JP7193216B2 - Material emission system - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a substance emitting system for emitting substances such as aromas, and more particularly to an automatic insect repellent aroma spraying system in a car.

Aroma diffusers for the interior space of vehicles are popular and put to practical use because of their relaxing effects, car sickness suppressing effects, and wakefulness effects. For example, monitoring the driver's condition and spraying an aroma that has an awakening effect when the driver's drowsiness is detected, or spraying an aroma that has an insect repellent effect are also being considered.

For example, the in-vehicle guidance device of Patent Document 1 emits incense upon arrival at the destination, and notifies the arrival at the destination by using olfactory senses other than sight and hearing. Further, Patent Document 2 discloses an insect intrusion prevention system that monitors opening and closing of doors and windows of a vehicle, and emits an odor when the doors and windows are opened.

JP-A-2001-349739 JP 2010-149727 A

When you go to a season or place where mosquitoes are likely to occur, such as outdoors, mosquitoes may enter the vehicle interior, and when driving, you may not be able to concentrate on driving because of mosquitoes. For this reason, the use of an aroma diffuser to be installed in a vehicle to spray an insect-repellent aroma has been studied. In particular, insect repellents that use natural materials such as aromas (herbs) do not contain chemical ingredients that have a large burden on the body and skin, so they can be used with peace of mind. On the other hand, the insect intrusion prevention system disclosed in Patent Document 2 sprays aroma when the door or window of the vehicle is opened. Since aroma is sprayed, it is not possible to take measures against insects in advance. Also, if the doors and windows are not opened before arriving at the destination, the aroma will not be sprayed and the passengers will get off at the destination in that state. be.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve such conventional problems and to provide a substance diffusing device capable of diffusing a desired substance before or in advance of arriving at a destination.

A substance emission system according to the present invention has current location detection means for detecting a current location, destination detection means for detecting a destination, emission means for emitting a substance to the surroundings, and control means for controlling the emission means. The control means causes the emission means to emit the substance before reaching the destination based on the current position detected by the current position detection means.

In one embodiment, the control means controls properties of the substance emitted by the emission means based on the destination detected by the destination detection means. In one embodiment, the diffusing means radiates an insect repellent aroma into the passenger compartment. In one embodiment, the substance emission system includes detection means for detecting the number of passengers, and the control means controls the amount of the substance to be emitted based on the number of passengers detected by the detection means. In one embodiment, the detection means further detects the boarding position of the passenger, and the control means controls the emission direction of the substance based on the boarding position detected by the detection means. In one embodiment, the control means determines whether insects are likely to occur around the destination, and controls the divergence means based on the determination result.

A substance emission system according to the present invention includes current location detection means for detecting a current location, emission means for emitting a substance to the surroundings, acquisition means for acquiring biological information around the detected current location, and the acquired biological information. and control means for causing the spreading means to emit a substance having an insect repellent effect when the determining means determines that insects will grow. .

In one embodiment, the control means causes the emission means to emit a substance prior to boarding by the occupant. In one embodiment, the diffusing means radiates an insect repellent aroma into the passenger compartment. In one embodiment, the substance diffusion system includes an in-vehicle device and an aroma diffuser connected to the in-vehicle device, the in-vehicle device includes the destination detection means and the control means, and the aroma diffuser includes the Including diverging means.

According to the present invention, desired countermeasures can be taken in advance by diffusing the substance before arriving at the destination. For example, if insects are likely to appear around the destination, the passenger compartment can be pre-filled with an insect-repellent aroma to effectively protect against insects before getting off the vehicle.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the aroma spray system which concerns on the Example of this invention. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an in-vehicle device according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. It is a table showing an example of biometric information according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of acquiring biological information and the like via a network in the aroma spray system according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the functional configuration of an aroma control program according to the first embodiment of the invention; FIG. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the aroma diffuser based on the Example of this invention. 4 is an operation flow of the aroma spray system according to the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the functional configuration of an aroma control program according to a second embodiment of the invention; FIG. It is an operation flow of the aroma spray system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the functional configuration of an aroma control program according to a third embodiment of the invention; FIG. It is an operation flow of the aroma spray system according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

