JPH09159581A - Information collecting system regarding vehicular condition and on-vehicle electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To cope with various processing and controlling processes by collecting information on a vehicular condition into on-vehicle electronic equipment for the storage thereof in a memory and then transmitting the stored information to an information collecting part on a radio wave. SOLUTION: On-vehicle electronic equipment is, for example, an on-vehicle navigation device 1, and this on-vehicle navigation device 1 collects and stores information on a vehicular condition in the internal memory thereof. Then, the device 1 transmits the information to a personal computer system 2 via a remote control device 3 for collection. A personal computer body 21 stores the collected information by information items related to a vehicular condition, and generates an information list or the like, together with a list of collection dates, thereby allowing a change with the lapse of time to be easily recognized regarding each item. Also, a comparison table is generated, regarding information with ACC ON (i.e., accessory power source ON) and information collected at other stages, thereby enabling a vehicle to be diagnosed for a failure.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system and a system for collecting information about the state of an automobile, such as automobile failure diagnosis information, information on the elapsed time of use of consumable parts, and information on changes in the state of each part of the vehicle such as water temperature. The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted electronic device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Collecting information on the state of a vehicle as described above is important for maintaining and safe driving the vehicle.
Very important. For this reason, there are some modern luxury cars equipped with various sensors in the car and provided with an information output terminal that allows the sensor outputs and the like to be collectively obtained as information. Service companies that provide maintenance services for automobiles are equipped with information collection and management devices that are connected to the information output terminals via cables.

Therefore, the user of the vehicle goes to a service company, which has the information collecting and managing device, at a proper time to collect the information on the vehicle as described above and receive the inspection service. You can

[0004]

However, since the above-mentioned information collecting and managing apparatus is installed in the service company, the car must be carried to the service company, which is a troublesome task. In addition, failure diagnosis of a car that cannot move due to a failure cannot be performed without moving the car.

Further, it is necessary to connect the information output terminal of the automobile and the information collecting and managing device with a cable, which is troublesome.

[0006] Furthermore, if a user of a car can obtain the above-mentioned information about a car he owns, it becomes easy to store and manage the information in a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer). In the past, there was no way to do that.

In view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to easily collect information about an automobile from the automobile so that it can be used for various processing and management.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention of claim 1 provides an audio signal and / or video signal processing circuit, an information acquisition means for acquiring information on the state of a vehicle, and the information acquisition. Vehicle-mounted electronic device having first storage means for storing information on the state of the vehicle acquired by means, transmission means for wirelessly transmitting the information stored in the first storage means, and the transmission means A receiving means for receiving the information transmitted from the receiving means, and a second means for storing the information transmitted from the transmitting means received by the receiving means
And an information collecting unit having a processing unit that performs a predetermined process using the information stored in the second storing unit. To do.

According to the above-mentioned invention, for example, the information on the automobile is taken into the on-vehicle electronic device from the information output terminal provided on the automobile and is stored in the first storage means of the on-vehicle electronic device. . Then, the information is wirelessly transmitted from the first storage means to the information collection means via the reception means by the transmission means and is stored in the second storage means incorporated therein.

Further, the invention of claim 4 comprises an on-vehicle electronic device section, a data transmitting / receiving section, and an information collecting device section for information relating to the state of the vehicle.
An audio signal and / or video signal processing circuit, an information acquisition unit that acquires information about the state of the vehicle, a first storage unit that stores the information about the state of the vehicle acquired by the information acquisition unit, and the first storage unit. First transmitting means for wirelessly transmitting the information stored in the storing means, wherein the data transmitting / receiving unit receives the information transmitted from the first transmitting means, and Information relating to the state of the automobile, comprising: second storage means for storing information received by the first receiving means; and second transmission means for wirelessly transmitting the information stored in the second storage means. The information collecting device part of the second receiving means receives the information transmitted from the second transmitting means, the third storing means stores the information received by the second receiving means, and the third storing means. Stored in the storage means of 3 And providing a collection system for information about the state of the automobile and a processing means for performing processing using the information.

