JPH0642470U - Stolen vehicle detection device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Structure] The memory 14 stores a predetermined vehicle operation procedure. When the vehicle is operated, the determination unit 15
Then, it is determined whether or not the operation matches the stored operation procedure. If the determination unit 15 determines that the operation procedure is not followed, the vehicle is considered stolen, the terminal device 10 automatically makes a call, and the current position of the vehicle is transmitted from the antenna 11 to the security center 1. on the other hand,
If it is determined that the operation procedure is followed, the current position of the vehicle is not transmitted. [Effect] When the vehicle is stolen, the current position of the vehicle is transmitted to the destination, so that the stolen vehicle can be easily found.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a stolen vehicle detection device that is used by being mounted on a vehicle and that can quickly detect a stolen vehicle.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a door lock mechanism has been provided in a door of a vehicle mainly to prevent the vehicle from being stolen. This door lock mechanism has a different key hole for each vehicle, and the lock can be unlocked only when a key matching the key hole is inserted and operated. Also, when starting the engine of the vehicle, insert the key into the keyhole near the handle to start the engine, but in the vehicle, the handlebar is locked when the key is removed from this keyhole when the vehicle is stopped. Mechanisms may be provided. This handle lock is released by inserting and turning a key that fits the keyhole. Therefore, this handle lock mechanism also contributes to theft prevention.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 By the way, as described above, the door lock mechanism and the handle lock mechanism are unlocked by inserting and operating a key suitable for a keyhole provided in each lock mechanism. Therefore, if the owner of the vehicle drops or is stolen, or if the owner forgets to remove the key, the vehicle is very likely to be stolen. Also, even if the key has not been dropped or stolen, it is likely that the lock will be unlocked by other means (eg, prying open with a beam), and the vehicle can be easily stolen at this time as well. .

In such a situation, if the vehicle should be stolen, it will take a considerable amount of time to find the stolen vehicle thereafter, and much labor will be required. On the other hand, conventionally, the distance traveled and the heading of the vehicle are detected by a distance sensor and a heading sensor, respectively, and the current position of the vehicle is estimated based on the outputs from these two sensors. An on-vehicle position detecting device has been put into practical use, which is displayed on a display such as a CRT in such a manner as to be overlapped with a road map around an area in which it is located (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 63-148115 and 64-53112. reference). With this position detecting device, the current position of the vehicle can be grasped, which is very useful for the driver.

Therefore, the main purpose of the present invention is to detect the vehicle if it is stolen, by using the position detection device, and quickly find it, and the position of the vehicle after the theft can be easily found. A vehicle finding device is provided. Another object of the present invention is to provide a stolen vehicle detection device which can be simplified in construction and can be reduced in cost.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 The stolen vehicle locating device according to claim 1 for achieving the above object is a stolen vehicle locating device provided in a vehicle for locating a stolen vehicle when the vehicle is stolen. Storage means for storing a predetermined operation procedure of the vehicle, position detection means for detecting the current position of the vehicle, and determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle has been operated according to the operation procedure stored in the storage means. , The current position information of the vehicle that is automatically called when the determination means determines that the vehicle has been operated without following the operation procedure stored in the storage means and that is detected by the position detection means. And a transmitting means for transmitting by radio waves or light.

Further, the stolen vehicle locating apparatus according to claim 2 is characterized in that the transmitting means uses a telephone line that has been subscribed in advance. Further, in the stolen vehicle locating apparatus according to claim 3, a theft detection mode in which the current position information of the vehicle is transmitted from the transmitting means and a release mode in which the current position information of the vehicle is not transmitted from the transmitting means are set. In addition, a selection means for selecting any one of these modes is further included.

[0008]

[Action]

 According to the configuration of the first aspect, when the vehicle is operated without following the predetermined operation procedure stored in the storage means, the transmission means is automatically called. Then, the current position information of the vehicle detected by the position detecting means after the calling is transmitted by the transmitting means by radio waves or light. On the other hand, when the vehicle is operated according to the predetermined operation procedure stored in the storage means, the transmission means is not called and the current position information of the vehicle is not transmitted.

Usually, the person who knows the operation procedure stored in the storage means is the owner or driver of the vehicle. Therefore, when a person other than the owner of the vehicle, for example, a thief, operates the vehicle, the operation according to the operation procedure cannot be performed. That is, the transmission means is automatically called and the current position information is transmitted only when the vehicle is stolen. Therefore, if the destination is a security center, for example, the current location information will be sent at the security center almost at the same time as when it is stolen. That is, it is possible to immediately know that the theft has occurred. Also, since the current position information of the vehicle is transmitted to the security center, the position of the vehicle after the theft can be known at the same time.

