JPS5867538A - Controller for angle of rearview mirror for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically obtain a necessary field of vision, by turning a mirror by a predetermined angle at the time of direction changing of backing-up. CONSTITUTION:A motor M for driving a mirror, potentiometers 11, 22 and a manual switch 16 are connected to a microcomputer 2. Action such as movement direction changing and backing-up is detected by a sensor 18 so that the microcomputer 2 functions to turn the mirror by a predetermined angle in accordance with the detection signal. Since the mirror is thus automatically moved to a position for a necessary field of vision at the time of backing-up or the like, vehicle operation is facilitated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an angle control device for a rearview mirror for a vehicle.
In particular, the present invention relates to an angle control device for a rearview mirror for a vehicle, which uses a remote control rearview mirror to correct the angle of the mirror surface depending on the driving condition of the vehicle.

Conventionally, vehicles have two types of mirrors: an inside mirror that is attached to the front of the driver's seat to see what's behind the driver's seat through the rear window, and an outside mirror that's attached to the outside of the car such as a door or fender to see what's on the side and behind the car. Equipped with a rearview mirror. These rearview mirrors are
It is necessary to obtain visibility behind the vehicle while driving, and if the angle of the rearview mirror is not adjusted to the appropriate angle relative to the driver, visibility to the rear may not be obtained, which could lead to a serious accident. This may cause Therefore, such a rearview mirror is constructed such that the mirror surface can be universally adjusted by direct or remote control.

A remote control rearview mirror that is configured so that the mirror surface can be adjusted by remote control uses the center of the rear surface of the mirror as a fulcrum, and adjusts two or three points on the rear surface of the mirror.
It is configured so that the horizontal and vertical angles of the mirror surface can be adjusted from inside the vehicle by pushing or pulling it using wires or shafts and gears.

By the way, when a vehicle traveling straight ahead changes course to the right, check the rear view to the lower right, and when to change course to the left, check the rear view to the lower left to make sure the vehicle is backing up. When doing so, it is necessary to check the rear view to the left and right and downward. However, because the angle of the mirror surface of conventional rearview mirrors is fixed while driving, it is difficult to obtain the necessary rearward field of view when a vehicle traveling straight changes direction to the left or right or when reversing. The problem is that it cannot be done.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to rotate the mirror surface of the rearview mirror by a predetermined angle when changing the running direction of the vehicle and when moving forward or backward, thereby automatically providing a clear view of the rear. An object of the present invention is to provide an angle control device for a rearview mirror for a vehicle.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following features:
A driving state detection sensor is provided that detects when the vehicle is changing direction of travel or reversing and outputs a driving direction change signal and a backward signal. When any one of them is input, a control signal for rotating the mirror surface of the rearview mirror by a predetermined angle is output to the rearview mirror drive device. As the driving state detection sensor, a left/right turn switch connected to a direction indicator and a reverse switch that shifts a shift lever to reverse and turns on a reverse light when the shift lever is turned on are used. Further, as the rearview mirror drive device, a conventional drive device using a reversible motor, a gear group, a spindle, etc. can be used. As a result, when a driving direction change signal or a reversing signal is input from the driving state detection sensor, the mirror surface is automatically corrected so that an optimal rear field of view is obtained.

According to the above configuration of the present invention, the mirror surface of the rearview mirror is deflected by a certain amount when changing the driving direction or reversing, so that an optimal outside rear field of view is obtained, which further improves driving safety. Effects can be obtained.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is designed so that the angle of the conventional remote control/troll mirror can be easily changed by pushing the mirror surface, so it is possible to easily change the angle by pushing the mirror surface. Considering that the angle of the mirror surface that has been adjusted to an appropriate angle may become inconvenient, we have added a rearview mirror angle control that automatically returns the angle of the mirror surface to the appropriate angle at the start of driving. In this embodiment, the angle of the mirror surface of the 7-end mirror in the outside mirror is controlled, and a left-right rotation motor M is used as a mirror drive device to rotate the mirror surface in the left-right direction within a horizontal plane.

and a vertical rotation motor pigeon that rotates the mirror surface in the vertical direction in the vertical direction, and a left and right potentiometer 1
1 and a vertical potentiometer 22 are used to detect the angle of the mirror surface, and whether the operation is starting or ending is detected by turning on/off the ignition (IQ) contact of the ignition switch 1.