In the case of the fourth aspect of the present invention, it is very convenient to use a remote control operation device (so-called remote control device) for on-vehicle electronic equipment as the data transmission / reception unit. That is, for example, the information about the state of the vehicle stored in the first storage means of the vehicle-mounted electronic device can be downloaded to the remote control device of the vehicle-mounted electronic device and easily transferred to the personal computer or the like from the remote control device. it can.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of a system for collecting information on the state of a vehicle according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The system for collecting information relating to the state of the vehicle of this embodiment corresponds to claim 4, and as shown in FIG. 7 to be described later, the on-vehicle electronic device section is constituted by the on-vehicle navigation device 1. The information collecting device section is composed of the personal computer system 2. The data transmission / reception unit is composed of the remote control device 3 of the navigation device 2.

In this embodiment, the navigation device 1 absorbs information about the state of the vehicle in which the navigation device 1 is mounted and stores it in its built-in memory. The information stored in this memory is stored in the remote control device 3. This is a case in which the information is transferred to the personal computer system 2 via the computer to collect information.

First, an example of the vehicle-mounted navigation device 1 will be described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of a vehicle-mounted navigation device 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the in-vehicle navigation device 1 of this example receives a radio wave from a main body device unit 11, a display device for displaying a map or the like, for example, a liquid crystal display 12, and a satellite of a GPS system. The GPS antenna 13 of FIG.

The main body device section 11 includes a control circuit 100, a key operation section 121, a GPS unit 122, and a CD-R.
OM disk drive 123 and autonomous navigation unit 1
24, a remote control signal transmission circuit 125, a remote control signal reception circuit 126, and an information collecting connector 127 connected to an information output terminal of the automobile.

In the case of this embodiment, the remote control signal is transmitted and received by infrared rays. Therefore, the infrared transmitter 125T is connected to the output side of the remote control signal transmission circuit 125 and the remote control signal reception circuit 126 is connected. An infrared receiver 126R is connected to the input side. Then, in this example, the information regarding the state of the automobile is also transmitted and received in the same format as the remote control signal.

The control circuit 100 comprises a microcomputer, and has a CPU 101, a ROM 103, and a DRAM 104 for the system bus 102.
And the SRAM 105 are connected. Also, the display 12 is connected via the video RAM 106 connected to the system bus 102 and the display controller 107, and a predetermined display is performed on the display 12 under the display control of the control circuit 100.

A plurality of interfaces 111 to 114 and I / O ports 115 to 117 are connected to the system bus 102, and each interface 11
The exchange of input / output signals with various circuits is controlled through 1-114, and I / O ports 115-117 are controlled.
The remote control signal is input and output via the computer as will be described later, and information regarding the state of the vehicle is collected.

The GPS unit 122 analyzes the information received by the GPS antenna 13 and calculates the position (latitude, longitude) of itself. Then, the position information obtained by the calculation is passed through the interface 111 to the control circuit 100.
To enter.

The autonomous navigation unit 124 is for supplementing the position information from the GPS unit 122, which cannot receive radio waves from satellites in tunnels or buildings, or for obtaining more accurate position information. For example, a gyro. It is equipped with a scope, speed sensor, and distance sensor.

CD-ROM disk drive unit 123
Is a CD-ROM for navigation loaded in it
The map information or the like is read from the disk according to an access instruction from the control circuit 100 through the interface 112, and the read map information or the like is read by the interface 11
2 to the control circuit 100.

The key operation unit 121 is connected to the system bus 102 via the key interface 114. The control circuit 100 sends a key search signal to the key operation unit 121 via the interface 114 to determine which key is operated by the user, and performs control processing according to the operated key. .

A remote control signal transmission circuit 125 is connected via the I / O port 115. This transmission circuit 1
Reference numeral 25 converts the data from the I / O port 115 into the format of the remote control transmission signal. Further, a remote control signal receiving circuit 126 is connected via the I / O port 116. The receiving circuit 126 has a function of decoding the received remote control signal into the original data from the format of the transmission signal.

