.

[0011]

By the way, in this kind of in-vehicle information communication system, from the viewpoint of safety, the above-mentioned key lock is used to prevent each key of the operation unit 6 from being operated while the automobile is running. A telephone unit 1 is connected to the information center to obtain desired information, for example, while the vehicle is stopped to wait for a traffic light, and the keys 6a to 6c of the operation unit 6 are operated. If the signal is changed and the driving is started again without completing the selection operation, the operation of the operation unit 6 cannot be performed by the operation of the key lock unit 7, and the selection operation is restarted from the beginning when the vehicle is stopped next time. However, there is a problem that the communication cost is increased while the telephone line 1 is connected.

Further, if the necessary selection operation is completed, it is not necessary to redo the above selection operation even when the vehicle starts running again. As a result, if the radio wave condition deteriorates and a communication error occurs, the necessary selection operation must be repeated from the beginning to obtain the desired information again, resulting in the same problem.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and eliminates the need to redo the operation of selecting an operation unit necessary to obtain desired information.
It is an object to reduce communication costs.

[0014]

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a vehicle-mounted information communication system, comprising: a wireless telephone connected to an information center via a telephone line; a modem connected to the wireless telephone; A control unit that receives transmission data from the information center via a wireless telephone, a display unit that displays a menu screen based on the transmission data received by the control unit, and a menu screen that is displayed on the display unit. An in-vehicle unit including an operation unit having an operation key for selecting a search menu for obtaining desired information from among them, and a key lock unit for outputting a key lock signal at the start of traveling and invalidating the operation of the operation key. An information communication system for communication when the key lock signal is output during operation of the operation unit and during reception of information from the information center. When an error occurs, the control unit disconnects the telephone line connected to the information center, stores an operation procedure performed up to the line disconnection in a storage unit, and stops outputting the key lock signal. And after the communication error is stopped, the control unit calls the information center to connect the telephone line, and then automatically executes the operation procedure stored in the storage unit.

[0015]

According to the present invention, when a key lock signal is output during operation of the operation unit, and when a communication error occurs during reception of information from the information center, the telephone line is cut off by the control unit. Since the operation procedure up to that time is stored in the storage unit, the telephone line is connected again by the control unit after the output of the key lock signal and the communication error is stopped, and the operation procedure stored in the storage unit is automatically executed. ,
Without having to restart the selection operation from the beginning as before,
Moreover, unnecessary communication costs are reduced.

[0016]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of one embodiment of a control method for a vehicle-mounted information communication system according to the present invention.

However, since the configuration of the on-board information communication system applied to the present invention is the same as that of FIG. 2, the following description will also refer to FIG. Is different from

That is, when there is an output of a key lock signal from the key lock unit 7 due to the start of traveling while operating the operation unit 6, and when a communication error occurs while receiving information from the information center, The computer 4 outputs a disconnection control signal to the wireless telephone 2 to forcibly disconnect the telephone line 1 between the information center and the wireless telephone 2, and stores the operating procedure performed up to the disconnection of the circuit as an in-vehicle computer as a storage unit. After the vehicle stops again and stops outputting the key lock signal, and after a communication error stops, the vehicle-mounted computer 4 outputs a connection control signal to the wireless telephone 2 to call the information center again. After the telephone line 1 is connected to the information center, the operation procedure stored in the memory of the vehicle-mounted computer 4 is automatically executed.

Next, the control procedure will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

FIG. 1A shows a storage operation of a selection operation procedure. A telephone line with an information center is connected by a dial operation of the radio telephone 2, and desired information is displayed based on a display screen of a display unit 5. The procedure of the selection operation necessary for obtaining is stored in the memory (step S1), and it is determined whether or not a key lock signal is output from the key lock unit 7 (step S2), and the determination result is YES. If so, the key lock signal is output because traveling started during the necessary selection operation, and the telephone line 1 with the information center is disconnected by the on-vehicle computer 4 (step S3). The storage of the operating procedure performed up to the disconnection by the memory ends (step S4).

On the other hand, if the decision result in the step S2 is NO, that is, if there is no output of the key lock signal, it is decided whether or not a necessary selecting operation is completed (step S5). Returning to step S1, the procedure of the selection operation is subsequently stored in the memory, and step S5
If the determination result is YES, the process shifts to step S3, and after the processes in steps S3 and S4, a series of storage operations is ended.