Further, according to the configuration of the second aspect, in order to transmit the current position information of the vehicle transmitted from the transmitting means, a telephone line that is subscribed in advance is used. Therefore, it is not necessary to newly provide a signal line or the like for transmission, so that the configuration can be simplified and the cost can be reduced. Furthermore, according to the configuration of claim 3, the stolen vehicle detection device has a theft detection mode in which the vehicle must be operated in accordance with a stored operation procedure and a release mode in which the operation procedure need not be followed. There are two modes. Therefore, if the owner or the like selects the theft detection mode only when he or she feels it is particularly necessary and normally selects the cancellation mode, the operation does not become complicated.

[0011]

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a stolen vehicle finding device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The stolen vehicle detection device is used by being mounted on a vehicle, and when the vehicle is stolen, the current position of the vehicle is wirelessly transmitted to the security center 1 or the like which is the transmission destination.

The vehicle side 2 on which the stolen vehicle detection device is mounted is provided with a position detection unit 3 as position detection means for calculating an estimated position of the vehicle. The position detector 3 is provided with a locator device 4 for calculating an estimated position of the vehicle. A wheel speed sensor 5, a gyro 6 for detecting the turning angular velocity of the vehicle, and a geomagnetic sensor 7 for detecting the earth's magnetic field are connected to the locator device 4. As the gyro 6, various types such as a mechanical gyro, a vibration gyro and an optical fiber gyro can be applied. A CD driver 9 for reading the road map from the road map memory 8 in which the road map is stored is connected to the position detecting unit 3.

The estimated position calculated by the position detector 3 in the above-described configuration is calculated based on the outputs of the wheel speed sensor 5, the gyro 6 and the geomagnetic sensor 7, and the displacement amount of the vehicle at a predetermined time is calculated. It is performed by adding the displacement amount to the previous current position. In this way, the method of detecting the current position of the vehicle based on the output from each type of sensor is generally called dead reckoning.

The position detection unit 3 detects the position by using the dead reckoning described above, the estimated position obtained by this dead reckoning and the road map read from the road map memory 8 via the CD driver 9. The so-called map matching method (see, for example, JP-A-63-148115 and JP-A-64-53112) is used in combination. The position detection unit 3 is connected to a telephone line such as a car telephone installed in the vehicle in advance. This telephone line is connected to an antenna 11 via a terminal device (modem) 10 for converting an input voice signal into a radio wave. Therefore, for example, if a signal requesting transmission of vehicle position information is input to the position detection unit 3, the position detection unit 3 outputs the vehicle position information estimated by the position detection unit 3 to the terminal device. The position information thus input is appropriately processed by the terminal device 10 and transmitted from the antenna 11.

The position detecting unit 3 further displays the estimated position of the vehicle calculated by the position detecting unit 3 so as to be superimposed on the road map read from the road map memory 8 via the CD driver 9. A display 12 is connected, and a keyboard 13 for performing various input operations is connected to the display 12. The terminal device 10 reads out the operating procedure and the personal identification number from the memory 14 in which the operating procedure of the vehicle and the personal identification number necessary for the operating procedure are stored to determine whether or not the operating procedure is performed according to the operating procedure. The determination unit 15 is connected as a determination unit for performing the operation. The determination unit 15 is also connected to the keyboard 13. The memory 14 functions as a storage unit or the like.

The above-mentioned operation procedure is, for example, a procedure of “run the engine, input an accurate personal identification number, and then shift the AT (automatic transmission) lever”. If the vehicle is further operated in the memory 14 without following the above operation procedure, the vehicle is operated without following the theft detection mode in which the current position of the vehicle is transmitted to the security center 1 and the operation procedure. Even if it is done, two modes of the release mode in which the current position of the vehicle is not transmitted to the security center 1 are stored. The keyboard 13 determines which mode is selected. That is, the keyboard 13 also functions as a selection unit.

With this configuration, when the theft detection mode is selected, when the determination unit 15 determines that the operation procedure stored in the memory 14 and the operation actually performed match, the security is determined. Nothing is sent to Center 1. In addition, even when the release mode is selected, normal operation can be started without being transmitted to the security center 1.