In the case of this embodiment, the remote control signal is transmitted and received by infrared rays. Therefore, the infrared transmitter 125T is provided on the output side of the remote control signal transmission circuit 125.
The infrared receiver 126R is connected to the input side of the remote control signal receiving circuit 126.

As described above, the connector 127 is connected to the information output terminal provided on the automobile through, for example, a cable. In this case, as the information fetched from the connector 127 via the information output terminal, for example, information on the mileage up to that time, elapsed time of use of the fan belt, engine oil, brake oil, etc. (at the time of new installation or replacement) The information about the change of state such as the information about the time from the start of the car), the check information about the bulb burnout of the headlight and the taillight, the information about the water temperature, and the information for diagnosing the car failure can be given as examples.

In this case, for example, the automobile is provided with various sensors and the like in order to acquire the above information and send it to the information output terminal, and a memory for storing the information.

In this embodiment, as will be described later, when the accessory power supply of the automobile is turned on (so-called ACC), and when the information collection key provided in the key operation unit 121 is pressed, Through this connector 127, information about the state of the automobile in which the navigation device is mounted is collected.

The ROM 103 stores programs for data collection and data transmission as well as navigation programs. Further, the ROM 103 stores font data and image data of characters and symbols necessary for displaying on the map.

The DRAM 104 is mainly used as a work area for calculations and the like. In addition, the SRAM 105
Stores the set traveling route information, the destination information, the traveling locus when actually traveling, and the information regarding the state of the vehicle acquired via the connector 127. In this case, the SRAM 105 is configured as a non-volatile memory by being a power source backup by a battery or a battery of an automobile.

In the case of this example, the information when the ACC is turned on and the time when the information is collected when requested by the remote control signal based on the operation of the information collection key when the driving of the automobile is finished, The memory area is divided. This is so that it is possible to compare the state at the start of driving the vehicle and the state at the end of driving.

When the car navigation CD-ROM is loaded into the CD-ROM driving device 123 of the navigation device 1, the data of the CD-ROM is read, and the map is displayed on the CRT display 12 based on the data. The software to display is installed. Also, software for automatic route search for navigation will be installed.

Further, the navigation device 1 is also provided with information fetching software for fetching information regarding the state of the vehicle through the connector 127 and writing it in the SRAM 105. In this example, as described above, this information acquisition process is activated when the ACC is on and when the information collection key is operated by the remote controller 3.

The navigation device 1 of this example is stored in the SRAM 105 for the purpose of transferring the above-mentioned information about the state of the vehicle stored in the SRAM 105 to the personal computer system in the case of this embodiment. , The information about the state of the vehicle is read according to a user's read request, and the remote control transmission circuit 125 is read.
And the infrared transmitter 125T, the remote controller 3
It is also equipped with software for sending to. In this example, this processing is activated when the command sent from the remote control device 3 is a reception request command for the information.

The navigation device 1 having the above configuration
In the navigation mode, from the CD-ROM disc for navigation loaded in the drive unit 123, map information near the self position obtained from the information from the GPS unit 122 and the autonomous navigation unit 124 is controlled. It is read in accordance with an instruction from the circuit 100 and loaded in the video RAM 106.

Then, the CPU 101 causes the ROM 1
From 03, necessary font data and image data of characters and symbols are read out according to the program and transferred to a predetermined address of the video RAM 106. As a result, an image is displayed on the display 12 via the display controller 107, on which a necessary symbol such as the current position of the user is superimposed on the map read from the CD-ROM disk and developed. It

A traveling instruction based on the traveling route information stored in the SRAM 105 is displayed on a map by a predetermined symbol or the like, and although not shown in FIG. 1, an instruction message is output by voice. It

Next, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example of the personal computer system 2 in this case. As shown in FIG. 2, the personal computer system 2 of this example includes a personal computer body 21 and a C
It comprises an RT display 22 and an optical data communication device 23.

In the personal computer main body 21, the CPU 20
1, the program memory (ROM) 203, the work area memory (RAM) 204, the video RAM 205, the display controller 206, and the interfaces 207 to 207 through the system bus 202.
211 is connected to the system bus 202.

