JPH0738022B2 - In-vehicle GPS receiver - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to an on-vehicle GP that can be attached to a completed vehicle.
The present invention relates to an S (Global Positioning System) receiver.

[Conventional technology]

In-vehicle GPS receivers have recently been in the limelight as components of vehicle navigation systems using satellite navigation.

The basic configuration of this type of vehicle-mounted GPS receiver is an antenna that receives radio waves from an artificial satellite, a preamplifier that amplifies the received signal, and demodulates predetermined information from the received signal amplified by this preamplifier. It is composed of a demodulation unit and a calculation unit that calculates its own position from the demodulated signal,
The preamplifier, the demodulation unit, and the calculation unit are integrated as a main body of the receiver and are usually arranged at appropriate places in the vehicle.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

However, such a conventional vehicle-mounted GPS receiver,
An antenna that receives radio waves from artificial satellites is installed outside the vehicle, and the signal received from this antenna is introduced to the main body of the receiver inside the vehicle via a predetermined antenna line. There is a disadvantage that the through hole must be opened in the vehicle body in order to introduce the antenna wire, and the user has to perform troublesome mounting work.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described inconvenience, and provides a vehicle-mounted GPS receiver that can be easily attached to a completed vehicle.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

The vehicle-mounted GPS receiver according to the present invention is an outboard motor having an antenna for receiving radio waves from an artificial satellite and a preamplifier for amplifying the received signal, a demodulator for demodulating predetermined information from the received signal, and a demodulated signal thereof. In-vehicle GPS consisting of an in-vehicle unit that has a calculation unit that calculates its own position from the
In the receiver, the antenna and the preamplifier that constitute the outboard motor are installed at appropriate positions outside the vehicle, and the battery that supplies power to the preamplifier is also installed outside the vehicle to signal the signal transmission between the outboard motor and the inboard motor. The communication means is configured to be performed wirelessly.

Then, the signal transmission means is composed of a radio wave transmitter provided in the exterior unit and a radio wave receiver provided in the interior unit, or a coupling capacitor in which a pair of flat electrodes are arranged opposite to each other on both sides of the dielectric body shell. It is composed of.

[Action]

The vehicle-mounted GPS receiver according to the present invention performs signal transmission between the vehicle exterior unit and the vehicle interior unit by radio or a coupling capacitor, and is configured to install the battery for operating the vehicle exterior unit outside the vehicle. Since it is not necessary to provide a through hole, it can be easily attached to a completed vehicle.

In addition, the preamplifier that amplifies the received signal of the antenna is also installed outside the vehicle together with the antenna, so it is possible to place the antenna and the preamplifier as close as possible, and the wiring length between the antenna and the preamplifier is extremely small. It can be shortened, and it can prevent the deterioration of NF (noise figure) when receiving a very weak signal radio wave called GPS signal, and prevent the deterioration of reception sensitivity.

〔Example〕

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle-mounted GPS receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a vehicle-mounted GPS receiver includes an outboard motor 1 including an antenna (planar antenna) 11 for receiving radio waves from an artificial satellite and a preamplifier 12 for amplifying the received signal, and demodulates predetermined information from the received signal. The in-vehicle unit 2 including the demodulating unit 21 and the calculating unit 22 for calculating its own position from the demodulated signal, and the signal transmitting means for wirelessly transmitting the signal between the out-vehicle unit 1 and the in-vehicle unit 2.

The signal transmission means is a local oscillator 13a that outputs a signal for frequency conversion, and a mixer 13 that frequency-converts and outputs the reception signal output by the preamplifier 12 based on the signal supplied from the local oscillator 13a.
b, drive amplifier 13c that amplifies the output of this mixer 13b
And the antenna 13d that transmits the output of the drive amplifier 13c
The output of the antenna 23a and the antenna 23a for receiving the radio waves from the radio wave transmitter 13 provided in the outboard motor 1 and the antenna 13d that has passed through the vehicle body outer shell 3 such as a door or a window for passing the radio waves. It is composed of a reception unit 23b that amplifies and outputs to the demodulation unit 21, and is composed of a radio wave receiver 23 provided in the vehicle interior unit 2.

In addition, 4 is a solar cell that converts sunlight into electric power, 5 is a charger, and this charger 5 charges a secondary battery 6 such as a lithium battery with the output of the solar cell 4. When the battery 4 outputs electric power, the outboard motor 1 is operated by the output of the solar battery 4, and the rechargeable battery 6 is operated by the output of the secondary battery 6 at night or in cloudy weather.

Next, the operation will be described.

Since the outboard motor 1 operates by being supplied with power from the solar battery 4 or the secondary battery 6, the radio waves received by the antenna 11 are preamplified.
12 and the radio wave transmitter 13 are transmitted.