Next, in one aspect, the substance diffusion system of the present invention is mounted on a vehicle and sprays fine particles such as aroma having an insect repellent effect into the vehicle interior. Moreover, the substance diffusion system of the present invention is not necessarily mounted on a mobile vehicle, and may be used for other purposes. Moreover, the dispersed microparticles are not limited to the effect of repelling insects, mosquitoes, and the like, and may have other effects. In the following embodiments, an aroma spray system mounted on a vehicle will be described as an example of the substance diffusion system of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an aroma spray system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The aroma spray system 10 includes an in-vehicle device 100 and an aroma diffuser 200 electrically connected to the in-vehicle device 100 . The in-vehicle device 100 can be, for example, an electronic or computer device with navigation and audio-visual capabilities. The in-vehicle device 100 can also be a portable terminal or a high-performance information terminal such as a smart phone. The aroma diffuser 200 is placed at an arbitrary position in the passenger compartment and has a function of spraying an aroma that has an awakening effect, an aroma that has an insect repellent effect, or the like. The in-vehicle device 100 of this embodiment has a function of controlling the aroma diffuser 200 according to various situations, as will be described later.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of the in-vehicle device 100 of this embodiment. The in-vehicle device 100 includes an input unit 110, a position detection unit 120, a navigation unit 130, a passenger detection unit 140, an environment information acquisition unit 150, an output unit 160, a storage unit 170, an external interface 180, and a control unit 190. be.

The input unit 110 includes operation keys, a mouse, a remote controller, a touch panel, a voice recognition module, etc., receives input from a user, and provides the input to the control unit 190 . The position detection unit 120 detects the current position of the vehicle using GPS positioning or a self-contained navigation sensor (for example, an acceleration sensor or an angular velocity sensor). The navigation unit 130 uses the current position detected by the position detection unit 120, map data, etc. to guide the roads around the vehicle position, search for a route to the destination, and provide guidance on the searched route.

Passenger detection unit 140 detects the number of passengers and the positions where passengers are seated. Passenger detection unit 140 detects the number of passengers and boarding positions by, for example, analyzing an image captured by an imaging camera that captures the interior of the vehicle, or by weight sensors installed in each seat. provide to

The environment information acquisition unit 150 acquires information about the environment inside and/or outside the vehicle. The environment information acquisition unit 150 can include, for example, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a rainfall sensor, an illuminance sensor, an atmospheric pressure sensor, etc., and acquires weather information from these sensors. The environment information acquisition unit 150 can also acquire information about the vehicle via an in-vehicle bus or the like. For example, vehicle speed pulse information, steering angle information, blinker information, parking brake information, etc. of the own vehicle.

The output unit 160 includes a display unit and a voice output unit, and, for example, displays a map screen by the navigation unit 130 and provides voice guidance to the destination. The storage unit 170 stores data, software, and the like necessary for the in-vehicle device 100 . For example, it stores road map data necessary for the operation of the navigation unit 130 and biological information such as mosquitoes and insects necessary for aroma control. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the biological information includes area, type information of mosquitoes and insects that may inhabit the area, and activity information (temperature, humidity, etc.) ) and activity period (season, month and day, etc.). An area may define an arbitrary space, for example, by latitude and longitude, or may define an area including geographical features (eg, lakes, rivers, grasslands, forests, etc.). good.

In one embodiment, the in-vehicle device 100 may acquire biometric information from an external server via a network NW such as the Internet, as shown in FIG. 3B. For example, the in-vehicle device 100 may access the biometric information distribution site 142 and acquire the biometric information of the area around the vehicle position or around the destination from there. Furthermore, the in-vehicle device 100 may access the weather information distribution site 144 and acquire weather information around the vehicle position or around the destination from there. If biometric information and weather information can be acquired from the outside, the in-vehicle device 100 does not necessarily have the environmental information acquisition unit 150 or the biometric information itself.