The CRT display 22 is connected via the video RAM 205 and the display controller 206, and the display 2 is controlled by the display control of the personal computer body 21.
2 is configured to display a predetermined display.

A floppy disk drive device 212 is connected through the interface 207, and the drive device 2
Data can be written / read to / from the floppy disk loaded in the disk 12.

A mouse 215 is also connected through the interface 210 so that the user's input operation via the mouse 215 is accepted.

The interface 211 is a communication interface and is connected to the connector 216. The optical data communication device 23 is connected to the connector 216 by a connection cable 24.

Further, the disk drive device 213 of the built-in hard disk is connected via the interface 208. Furthermore, via the interface 209, the CD
-ROM drive 214 is connected and a CD-ROM can be loaded.

Then, the personal computer main body 21 fetches the information on the state of the automobile received by the optical data communication device 23 in response to the information fetch request from the user,
It is equipped with software that writes to the built-in hard disk. This processing program communicates with the optical data communication device 23 from the remote controller 3 while the program for transmitting and receiving data to and from the optical data communication device 23 is being activated, and a request for transmission of information regarding the state of the vehicle arrives. Is started when you do.

Further, in the case of this embodiment, the personal computer 21 reads the information on the state of the automobile stored in the hard disk in response to the user's read request, and passes it through the optical data communication device 23. It also has software to send it. In this example, this processing program is activated when it is determined that the command given from the remote control device 3 to the personal computer main body 21 via the optical data communication device 23 is an information reception request command.

As described above, enabling the transfer of information from the personal computer system 2 is performed by acc. This is convenient when it is possible to provide it to a service company after performing personal computer processing such as making a comparison table so that the information collected with the information collection key can be compared.

The optical data communication device 23 is constructed by mounting a microcomputer. That is, the optical data communication device includes a CPU 221 and a program ROM 222.
A work area RAM 223, a communication interface 224, I / O ports 226 and 227, an optical data transmission circuit 228, and an optical data reception circuit 229, which are connected to each other through a system bus 220.

In the case of this embodiment, the optical data signal is transmitted and received by infrared rays. Therefore, the optical data transmission circuit 2
An infrared transmitter 228T is connected to the output side of 28,
The infrared receiver 2 is provided on the input side of the optical data receiving circuit 229.
29R is connected.

The communication interface 224 is connected to the connector 225. The connector 225 is connected to the connector 216 of the personal computer body 21 through the cable 24.

The optical data communication device 23 is the personal computer body 2
The optical data transmission circuit 2 starts the data sent from the personal computer main body 21 through the communication interface 224 in response to a transmission instruction from the personal computer main body 21.
In 28, it is modulated into an optical data transmission signal of a predetermined transmission format, and is transmitted as infrared rays by the infrared transmitter 228T. Also, the optical data signal sent as infrared rays is received by the optical data receiving circuit 229 through the infrared receiver 229R and demodulated, and the communication interface 2
It is sent to the PC main body 21 through 24.

Next, the remote control device 3 of the vehicle-mounted navigation device 1 will be described.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example of the remote controller 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the remote control device 3 of this example is configured to include a microcomputer, and has a system bus 302, a CPU 301, and a CPU 301.
, ROM 303, DRAM 304, SRAM 30
5, key interface 306, and I / O port 3
07 and 308 are connected.

The key operation unit 309 is connected to the system bus 302 via the key interface 306, and the remote control device 3 sends a key search signal to the key operation unit 309 via the interface 306 so that the user operates it. Which key is the operated key is determined, and control processing is performed according to the operated key.

Further, the remote control signal transmission circuit 310 is connected via the I / O port 307, and the I / O port 30 is connected.
The remote control signal receiving circuit 311 is connected via the switch 8. The transmission circuit 310 performs a process of converting transmission data into a signal of a transmission format, and the reception circuit 311 performs a process of decoding original data from the signal of the transmission format.