Therefore, if the key lock signal is output before the selection operation is completed, the operation procedure up to the line disconnection is stored in the memory by the processing of steps S1 to S4.
On the other hand, if there is no output of the key lock signal, step S1,
When the telephone line 1 is disconnected by the processing of S2, S5, S3, and S4, and all the operation procedures until the selection is completed are stored in the memory, and a communication error occurs during the subsequent reception of information from the information center. The necessary procedure of the selection operation stored in the memory is reproduced and executed.

FIG. 1B shows the operation after the output of the key lock signal is stopped. When the output of the key lock signal is stopped, the telephone circuit 1 is again connected to the information center by the vehicle-mounted computer 4 (FIG. 1B). Step T1),
The operation procedures stored in the memory are read out, and these operation procedures are automatically executed (step T2).

At this time, the execution of the operation procedure in step T2 may be automatically started by the vehicle-mounted computer 4, or may be started manually by operating any key of the operation unit 6. .

Next, when the execution of the operation procedure stored in the memory is completed, the selection operation performed until the line is disconnected is automatically reproduced, and the system returns to the same state as immediately before the line disconnection, and the manual operation is performed. (Step T3), and the rest of the selection operation necessary to obtain the desired information is continued (Step T3).
4) Then, the operation ends.

When the telephone line 1 is disconnected due to the occurrence of a communication error during the reception of information, the processing of steps T1 and T2 in FIG. All of the selection operations are automatically reproduced and executed, and the information that was being received before the line disconnection is received again.

Therefore, it is possible to omit the trouble of restarting the selection operation necessary for obtaining desired information from the beginning as in the prior art, and to further reduce the communication cost by disconnecting the telephone line 1 once. You can save money.

Although the above embodiment has been described with reference to the case where the storage unit is a built-in memory of the vehicle-mounted computer 4, the present invention is not limited to this.

[0029]

As described above, according to the control method of the in-vehicle information communication system of the present invention, the communication is performed when the key lock signal is output during the operation of the operation unit and during the reception of the information from the information center. When an error occurs, the control unit disconnects the telephone line, stores the previous operation procedure in the storage unit, connects the telephone line again by the control unit after the output of the key lock signal and the stop of the communication error, Since the operation procedure stored in the storage unit is automatically executed, the trouble of restarting the selection operation from the beginning as in the past can be omitted, and unnecessary communication costs can be reduced, and the in-vehicle information communication having excellent functions. The system can be provided, and a fulfilling road traffic society can be expected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of an embodiment of a control method for a vehicle-mounted information communication system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a general in-vehicle information communication system.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a display screen of a display unit in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the display screen of the display unit in FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 telephone line 2 wireless telephone 3 modem 4 in-vehicle computer (control unit) 5 display unit 6 operation unit 6a up key 6b down key 6c select key 7 key lock unit

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-261576 (JP, A) JP-A-3-183297 (JP, A) JP-A-2-305134 (JP, A) JP-A-1- 248865 (JP, A) JP-A-63-214030 (JP, A) JP-A-62-260300 (JP, A) JP-A-57-143700 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. ⁶ , DB name) H04M 11/00-11/10 H04Q 7/38

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A wireless telephone connected to an information center via a telephone line, a modem connected to the wireless telephone, and a control unit for receiving transmission data from the information center via the modem and the wireless telephone And a display unit for displaying a menu screen based on the transmission data received by the control unit, and operation keys for selecting a search menu for obtaining desired information from the menu screen displayed on the display unit And a key lock unit that outputs a key lock signal at the start of traveling and invalidates the operation of the operation keys, wherein the key lock is performed during operation of the operation unit. When there is a signal output, and when a communication error occurs during reception of information from the information center, the control unit connects to the information center. Along with disconnecting the telephone line, the operation procedure performed until the line disconnection is stored in a storage unit, and after the output of the key lock signal is stopped, and after the communication error is stopped, the control unit calls the information center to call the information center. A method for controlling an in-vehicle information communication system, comprising: connecting the telephone line; and then automatically executing an operation procedure stored in the storage unit.