Then, the radio wave transmitted from the radio wave transmitter 13 is received by the radio wave receiving unit.
The signal is received at 23 and supplied to the demodulation unit 21.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the outboard motor 1 and the inboard motor 2
Signals are transmitted via radio waves, and electric power is supplied to the outboard motor 1 from a battery installed outside the vehicle. Therefore, it is necessary to process the door or window of the completed vehicle to provide a through hole when mounting. Is eliminated, and the mounting work can be performed easily.

Further, since the solar cell 4 and the secondary battery 6 charged by the charger 5 are used as the battery, it is not necessary to replace the battery and the maintenance work is facilitated.

Further, the outboard motor 1 is provided with a local oscillator 13a and a mixer 13b to convert the frequency of the received signal, and then the inboard motor 2
Therefore, the information can be transmitted to the in-vehicle unit 2 by using the optimum frequency irrelevant to the reception frequency from the artificial satellite.

In this embodiment, the signal transmission means is described as an example of wireless communication, but the signal transmission means may be light, ultrasonic waves or the like.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the construction of a vehicle-mounted GPS receiver according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing the mounting structure in the embodiment of FIG.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, the same or corresponding parts as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, reference numeral 7 denotes a rear window glass as a dielectric outer shell of the vehicle 30, which is a pair of flat electrodes 8 facing each other at a position where the rear view is not obstructed.
9 are arranged.

The plane electrode 8 is connected to the preamplifier 12, and the plane electrode 9 is connected to the demodulation unit 21.

Therefore, the rear window glass 7 and the pair of flat electrodes 8 and 9 form a coupling capacitor.

Reference numeral 20 denotes an exterior unit housing mounted on the flat electrode 9, which includes the exterior unit 1, the charger 5, and the secondary battery 6 described above.
Is housed therein and also serves as a mounting housing for the solar cell 4 and the antenna 11.

30a indicates the top of the vehicle 30.

According to this embodiment, the output of the preamplifier 12 of the outboard motor 1 is transmitted to the inboard motor 2 via the coupling capacitor composed of the rear window glass 7 and the pair of flat electrodes 8 and 9.

Therefore, the same effect as that of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 can be obtained.

In this embodiment, an example in which a coupling capacitor or the like is provided on the rear window glass 7 has been described, but the coupling capacitor or the like is provided at a position that does not obstruct the view of the windshield, or a dielectric vehicle body such as a sunroof provided on the top 30a. It may be provided on the outer shell.

In addition, if the vehicle 30 is made of synthetic resin in the future, the installation position of the coupling capacitor can be freely selected.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, since the signal transmission between the outboard motor and the inboard motor is performed wirelessly, it is not necessary to process the vehicle body to provide the through hole, and thus the completed vehicle can be easily installed. Can be installed.

Further, since the battery for operating the outboard motor is installed outside the vehicle, there is an effect that maintenance work of the battery becomes easy.

Furthermore, the preamplifier that amplifies the received signal of the antenna is also installed outside the vehicle together with the antenna, so it is possible to install the antenna and the preamplifier as close as possible, and the wiring length between the antenna and the preamplifier is extremely small. It can be shortened, and it is possible to prevent deterioration of NF (noise figure) when receiving extremely weak radio waves such as GPS signals and prevent deterioration of reception sensitivity.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of an on-vehicle GPS receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the structure of an on-vehicle GPS receiver according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a mounting structure in the embodiment of FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Outboard unit, 2 ... Inboard unit, 3 ... Body shell, 7 ... Rear window glass, 8,9 ... Planar electrode, 11 ... Antenna, 12 ... Preamplifier, 13 ... Radio transmitter, 21 ... Demodulation unit, 22 … Calculator, 23… Radio receiver, 30… Vehicle.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An outboard motor having an antenna for receiving radio waves from an artificial satellite and a preamplifier for amplifying the received signal, a demodulator for demodulating predetermined information from the received signal, and calculating its own position from the demodulated signal. In a vehicle-mounted GPS receiver consisting of an in-vehicle unit having a computing unit, an antenna and a preamplifier constituting the out-of-vehicle unit are installed outside the vehicle at appropriate positions, and a battery for supplying power to the preamplifier is also installed outside the vehicle. An in-vehicle GPS receiver, characterized in that signal transmission between the vehicle exterior unit and the vehicle interior unit is performed wirelessly by a signal transmission unit. 2. The vehicle-mounted GPS receiver according to claim 1, wherein the signal transmitting means is composed of a radio wave transmitter provided in the vehicle exterior unit and a radio wave receiver provided in the vehicle interior unit. 3. A vehicle-mounted GPS receiver according to claim 1, wherein the signal transmitting means is a coupling capacitor in which a pair of flat electrodes are arranged opposite to each other on both sides of the dielectric body shell.