In the case of this embodiment, the remote control signal is transmitted and received by infrared rays. Therefore, the infrared transmitter 310T is provided at the output side of the remote control signal transmission circuit 310.
The infrared receiver 311R is connected to the input side of the remote control signal receiving circuit 311.

Then, the remote control device 3 obtains the information on the state of the automobile and executes the S of the navigation device 1.
The key operation unit 30 includes an information collection key for storing in the RAM 105, a reception key for receiving information about the state of the vehicle, and a transmission key for transmitting the information.
Prepare for 9. When the user operates the reception key, the reception request command is transmitted as infrared rays, and when the user operates the transmission key, the transmission request command is transmitted as infrared rays.

Further, the remote control device 3 is provided with a processing program for taking in the information on the state of the vehicle received from the navigation device 1 through the infrared receiver 311R and the remote control signal receiving circuit 311 and writing it in the SRAM 305. There is. This processing program is activated by the user pressing the reception key included in the key operation unit 309.

Further, for the purpose of transferring the information on the state of the automobile stored in the SRAM 305 to the personal computer system 1, the remote control device of this example is SR
The information stored in the AM 305 is read out, through the remote control transmission circuit 310 and the infrared transmitter 310T,
It also has software for sending to the personal computer system 1. This processing program is the key operation unit 3
The transmission key included in 09 is activated by the user's operation.

Next, the control circuit 100, the personal computer main body 21, and the remote controller 3 of the navigation device 1 described above.
The flow chart of the main processing routine in the above will be described.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a processing routine when the key is inserted into the key hole of the automobile in the navigation device 1 and the accessory power is turned on (ACC on).

That is, when the navigation device 1 is powered on, the navigation device 1 determines in step S1 that the connector 12
Car information is taken in through 7. The fetched information is written in the SRAM 105 in step S2. In the case of this example, as described above, the information at the time of turning on the ACC and the information collected by the remote control signal when the driving of the vehicle is finished are the SRA.
A memory area is divided and stored in M105.

Next, the process proceeds to step S3 to wait for the input of the remote control signal from the remote control device 3. Step S
If it is determined in 3 that the remote control signal is received, the process proceeds to step S4 to identify the remote control signal.

If the result of identification in step S4 is that the remote control signal is a normal navigation device command, processing advances to step S5, navigation-related processing is performed, and processing returns to step S3.

If the result of identification in step S4 is that the remote control signal is an information gathering command, step S1
Then, the information about the state of the vehicle as described above at that time is taken in through the connector 127,
In step S2, the information is stored in the memory area of the SRAM 105 different from the information when the ACC is on.

If the result of identification in step S4 is that the remote control signal is a command for requesting reception, step S6
In step S7, the information about the state of the vehicle collected at the time of turning on the ACC and at the time of the information collection command of the remote control signal is read from the SRAM 105 and transmitted as infrared rays in the next step S7. Thereafter, the process returns to step S3.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a processing routine when the optical data communication device 23 is started up in the personal computer body 21.

In this case, the personal computer main body 21 determines in step S11 whether or not the optical data is received via the optical data communication device 23. When it is determined that the optical data has been received, the data is decoded and identified in step S12. As a result of the identification, when the data is the command for requesting the reception of the information regarding the state of the vehicle, the process proceeds to step S13, the information regarding the state of the vehicle is read from the hard disk, and is transmitted via the optical data communication device 23 in step S14. To Then, it returns to step S11.

If the result of identification in step S12 is that the received data is a command for requesting transmission of information relating to the state of the vehicle, the flow proceeds to step S15 and the state of the vehicle sent via the optical data communication device 23. The information regarding the information is received and written in the hard disk in the next step S16. Then, it returns to step S11.

As a result of the identification in step S12, if the received data is data other than the above-mentioned transmission request or reception request, the process proceeds to step S17, the process according to the data is performed, and the process returns to step S11.

The personal computer main body 21 accumulates the information thus collected for each item of information relating to the state of the vehicle such as water temperature, lamp burnout, lamp circuit abnormality, mileage, and oil change time. It is possible to perform processing such as making a list together with the collection date and time. As a result, the user can easily grasp the change with time of each item. Also, the information when ACC is on,
A comparison table can be generated and provided to the user with the information collected at other times, and the user can perform a failure diagnosis of the vehicle from the comparison table.