Further, when the theft detection mode is selected, when the determination unit 15 determines that the operation procedure stored in the memory 14 and the operation actually performed do not match, that is, the vehicle When it is considered that the terminal has been stolen, a signal is transmitted from the determination unit 15 to the terminal device 10 via the line 20. Then, the terminal device 10 receiving this signal is automatically called and a signal requesting to output the current position information of the vehicle is transmitted to the locator device 4 via the line 21. Then, in the locator device 4 which has received this signal, the current position information of the vehicle is transmitted to the terminal device 10 via the line 22, converted into radio waves by the terminal device 10 and transmitted from the antenna 12 to the security center 1. To be done. That is, the terminal device 10 functions as a transmission unit.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the above stolen vehicle detection device. In the following flow chart, the vehicle operation procedure stored in the memory 14 is “run the engine, enter the correct PIN, and then shift the AT lever”. The owner of the vehicle is the only person who knows the above operation procedure. When the door is unlocked and the engine is run (step s1), the position detector 3 is turned on at the same time, and the current position of the vehicle begins to be detected. Next, the count value K of the counter is reset to zero (step s2). The count value K of this counter is the number of input errors of the personal identification number, as will be described later. When the count value K is reset, it is determined whether the mode is selected in the theft detection mode or the release mode (step s3). As a result, if the release mode is selected, it is not necessary to operate the vehicle in accordance with the operation procedure, and therefore the vehicle is unconditionally moved to the next operation. On the other hand, if the mode is not the release mode, that is, the mode is the theft detection mode, the operation of the vehicle must be performed according to the operation procedure. Therefore, first, it is determined whether or not the personal identification number has been entered on the keyboard 13 (step s4).

As a result, if it is determined that the personal identification number has been input, it is determined whether the personal identification number matches the personal identification number stored in the memory 14 (step s5). As a result, if the entered personal identification numbers match, it is considered that the owner has operated according to the operation procedure, and the next operation is performed. On the other hand, if the input personal identification number does not match the personal identification number stored in the memory 14, the count value K of the counter is incremented by one (step s6). That is, this count value K represents the number of input errors of the personal identification number. Then, it is judged whether or not this count value K is 3 or more (step s7). As a result, if the count value K is less than 3, a message "Please re-enter" is displayed on the display 12 in order to prompt the person who entered it to re-enter the password (step s11). Then, the process proceeds to step s4 and subsequent steps. In other words, if you enter the wrong PIN twice, you can unconditionally re-enter the PIN. This is to prevent the person who has entered the wrong PIN code from immediately deciding that he / she is the thief, considering that the owner may forget the PIN code. The message displayed on the display unit 12 is not limited to the above-mentioned "Please re-enter", but may be displayed as "NG". Alternatively, the re-input may be prompted by, for example, a warning sound without displaying it on the display unit 12.

On the other hand, if an incorrect personal identification number is input three or more times, it is determined whether the AT lever has been shifted (step s8). As a result, if the AT lever is not shifted, the process proceeds to step s4 again. On the other hand, if it is judged that the AT lever has been shifted, it means that the vehicle has started without following the operation procedure of inputting the correct personal identification number. Therefore, at this time, the vehicle is considered stolen, the terminal device 10 is automatically called (step s9), and the current position information of the vehicle is wirelessly transmitted to the security center 1 (step s10).

In the process of step s4, if the personal identification number is not input, it is determined whether the AT lever of step s8 has been shifted. As a result, if the AT lever is shifted, the next operation is performed without following the operation procedure of inputting the correct personal identification number. Therefore, also at this time, similarly to the above, it is considered that the vehicle has been stolen, the terminal device 10 is automatically called, and the current position information of the vehicle is transmitted to the security center 1. On the other hand, if the AT lever is not shifted, the process proceeds to step s4 again. So, for example, if the owner ran the engine but for some reason did not enter the PIN (eg, listening to the car stereo in the car), the current position of the car would have to be reached without even shifting the AT lever. No information is sent to Security Center 1.

As described above, in the stolen vehicle detection device of this embodiment, when the personal identification number is input and the determination unit 15 determines that the personal identification number matches the personal identification number stored in the memory 14, It is determined that the operation has been performed according to the operation procedure, and the operation moves to the next operation unconditionally. However, if the determination unit 15 determines that the entered personal identification number does not match the stored personal identification number, the personal identification number can be re-input unconditionally up to twice. If the entered PIN is incorrect three times or more, or if the PIN is not entered, it is considered that the vehicle has been stolen on condition that the AT lever was shifted, and the terminal device 10 automatically The current location information is transmitted to the security center 1.

