JPH097096A - Indicating method for emergency vehicle approach notifying - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To give an adequate instruction to a driver by surely detecting the approach of an emergency vehicle. CONSTITUTION: The position of the emergency vehicle is sent from the emergency vehicle with a radio wave of a specific frequency. The alarm control part 32 of a general vehicle receives and demodulates the frequency range wave to discriminate the emergency vehicle position, and finds the distance to the emergency vehicle from the emergency vehicle position and the position of its own vehicle obtained from a navigation system 10. When the distance to the emergency vehicle is within 1st-2nd set distance ranges, and audio level is lowered and the driver is notified of the approach of the emergency vehicle with a chime, a display, etc., and when the distance is less than the 2nd distance, the sound volume of the car audio set is set to zero, an emergency message is vocalized, and the emergency vehicle position is displayed on the display screen of the navigation system. It is decided thereafter on the basis of the emergency vehicle position and its vehicle position whether or not the emergency vehicle has passed and when so, the navigation system and car audio system are put back to their previous states.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an alerting method when an emergency vehicle approaches, and more particularly to an alerting method when an emergency vehicle approaches to detect the approach of an emergency vehicle and notify the driver.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When an emergency vehicle (ambulance, fire engine, police car, etc.) moves due to an emergency, it uses a siren or a microphone to notify a general vehicle on the road that the emergency vehicle is approaching, and Slow down, move to the left, etc.). However, when the car is running while the windows are closed and the car audio is played at high volume, or when the road is congested, the emergency vehicle must come near
Do not notice the sirens and voice instructions sent from the emergency vehicle, delay the response and interfere with the travel of the emergency vehicle, or
It has caused an accident. Therefore, if it is possible to notify the driver that the emergency vehicle is approaching from a certain distance, it is possible to smoothly respond to the emergency vehicle, hinder the travel of the emergency vehicle, and prevent an accident from occurring. Therefore,
The voice outside the vehicle is detected by a microphone, the predetermined band component included in the detected voice is extracted by a filter, and the characteristics of the voice signal output from the filter and the alarm sound (siren) stored in the memory in advance are identified. By comparison, an alarm control device has been proposed in which an alarm sound outside the vehicle is identified and the volume of the car audio device is reduced to zero or attenuated by identifying the alarm sound.

[0003]

However, in the conventional alarm control device, the approach of the emergency vehicle is determined by comparing the characteristics of the voices, and when the road is congested, the emergency vehicle is still activated. There is a problem that the approach cannot be recognized correctly unless it is approached to a considerably close distance. Further, there is a problem that it is not possible to judge whether the distance to the emergency vehicle or the approaching direction (approaching from the back or the front) is approaching, and it is not possible to give an accurate instruction according to the distance to the emergency vehicle. Further, even if an emergency vehicle passes, there is a problem that the audio volume is not restored and the car audio cannot be enjoyed unless the emergency vehicle is separated by a considerable distance. From the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an alerting method when an emergency vehicle approaches, which can reliably recognize the approach of the emergency vehicle even when the road is congested or the audio volume is high. Is. Another object of the present invention is to provide a notification method when an emergency vehicle approaches, which can determine the distance to the emergency vehicle and the approaching direction and can give an accurate instruction according to the distance to the emergency vehicle and the approaching direction. Is. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a notification method upon approach of an emergency vehicle that can quickly return the state of a car audio system, a navigation system, etc. to the state before the approach of the emergency vehicle by the passage of the emergency vehicle. .

[0004]

According to the present invention, the above object is to provide a means for transmitting an emergency vehicle position from an emergency vehicle by mounting it on a predetermined frequency radio wave, and a general vehicle for receiving and demodulating the frequency radio wave to transmit the emergency vehicle position. Means for identifying the emergency vehicle position, means for obtaining the distance to the emergency vehicle from the position of the general vehicle obtained from the emergency vehicle position and the navigation system, and the distance is the first
When the distance is within the set distance, the means for lowering the audio volume and notifying that the emergency vehicle is approaching, and when the distance is within the second set distance smaller than the first set distance, further increase the volume of the car audio. A means for displaying the emergency vehicle's position on the display screen of the navigation system and a means for displaying the emergency vehicle's position on the display screen of the navigation system as well as setting the aperture to zero or the emergency vehicle's position based on the general vehicle position obtained from the navigation system. This is accomplished by means for determining whether the vehicle has passed, and when it has passed, means for returning the navigation system and the car audio system to their original states.