Next, FIG. 6 shows an example of a processing routine in the remote controller 3.

In the remote controller 3, in step S21,
Wait for key operation. When it is determined in step S21 that the key has been operated, the process proceeds to step S22, and which key is operated is identified.

If the result of identification in step S22 is that the operation is a normal remote control key operation, then control is passed to step S23, and a command corresponding to the operated remote control key is transmitted as infrared rays. Then, it returns to step S21.

When the result of identification in step S22 is that the operation is the operation of the reception key described above, step S22
In step 24, the reception request command is transmitted as infrared rays. Next, in step S25, the information regarding the condition of the automobile is received, and in the next step S26,
The received information is written in the SRAM 305. Then, it returns to step S21.

As a result of the identification in step S22, when it is identified as the operation of the transmission key described above, step S22
In step 27, the transmission request command is transmitted as infrared rays. Next, in step S28, the information on the state of the automobile is read from the SRAM 305, and the next step S28 is performed.
At 29, it is transmitted as infrared rays. Then, step S2
Return to 1.

Next, in the system for collecting information about the state of the automobile having the above-described configuration, the following is taken in order to fetch the information about the state of the automobile into the personal computer system 2.

That is, as shown in FIG. 7A, the remote control device 3 is brought into the automobile and the reception key of the key operation portion 309 of the remote control device 3 is operated toward the vehicle-mounted navigation device 1.

Then, since the remote control device 3 sends the reception request command, the navigation device 1 causes the SRA
The above-mentioned information about the state of the vehicle is read from M105, converted into transmission data by the remote control signal transmission circuit 125, and transmitted to the remote control device 3 as infrared data from the infrared transmitter 125T.

The remote control device 3 sends this to the infrared receiver 3
The signal is received by 11R and is decoded by the receiving circuit 311. Then, it is stored in the SRAM 305. The contents of the SRAM 305 are retained until the clear key included in the key operation unit 309 is operated, and erased when the clear key is operated.

It should be noted that without using the SRAM 305, the DRA
The received information about the state of the vehicle may be stored in M304, and may be automatically deleted from the DRAM 304 when it is transmitted.

After storing the information about the state of the automobile in the remote control device 3 as described above, the information is taken to a home or service company and transferred to a personal computer system there as follows. To do.

First, the user activates a program for exchanging data with the optical data communication device 23 in the personal computer system 2 and, as shown in FIG. 7B,
Aim the remote control device 3 at the optical data communication device 12, and further press the transmission key of the key operation unit 309 of the remote control device 3.

Then, the remote control device 3 has the transmitting circuit 31.
0 and the transmission request command is transmitted through the infrared transmitter 310T. The personal computer main body 21 receives this transmission request command through the optical data communication device 23 and prepares for reception.

In the remote control device 3, when the transmission key is pressed as described above, the information regarding the state of the vehicle is read out from the SRAM 305, and the optical data communication device 23 of the personal computer system 2 is read by the transmission circuit 310 and the infrared transmitter 311T. To send.

The personal computer main body 21 receives the information about the state of the automobile through the optical data communication device 23 and writes it in the built-in hard disk.

In this way, the information on the state of the automobile collected by the navigation device 1 is transferred to the personal computer system 2. Therefore, the personal computer system 2 can perform processing such as vehicle failure diagnosis, an instruction to replace consumable parts, and an alarm from the acquired information. In this case, the information at the start of driving and the information at the end of driving can be obtained, so by comparing both the information, more detailed information processing regarding the vehicle can be performed.

Further, in the case of the above embodiment, it is also possible to take up the information about the state of the automobile stored in the built-in hard disk of the personal computer system 1 by the remote control device 3 and transfer it to another personal computer system. Is. Therefore, for example, the SR of the navigation device 1
Information relating to the state of the automobile stored in the AM 105 is taken up by the remote control device 3 and sequentially stored in the personal computer system 2 at home having the above-mentioned function in association with the date and time information. The information stored in the personal computer system 2 for a certain period of time in the past relating to the state of the automobile is sucked up again by the remote control device 3, and is transferred to, for example, a personal computer system installed in a service company and having the same function as described above. It is possible to store it on a hard disk.