The external I/F 180 can communicate with networks, external devices, and external servers via, for example, wireless LAN, wired LAN, WiFi (registered trademark), Bluetooth (registered trademark), short-range wireless communication, public wireless network, USB, and the like. connection. For example, the in-vehicle device 100 can be connected to the aroma diffuser 200 via the external I/F 180, and can communicate with external distribution sites 142 and 144 as shown in FIG. 3B.

The control unit 190 controls the operation of each unit of the in-vehicle device 100 . In one aspect, the control section 190 includes a microcontroller or microprocessor including ROM/RAM, and controls each section by executing a software program stored in the ROM/RAM or the storage section 170 . In this embodiment, the controller 190 executes an aroma control program for controlling the aroma diffuser 200 .

FIG. 4 shows the functional configuration of the aroma control program 300 according to this embodiment. The aroma control program 300 includes a current location acquisition unit 310 that acquires the current location of the own vehicle detected by the position detection unit 120, and a determination as to whether or not mosquitoes, insects, etc. occur around the current location acquired by the current location acquisition unit 310. an insect occurrence determination unit 320 that determines that insects are present, an aroma spray determination unit 330 that determines to spray aroma into the vehicle interior when the insect occurrence determination unit 320 determines that insects are generated, and an aroma spray determination unit 330. and a control signal transmission section 340 for transmitting a control signal including an instruction to start aroma spraying to the aroma diffuser 200 according to the determination.

In one aspect, the insect occurrence determination unit 320 refers to biological information such as that shown in FIG. 3A or FIG. 3B, and determines whether mosquitoes and insects are likely to occur in the area corresponding to the current location of the vehicle. do. At this time, the insect occurrence determination unit 320 refers to the weather information such as the temperature and humidity outside the vehicle acquired by the environment information acquisition unit 150 or the weather information shown in FIG. It may be determined whether or not worms are likely to occur. Further, the insect occurrence determination unit 320 may determine whether insects are likely to occur by considering whether the current date and time fall within the activity period included in the biometric information.

When the insect occurrence determination unit 320 determines that insects are likely to appear, the aroma spray determining unit 330 determines to spray an aroma that is effective against insects. In one aspect, when the aroma diffuser 200 has a function of spraying an aroma selected from among a plurality of types of insect repellent aromas with different properties, the aroma spray determination unit 330 determines the insect occurrence determination unit. At 320 , select insect repellent aromas with properties that match the insects determined to be susceptible. Furthermore, in one aspect, the aroma spray determination unit 330 selects the aroma diffuser 200 from among a plurality of types of aromas (for example, aromas with relaxing effects, aromas with awakening effects, aromas effective against insects, etc.). If it is equipped with a function of spraying aromas, select an aroma that has an insect-controlling effect from among them. Control signal transmitter 340 transmits a control signal including aroma selection information to aroma diffuser 200 .

Next, FIG. 5 shows a configuration example of the aroma diffuser 200 applied to this embodiment. Aroma diffuser 200 of this embodiment includes communication unit 210 connected to external I/F 180 of in-vehicle device 100 , spray control unit 220 , and spray driving unit 230 . Communication unit 210 receives a control signal for controlling aroma diffuser 200 from in-vehicle device 100 and provides this control signal to spray control unit 220 .

Spray control section 220 outputs a drive signal for driving spray drive section 230 to spray drive section 230 according to the received control signal. For example, when the drive signal is a binary signal having H or L level, the H level drive signal can start the aroma spray, and the L level drive signal can stop the aroma spray.

Spray driving section 230 sprays aroma in response to a drive signal from spray control section 220 . As described above, the aroma spray is started in response to an H level drive signal, and the aroma spray is stopped in response to an L level drive signal. Also, if the aroma diffuser 200 has a function of spraying an aroma selected from a plurality of types of aroma, the spray control unit 220 outputs a selection signal for selecting the aroma in addition to the drive signal. A signal is output to the spray driver 230 . The spray control unit 230 can select an aroma that has an insect repellent effect against mosquitoes, insects, etc., based on the selection signal, and spray the selected aroma.