Therefore, when the determination unit 15 determines that the vehicle is operated without following the operation procedure stored in the memory 14, the terminal device 10 automatically calls and the security center 1 receives the current position information. Since it is sent, even if the vehicle is stolen, the location of the stolen vehicle can be easily found. In addition, since the terminal device 10 inserted in the middle of the telephone line of the car telephone is automatically called instead of the car telephone installed in the car, the current position is transmitted. The thief does not notice that he or she has discovered theft.

Further, since the telephone line of a vehicle telephone provided in advance in the vehicle is used for transmitting to the security center 1, a device for newly transmitting is unnecessary. Therefore, the structure can be simplified and the cost can be reduced. Furthermore, even if the personal identification number entered by the keyboard 13 does not match the personal identification number stored in the memory 14 twice, it is possible to redo unconditionally. Therefore, even if the owner forgets the personal identification number, the owner is not immediately denied to be the thief.

It is possible to equip the vehicle with a lock mechanism for preventing the vehicle from starting in advance when the vehicle is operated without following the operating procedure, but the vehicle may be damaged in some cases. Therefore, in order to prevent the vehicle from being damaged, the structure of the present invention is adopted. Although the present embodiment has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the car telephone installed in the vehicle in advance is used to transmit the current position information of the vehicle detected by the position detecting unit 3. Beacons may be used.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the dead reckoning navigation and the map matching method are used together to detect the current position of the vehicle, but in addition to the map matching method, for example, the radio wave from the artificial satellite is received. A GPS (Global Positioning System) that detects the current position of the vehicle and a beacon receiver inside the vehicle are provided, and the beacon from the road beacon outside the vehicle is received by this beacon receiver to detect the current position of the vehicle. The desired radio navigation may be used. Further, the current position of the vehicle may be detected only by dead reckoning, without being used in combination with other position detecting methods.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the operating procedure stored in the memory 14 is “run the engine, input the correct personal identification number, and shift the AT lever”. For example, "Run the engine, make a correct touch on the screen, and then shift the AT lever." Or "Run the engine, enter the correct PIN, shift the AT lever, and then step on the accelerator. Various combinations can be considered, such as "running over a certain distance".

Besides, it is possible to make various design changes within the scope of the present invention.

[0030]

[Effect of device]

 As described above, in the stolen vehicle detection device according to claim 1, when the vehicle is operated without following the operation procedure stored in the storage means, the current position information of the vehicle detected by the position detection means is transmitted to the transmission means. Therefore, even if the vehicle is stolen, the location of the stolen vehicle can be easily found at the destination.

Further, in the stolen vehicle detection device according to the second aspect, since the transmission means uses the telephone line to which the transmission means is preliminarily subscribed, the transmission means can be configured with a simple configuration, and the cost can be reduced. Can be planned. Further, the stolen vehicle detection device according to claim 3 is normally selected in the release mode, and the operation is complicated because the owner or the like may select the theft detection mode only when he / she feels particularly necessary. Never.

Furthermore, the stolen vehicle detection device according to claims 1 to 3 can easily find the current position of the vehicle after being stolen, unlike the prior art in which a lock mechanism is provided to prevent theft. Not only stolen vehicles but also thieves can be found.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a stolen vehicle detection device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the stolen vehicle detection device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Position Detection Unit 10 Terminal Device 13 Keyboard 14 Memory 15 Judgment Unit

Claims (3)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A stolen vehicle locating device for locating a vehicle when the vehicle is stolen, comprising the following means (a):
(d) The vehicle is equipped with a stolen vehicle detection device. (a) storage means for storing a predetermined operation procedure before the vehicle starts, (b) position detection means for detecting the current position of the vehicle, (c) the vehicle is operated according to the operation procedure stored in the storage means. Determination means for determining whether or not (d) the determination means determines that the vehicle has been operated without following the operation procedure stored in the storage means, and automatically calls to detect the position. Transmission means for transmitting the current position information of the vehicle detected by the means by radio waves or light. 2. The stolen vehicle locating device according to claim 1, wherein said transmitting means uses a telephone line which is subscribed in advance. 3. A theft detection mode in which the current position information of the vehicle is transmitted from the transmitting means and a release mode in which the current position information of the vehicle is not transmitted from the transmitting means are set, and any one of them is set. The theft detection apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising selection means for selecting a mode.