In the case of the above-described embodiment, since the information can be transferred by using the remote control device of the navigation device as the on-vehicle electronic device, only the software of the electronic device and the personal computer system needs to be modified. No additional hardware is required.

In the above-described embodiment, the information about the automobile is stored in the SRAM of the navigation device when the ACC is on and when the information collecting key is operated. However, it is stored in the SRAM. Instead of putting
When the user operates the reception key of the information regarding the vehicle with the remote control device 3, the information regarding the state of the vehicle may be collected from the connector 127 based on the reception request command, and the collected data may be transmitted. . However, even in that case, in the navigation device,
It is necessary to temporarily store information about the state of the vehicle in a buffer memory in order to convert it into transmission data.

The on-vehicle electronic device is not limited to the navigation device as in the above-described embodiment, and for example, an electronic device called a so-called car audio device, such as a CD (compact disc) player or a cassette. It may be a player, an audio amplifier, a television receiver, or the like. The remote control device for these electronic devices can be used as the data transmission / reception unit.

However, the data transmission / reception unit is not limited to the remote control device. That is, as described above,
By mounting the optical data transmission / reception unit having the same function as that of the remote control device 3 in the portable device, the same operational effect as described above can be obtained.

For example, in the example of FIG. 8A, the portable telephone terminal 51
In this example, an optical data transmitter / receiver 51a is provided. In the case of the data transmission / reception unit of the example of FIG. 8A, not only can the mobile phone terminal be used in the same manner as the remote control device 3 described above, but the information relating to the state of the automobile stored in its built-in memory can Similarly, data can be transmitted to a mobile phone terminal provided with an optical data transmitter / receiver through a mobile phone line. Then, the information can be transferred to the personal computer system using the mobile phone terminal that has received the information.

Therefore, the user who has taken up the information about the condition of his / her own car into the mobile phone terminal does not have to go to the service company and transfer the information to the personal computer system of the service company using the mobile phone terminal. Instead, it suffices to call the service company using the mobile phone terminal and use the communication line of the mobile phone to transmit the information regarding the state of the vehicle. In this case, the mobile phone terminal reads out the information about the state of the vehicle stored in its built-in memory, receives the software to be transmitted via the communication line of the mobile phone, and the information, It is necessary to have software that writes to the internal memory.

Next, in the example of FIG. 8B, the so-called pager 5 is used.
2 is an example in which the optical data transmitting / receiving unit 52a is provided, the example in FIG. 8C is an example in which the optical data transmitting / receiving unit 53a is provided in the PDA 53, and the example in FIG. 8D is the so-called notebook computer 54 in which the optical data transmitting / receiving unit 54a is provided. The example provided, FIG. 8E shows the writing instrument 5.
5, an example in which an optical data transmitter / receiver 55a is provided, a wristwatch 56
8F shows an example in which the optical data transmitter / receiver 56a is provided, and FIG. 8F shows an example in which the bracelet 57 is provided with the optical data transmitter / receiver 57a.

In all of the above examples, light is used for data communication, but radio waves may be used for data communication.

Further, it is also possible to adopt a system configuration which does not include a data transmitting / receiving unit. For example, for in-vehicle electronic devices,
In addition to the function of acquiring information from the information output terminal of the automobile as described above, it should be equipped with a data communication function of a mobile phone, and an information collection unit, such as a personal computer system, can be connected via a communication line of the mobile phone. Function to receive information. Then, by operating the keys on the electronic device or operating the remote control, the acquired information is sent to the personal computer system as the information collecting unit via the communication line of the mobile phone, and the personal computer system receives it and stores it in its memory. It is configured to do.