Next, the operation of the aroma spray system of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flow of FIG. First, as the vehicle starts to travel (S100), the current location acquisition unit 310 acquires the current location of the vehicle (S102), and the insect occurrence determination unit 320 determines whether insects are likely to occur around the current location of the vehicle. It is determined whether or not (S104). For this determination, biological information, environmental information, weather information, etc. are referred to as described above. Next, when the insect occurrence determination unit 320 determines that insects are likely to occur around the current location, the aroma spray determination unit 330 determines to spray an insect repellent aroma (S106), and responds to this determination. Then, the control signal transmitter 340 transmits a control signal for causing the aroma diffuser 200 to spray the aroma (S108). Upon receiving the control signal, the aroma diffuser 200 responds to the control signal and sprays an insect repellent aroma inside the vehicle (S110). If another aroma (for example, relaxing aroma) is being sprayed in the passenger compartment, the spray is switched to insect repellent aroma. In addition, if the insect repellent aroma of insects different from the insects determined to be likely to occur in the vicinity of the current location is sprayed, the insects corresponding to the insects determined to be likely to occur in the vicinity of the current location Atomization is switched to the aroma.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the vehicle is traveling in a place where insects are likely to occur, the insect repellent aroma is automatically sprayed into the vehicle interior, and mosquitoes that interfere with driving are prevented from driving. It is possible to prevent intrusion into the room.

Next, a second embodiment of the invention will be described. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of an aroma control program 300A according to the second embodiment. The second example includes a destination acquisition unit 312 instead of the current location acquisition unit 310 of the first example, and other configurations are the same as those of the first example. For example, when a destination (including a stop-off point) is set in the navigation unit 130, the destination acquisition unit 310 acquires the destination. The insect occurrence determination unit 320 determines whether or not insects are likely to occur at the acquired destination. For this determination, as in the first embodiment, biometric information as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, environment information acquired by the environment information acquisition unit 150, weather information, and the like are referred to.

When the insect occurrence determination unit 320 determines that insects are likely to occur, the aroma spray determination unit 330 determines to spray the insect repellent aroma, and according to this determination, the control signal transmission unit 340 causes the control signal transmission unit 340 to direct the air to the destination. A control signal for aroma spray is sent to the aroma diffuser 200 in consideration of the arrival time. In one aspect, the vehicle interior is filled with insect repellent aroma before the vehicle arrives at the destination, and insects are prevented from approaching when getting off the vehicle at the destination. Since the passenger compartment is filled with the insect repellent aroma before arriving at the destination, the aroma component adheres to the passenger's clothes, and the insect repellent effect can be maintained when getting off the car.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the second embodiment. As the vehicle starts to travel (S200), the destination acquisition unit 312 acquires the destination (S202), and the insect occurrence determination unit 320 determines whether insects are likely to occur around the destination. (S204). When the insect occurrence determination unit 320 determines that insects are likely to occur around the destination, the aroma spray determination unit 330 determines to spray an insect repellent aroma (S206). Next, the control signal transmitter 340 calculates the time until the vehicle reaches the destination based on the vehicle position detected by the position detector 120 (S208). When it becomes (X minutes is the target time), a control signal for starting aroma spray is sent to the aroma diffuser 200 (S210). The aroma diffuser 200 responds to the received control signal and sprays an insect repellent aroma into the passenger compartment X minutes before the arrival at the destination (S212). If another aroma has been sprayed in the passenger compartment, the spray is switched to the insect repellent aroma.

Thus, according to the second embodiment, by filling the passenger compartment with the insect repellent aroma before arriving at the destination, the insect repellent effect can be obtained immediately upon arrival at the destination. . It should be noted that the second embodiment can be combined with the first embodiment. Repellent aroma is automatically sprayed into the passenger compartment.