[0005]

Operation: An emergency vehicle is provided with a transmitter that radiates radio waves of a predetermined frequency, and a general vehicle is provided with a receiver, a navigation system, and a car audio system, which are mounted on the frequency radio wave from the emergency vehicle. Send emergency vehicle position. General vehicles receive the frequency radio wave,
By demodulating and identifying the emergency vehicle position, the distance to the emergency vehicle is obtained from the emergency vehicle position and the position of the general vehicle obtained from the navigation system, and the magnitude of the distance and the first and second set distances is checked. When the distance to the emergency vehicle is within the first and second set distances, the audio level is turned down (volume is turned down), and the approaching emergency vehicle is notified by a chime, display, etc. If the second set distance is smaller than the second set distance, the car audio volume is further reduced (for example, zero), the emergency response message is played by voice, and the emergency vehicle position is displayed on the display screen of the navigation system. To do. Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the emergency vehicle has passed based on the emergency vehicle position and the general vehicle position obtained from the navigation system. If the emergency vehicle has passed, the navigation system and the car audio system are returned to their original states.

[0006]

1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 10 is a navigation system for guiding the traveling of the vehicle, 20 is a car audio system, and 30 is an alarm control system according to the present invention. (a) Navigation system In the navigation system 10, 11 is a navigation control device, 12 is an operation unit (for example, a remote controller) for inputting various commands to the navigation control device, 1
3 is a display device for displaying a map, a guide route, a message when an emergency vehicle approaches, an emergency vehicle position, etc., 14 is a CD-ROM for storing map information, 15 is a current position of the vehicle by receiving radio waves from a satellite, A GPS receiver 16 for measuring the azimuth is a self-contained navigation sensor. GPS receiver 15
Calculates the vehicle position and azimuth by performing three-dimensional positioning or two-dimensional positioning processing (the azimuth is the direction connecting the current vehicle position and the vehicle position one sampling time ΔT before) and outputs these together with the positioning time. . Although not shown, the self-contained navigation sensor 16 includes a relative azimuth sensor (angle sensor) that detects a vehicle rotation angle such as a vibration gyro, and a distance sensor that generates one pulse for each predetermined traveling distance.

The navigation control device 11 detects the position of the vehicle by using both the output of the GPS receiver 15 and the output of the self-contained navigation sensor 16 and reads the map data around the vehicle position from the CD-ROM 14 to display the map image. The vehicle position mark is drawn on the display screen and at a predetermined position on the map image. Then, as the current position changes due to the movement of the vehicle, the vehicle position mark is fixed at a predetermined position such as the center of the screen and the map is scrolled so that the map information around the vehicle position can always be seen at a glance. . Further, when the emergency vehicle approaches and enters the range of the first set distance D1, the navigation control device 11 instructs the alarm control system 30 to indicate that the emergency vehicle is approaching. Is displayed above the display screen. When the emergency vehicle further approaches and becomes equal to or less than the second set distance D2 (<D1), the emergency vehicle position mark is displayed on the map based on the emergency vehicle position data input from the alarm control system 30.

(B) Car audio system In the car audio system 20, 21 to 23 are audio sources such as radio tuner, tape player, and CD player, 24 is a source switching unit, 25 is an electronic volume for volume adjustment, and 26 is A mute circuit for blocking the output of audio voice, 27 is a signal switching unit for switching between audio voice and an approach message when an emergency vehicle approaches, 28 is an amplifier, and 29 is a speaker.

(C) Warning Control System In the warning control system 30, 31 is a receiver for receiving and demodulating radio waves of a predetermined frequency emitted from an emergency vehicle.
Reference numeral 31a is an antenna, 31b is a tuner, and 31c is a demodulator. Reference numeral 32 is an alarm control unit that performs notification control when an emergency vehicle approaches, 33 is a chime generator that generates a chime when an emergency vehicle approaches, 34 is a message memory that stores a voice message when an emergency vehicle approaches, and 35 is a digital voice message. Is a DA converter that converts the signal into an analog signal. The emergency vehicle is equipped with a navigation system, detects the position of the emergency vehicle (latitude and longitude), PSK-modulates the position data and digital data indicating the type of the emergency vehicle (ambulance, fire engine, police car), etc. The wave is radiated on a carrier of a predetermined frequency. The receiver 31 receives and demodulates radio waves from an emergency vehicle and inputs them to the alarm control unit 32,
The alarm control unit 32 identifies the position and type of the emergency vehicle from the demodulated data. The alarm control unit 32 obtains the distance to the emergency vehicle from the position of the emergency vehicle and the position of the own vehicle input from the navigation system 10, and according to the magnitude of the distance and the first and second set distances D1 and D2, the emergency The approach of the vehicle is notified.