Further, instead of using the communication line of the mobile phone, the on-vehicle electronic device is provided with a function of transmitting the information about the state of the automobile as an FM radio wave, and the FM radio wave is transmitted to the information collecting section. It is also possible to provide a function of receiving the information transmitted as, and storing it in the memory.

[0100]

As described above, according to the present invention, the information about the state of the automobile is collected in the on-vehicle electronic device and stored in the memory, and the stored information is wirelessly transmitted to the information collecting unit. Therefore, it is possible to easily collect the information about the state of the vehicle and perform the required processing.

In particular, when the data transmission / reception unit is used to transmit information between the on-vehicle electronic device and the information collection unit, the data transmission / reception unit is made portable and only this data transmission / reception unit is used for information transmission. Just move it to the collection section,
There is no need to move the car itself to a service company.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a navigation device as an example of a vehicle-mounted electronic device that constitutes an embodiment of a system for collecting information about the state of a vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a personal computer system as an example of an information collection unit that constitutes an embodiment of a system for collecting information about the state of a vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a remote control device for vehicle-mounted electronic equipment as an example of a data transmission / reception unit which constitutes an embodiment of a system for collecting information about the state of a vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing routine of a main part of the navigation device in the example of FIG.

5 is a flowchart showing a processing routine of a main part of the personal computer system of the example of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing routine of a main part of the remote control device of the example of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a transfer process of the system for collecting information about the state of a vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining another example of the data transmission / reception unit which constitutes an embodiment of the system for collecting information about the state of the vehicle according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Car Navigation Device 11 Navigation Device Main Body 12 Display 123 CD-ROM Drive 125T Infrared Transmitter 126R Infrared Receiver 105 SRAM 2 Personal Computer System 21 Personal Computer Main Body 22 CRT Display 23 Optical Data Communication Device 213 Hard Disk Drive 214 CD-ROM Drive Device 228T Infrared transmitter 229R Infrared receiver 3 Remote control device 304 SRAM 31OT Infrared transmitter 311R Infrared receiver

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An audio signal and / or video signal processing circuit, information acquisition means for acquiring information on the state of a vehicle, and first storage means for storing the information on the state of the vehicle acquired by the information acquisition means. A vehicle-mounted electronic device including: a transmitting unit that wirelessly transmits the information stored in the first storage unit; a receiving unit that receives the information transmitted from the transmitting unit; and a receiving unit that receives the information. An information collecting unit having a second storage unit that stores the information transmitted from the transmission unit and a processing unit that performs a predetermined process using the information stored in the second storage unit A system for collecting information about conditions. 2. The system for collecting information on the condition of a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting means and the receiving means transmit and receive information through light or radio waves. 3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting means and the receiving means transmit and receive information via a communication line. 4. An in-vehicle electronic device section, a data transmitting / receiving section,
The vehicle-mounted electronic device section includes an audio signal and / or video signal processing circuit, an information acquisition unit that acquires information about the state of the vehicle, and the information acquisition unit. And a first transmitting unit that stores the information on the state of the vehicle acquired in 1. and a first transmitting unit that wirelessly transmits the information stored in the first storing unit. A first for receiving the information transmitted from the first transmitting means,
Receiving means, second storage means for storing the information received by the first receiving means, and second transmitting means for wirelessly transmitting the information stored in the second storage means, The information collecting device section for collecting information about the state of the vehicle receives the information transmitted from the second transmitting means.
And a third storage unit that stores the information received by the second reception unit, and a processing unit that performs a process using the information stored in the third storage unit. A system for collecting information about the state of the car. 5. The information transmission / reception between the first and second transmitting means and the first and second receiving means is performed by light or radio waves. A system for collecting information about the condition of automobiles. 6. The collection of information about the state of a vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the data transmission / reception unit is a remote control operation device for the vehicle-mounted electronic device that wirelessly transmits and receives information. system. 7. An audio signal and / or video signal processing circuit, information acquisition means for acquiring information on the state of the vehicle, and storage means for storing the information on the state of the vehicle acquired by the information acquisition means. An in-vehicle electronic device, comprising: a transmission unit that wirelessly transmits information stored in a storage unit.