A third embodiment of the present invention will now be described. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the functional configuration of an aroma control program 300B according to the third embodiment. The third embodiment includes a spray direction determination section 350 and a spray amount determination section 360 in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment. The spray direction determination unit 350 determines the spray direction according to the passenger's seat position detected by the passenger detection unit 140 . For example, when the aroma diffuser 200 is arranged in the center of the vehicle, if the passengers sit in the driver's seat and the passenger's seat, the direction of the aroma diffuser 200 is directed toward the front seat, and the passenger is placed in the rear seat. If the passenger also boards a seat, the spraying direction of the aroma is determined so that the direction of the passenger's seat is the direction of the passenger's seat. Also, the spray amount determination unit 360 determines the spray amount according to the number of passengers detected by the passenger detection unit 140 . If the aroma diffuser 200 does not have a function of varying the spray amount of aroma, the spray amount is adjusted by varying the aroma spray time. Control signal transmitter 340 transmits a control signal including the spray direction and spray amount determined by spray direction determiner 350 and spray amount determiner 360 to aroma diffuser 200 .

Upon receiving the control signal from the vehicle-mounted device 100, the spray control section 220 of the aroma diffuser 200 controls the driving of the spray driving section 230 according to the spray direction and spray amount included in the control signal.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the third embodiment. Steps S300 to S306 are the same as steps S100 to S106 of the first embodiment. Next, the passenger detection unit 140 detects the number of passengers and their boarding positions (S308), and the spray direction and spray amount are determined by the spray direction determination unit 350 and the spray amount determination unit 360 based on the detection results. (S310). Next, the control signal transmitting unit 340 transmits a control signal including the determination of the spray direction and spray amount to the aroma diffuser 200 (S312), and the aroma diffuser 200 sprays the insect repellent aroma according to the spray direction and spray amount. (S314).

As described above, according to this embodiment, since the insect repellent aroma is sprayed according to the number of passengers and the boarding position, the appropriate amount of aroma for the passengers in the vehicle can be sprayed and Aroma components can be effectively adhered to clothes. In addition, the third embodiment can be combined with the second embodiment. Insect repellent aroma is sprayed.

A fourth embodiment of the present invention will now be described. In the fourth embodiment, based on vehicle position information, insect repellent aroma is automatically sprayed in conjunction with the engine starter or keyless before departure, and the interior of the vehicle is made insect repellent before boarding.

In the fourth embodiment, the current location acquiring unit 310 acquires the current location when the vehicle stops and the passenger gets off as the getting off position. For example, when information indicating that the parking of the own vehicle is turned on is acquired via the environment information acquisition unit 150, the last position detected by the position detection unit 120 can be set as the exit position. Alternatively, the current location acquisition unit 310 may set the destination set by the navigation unit 130 as the exit position. The insect occurrence determination unit 320 refers to biological information, environmental information, and the like, and determines whether or not insects are likely to occur at the get-off position. When it is determined that insects are likely to occur at the exit position, the aroma spray determination unit 330 enables the interior of the vehicle to be filled with an insect repellent aroma before the next passenger gets on the vehicle.

In one aspect, the aroma spray determination unit 330 stores the content determined when getting off the vehicle in a non-volatile memory, and when the engine start or keyless start is performed when getting in the next time, it is interlocked with this. The determination content stored in the non-volatile memory is read, and if the content determines to spray the insect repellent aroma, the control signal transmitting unit 340 performs control for spraying the insect repellent aroma. A signal is sent to the aroma diffuser 200 . As a result, the passenger compartment can be filled with insect repellent aroma before or during boarding.

In the above examples, an example of spraying aroma with an aroma diffuser was shown, but the present invention sprays or diffuses a substance such as fine particles (such as an aromatic agent) that has an insect repelling effect alone or together with aroma You can let it run.

Furthermore, in the above embodiments, an aroma spray system including an on-vehicle device and an aroma diffuser connected to the on-board device was exemplified, but the present invention may be such that the on-vehicle device incorporates the aroma diffuser. Furthermore, the present invention may be a system that connects an electronic device other than an in-vehicle device and an aroma diffuser.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to specific embodiments, and various modifications, Change is possible.