(D) Notification Processing FIG. 2 is a flow of notification processing when an emergency vehicle approaches. The alarm controller 32 monitors whether or not a predetermined frequency radio wave (emergency vehicle signal) emitted from the emergency vehicle has been received (step 10
1) If received, the position (longitude and latitude data) of the emergency vehicle and the type data included in the emergency vehicle signal are acquired. Next, the alarm control unit 32 obtains the distance D to the emergency vehicle and the approaching direction from the emergency vehicle position and the own vehicle position input from the navigation system 10, and calculates the distance D and the first and second set distances D1 and D2. Compare the size of (step 10
2). Unless D1>D> D2, wait until the distance D falls within this range. If D1>D> D2, determine whether the navigation system 10 and the car audio system 20 are on (step 103), and turn off. If so, it is turned on (step 104). Then, the electronic volume 25 is instructed to lower the audio level (step 105), and the chime generator 33 is driven to generate a chime sound (step 106). At the same time, the navigation system 10 is notified that the emergency vehicle is approaching. Then
The display screen 13 displays an approach message "Part car (fire engine, ambulance) is approaching from the front (rear)" (step 107).

Thereafter, the alarm control unit 32 obtains the distance D to the emergency vehicle and compares the distance D with the second set distance D2 (step 108). If not D2 ≧ D, wait until the distance D becomes D2 or less. If D2 ≧ D, the alarm control unit 32 instructs the mute circuit 26 to mute the sound, stops the output of the audio sound, controls the signal switch 27 to select the DA converter 27, and outputs from the message memory 34. Read out the voice message when approaching an emergency vehicle (please refer to the left. Please slow down. Please check the emergency vehicle), input it to the DA converter 35, and output it from the speaker. At the same time, let the navigation system 10 display the emergency vehicle. The position data is input to display the emergency vehicle position mark on the map on the display screen (step 109). The emergency vehicle position mark can be displayed on the map in step 107. Further, the volume may be further narrowed down instead of zero. Thereafter, the alarm control unit 32 determines whether the emergency vehicle has passed based on the position of the emergency vehicle and the position of the own vehicle obtained from the navigation system 10 (step 11
0) If the vehicle has passed, the navigation system and the car audio system are returned to their original states, and the emergency vehicle approach notification processing is terminated (step 111). Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments, the present invention can be variously modified according to the gist of the present invention described in the claims, and the present invention does not exclude these.

[0012]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to reliably recognize the approach of an emergency vehicle even when the road is congested or the audio volume is high. Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to determine the distance to the emergency vehicle and the approaching direction, and it is possible to give an accurate instruction according to the distance to the emergency vehicle and the approaching direction. Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to detect the passage of an emergency vehicle and quickly restore the state of the car audio system, the navigation system, etc. to the state before the approach of the emergency vehicle.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a notification process when an emergency vehicle approaches according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 ... Navigation system 11 ... Navigation control device 13 ... Display device 20 ... Car audio system 25 ... Electronic volume 26 ... Mute circuit 30 ... Alarm control system 31 ... Receiver 32 ... Alarm control unit 33 ..Chime generator 34..Message memory

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Agency reference number FI Technical display location // G01C 21/00 G01C 21/00 A

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method for informing an emergency vehicle of detecting an approach of an emergency vehicle and notifying a driver of the emergency vehicle, wherein the emergency vehicle is provided with a transmitter for emitting an electric wave of a predetermined frequency, and an ordinary vehicle is provided with an electric wave of the frequency. A receiver, a navigation system and a car audio system for receiving are installed, the emergency vehicle position is transmitted from the emergency vehicle on the frequency radio wave, and the general vehicle receives and demodulates the frequency radio wave to identify the emergency vehicle position, The distance to the emergency vehicle is obtained from the position of the emergency vehicle and the position of the general vehicle obtained from the navigation system. When the distance is equal to or less than the first set distance D1, the volume of audio is reduced and the approaching of the emergency vehicle is notified. If the distance is less than the second set distance D2 which is smaller than the first set distance D1, the volume of the car audio is set to zero,
Or further narrowing down, playing an emergency response message by voice, displaying the emergency vehicle position on the display screen of the navigation system, and determining whether the emergency vehicle has passed based on the emergency vehicle position and the general vehicle position obtained from the navigation system. However, when the vehicle has passed, the navigation system and the car audio system are returned to their original states, and a notification method is provided when an emergency vehicle approaches.