10: Aroma spray system 100: In-vehicle device 110: Input unit 120: Position detection unit 130: Navigation unit 140: Passenger detection unit 150: Environmental information acquisition unit 160: Output unit 170: Storage unit 180: External I/F
190: Control unit 200: Aroma diffuser 210: Communication unit 220: Spray control unit 230: Spray driving unit

Claims (10)

a current location detection means for detecting the current location;
a destination detection means for detecting a destination;
a diffusing means for diffusing the substance into the passenger compartment;
A biological information acquiring means for acquiring biological information of insects such as mosquitoes and insects, wherein the biological information includes activity information related to an area where insects inhabit and temperature and humidity at which insects are active. the biometric information acquisition means,
environment information acquisition means for acquiring environment information about the environment inside and/or outside the vehicle;
a control means for controlling the divergence means based on the biometric information acquired by the biometric information acquisition means and the environment information acquired by the environment information acquisition means;
The control means determines whether insects are likely to occur based on the activity information and the environment information included in the biometric information of the current location detected by the current location detection means, and determines that insects are likely to occur. If so, the substance emission system causes the emission means to emit the substance before reaching the destination. a destination detection means for detecting a destination;
a diffusing means for diffusing the substance into the passenger compartment;
A biological information acquiring means for acquiring biological information of insects such as mosquitoes and insects, wherein the biological information includes activity information related to an area where insects inhabit and temperature and humidity at which insects are active. the biometric information acquisition means,
environment information acquisition means for acquiring environment information about the environment inside and/or outside the vehicle;
a control means for controlling the divergence means based on the biometric information acquired by the biometric information acquisition means and the environment information acquired by the environment information acquisition means;
The control means determines whether or not insects are likely to occur based on the activity information and the environment information included in the biological information of the destination detected by the destination detection means. a substance emission system that causes the emission means to emit the substance before arriving at the destination, if determined to be 3. The substance diffusion system according to claim 1, wherein said diffusion means diffuses an aroma having an insect repellent effect into said vehicle interior. The substance emission system includes detection means for detecting the number of passengers in the vehicle interior,
4. The substance emission system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said control means controls the amount of the substance to be emitted based on the number of passengers detected by said detection means. The detection means further detects the passenger's boarding position in the vehicle interior,
5. The substance emission system according to claim 4, wherein said control means controls the emission direction of the substance based on the boarding position detected by said detection means. The biological information further includes type information of insects, and the control means causes the substance emitted by the emission means to emit a substance corresponding to the insects determined to be likely to occur based on the type information. 3. The substance emission system according to claim 1 or 2, which controls switching of . a current location detection means for detecting the current location;
a diffusing means for diffusing the substance into the passenger compartment;
A biological information acquiring means for acquiring biological information of insects such as mosquitoes and insects, wherein the biological information includes activity information related to an area where insects inhabit and temperature and humidity at which insects are active. the biometric information acquisition means,
environment information acquisition means for acquiring environment information about the environment inside and/or outside the vehicle;
determination means for determining whether insects are likely to occur at the detected current location based on the activity information and the environment information included in the biological information of the current location detected by the current location detection means;
a control means for causing the spreading means to spread a substance having an insect repellent effect when the determining means determines that insects are likely to grow ,
A substance emission system in which the control means causes the emission means to emit a substance before the passenger gets into the vehicle . 8. The substance emission system according to claim 7, wherein said current position detecting means detects, as the current position, the position at which the vehicle stops and the passenger gets off. 9. The substance spreading system according to claim 7, wherein said spreading means spreads an aroma having an insect repellent effect into said vehicle interior. The substance diffusion system includes an in-vehicle device and an aroma diffuser connected to the in-vehicle device,
10. The substance diffusion system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein said in-vehicle device includes said biological information acquisition means, said environment information acquisition means and said control means, and said aroma diffuser includes said diffusion means.

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