The left-right rotation motor M is connected to the microcomputer 2 via a left-right switching circuit 12. The left-right potentiometer 11 outputs a voltage corresponding to the amount of spindle output, and the analog multiplexer 4
and A/D that converts analog signals to digital signals.
It is connected to a microcomputer via a converter 6. The left/right direction switching circuit 12 includes PNP type transistors Try, Try and NPNW) lunge x Tr3,
It is composed of a series-parallel circuit of Tr4. The emitters of the transistors T rl XT rl are made common and connected to the battery B, and the collectors of each are connected to the transistor T
f), are each connected to the collector of T r4. The emitters of the transistors T r) 't T r4 are made common and grounded. And transistor T
The base of rl-T r4 is microcomputer 2
The collectors of the transistors Try and Tr3 are connected to the left-right rotation motor M! The collectors of the transistors Try and Tr4 are connected to the other terminal of the left-right rotation motor M1. In addition, the left-right direction counter/nocometer 11 is composed of a resistor 11a whose one end is connected to the battery B and the other end is grounded, and a movable contactor 11b that moves according to the amount of turnout of the spindle.
The movable contact 11b is connected to the analog multiplexer 4.

Vertical rotation motor M! is connected to the microcomputer 2 via a vertical switching circuit 14 in which transistors TrB to Tr are connected in the same way as the horizontal switching circuit 12, similar to the left-right rotation motor M1. The vertical potentiometer 22 is the horizontal potentiometer 11
Similarly, it consists of a resistor 22a and a movable contact 22b,
The movable contact 22b is connected to the analog multiplexer 4.

The microcomputer 2 is connected to the battery B via an engineering G contact and an accessory (ACC) contact.

Further, a manual switch 16 is connected to the microcomputer 2. The manual switch 16 is
It is composed of a left/right direction changeover switch 16a and a vertical direction changeover switch 16b.

The microcomputer 2 includes a running decoy detection sensor 18.
is connected. The running state detection sensor 18 is composed of a right turn switch 18a1 attached to the column, a left turn switch 18a1, and a reverse switch 18C that is turned on when the shift lever is shifted to reverse.

The operation of this embodiment will be explained below with reference to FIG. When the ignition key is turned to turn on the ACC contact of the ignition switch, power is supplied to the microcomputer 2 and it starts operating, and an initial set routine is performed in step 21. Step 22
In step 23, it is determined whether the IG sliding contact of the ignition switch has changed from off to on. If the IG sliding contact is on or off, it is determined in step 23 whether the IG sliding contact of the ignition switch has changed from on to off. is judged. When the IG sliding contact is in the on or off state, that is, during operation or when requesting a stoppage, K is
The process moves to manual operations starting from step 27. When the Id contact changes from on to off, that is, when the end of operation is detected, the analog multiplexer 4 is controlled to set the angle of the horizontal direction angle signal, the vertical direction angle signal, and the vertical direction angle as the current value. Stored in random access memory (RAM). This RAM is backup RAM or non-volatile RAM. After storing it in the RAM, proceed to the manual operation from step 27 onwards. In step 22, if the IG sliding contact changes from OFF to ON, that is, when the start of operation is detected, input the angle signal in the same way as described above. to find the current value of the mirror surface,
In step 25, it is determined whether the stored data stored in RAM K is equal to the current value at the start of operation. If the stored data and the current value are equal, the process moves to step 27 and subsequent manual operations. On the other hand, if the stored data and the current value are not equal, in step 26 the motor M1 is adjusted so that the stored data and the current value are equal.
Alternatively, the motor pigeon is controlled to control the angle of the mirror surface, the process returns to step 25, and steps 25 and 26 are repeated until the stored data and the current value become equal.

The angle of the mirror surface in steps 25 and 26 is controlled by rotating the motor M1 or M8 in the forward and reverse directions as follows so as to reduce the difference between the stored data and the current value.

When a signal of 1 is input from the microcomputer 2 to the pace of transistors Trl and Trl, and a signal of 0 is input to the pace of transistors Try and Tr4, the transistors T rl and Tr4 are turned off, and the transistor T
ry, Try turns on. As a result, battery B,
Transistor Trz, motor Ml and transistor T
A closed circuit of rl is formed and motor Ml rotates in one direction. Conversely, a 0 signal is input to the transistors Trl and Trs (7), and the 'transistors Try and Tr4
When a signal of 1 is input to the pace of , motor M rotates in the opposite direction to that described above. In this way, the motor M is rotated in the forward and reverse directions, and the angle signal is input, the current value and the stored data are constantly compared, and when the current value and the stored data become equal, the motor M1 is stopped, and step 27 Move to. Note that the rotation control of the motor pigeon is also the same as described above.

Next, manual operation will be explained. In step 27, the manual switch left/right direction changeover switch 16a
The movable contact contacts one of the fixed contacts, and it is determined whether the right manual switch is on.

If the right manual switch is not turned on,
In step 28, the movable contact of the left/right direction changeover switch 16a contacts the other fixed contact, and it is determined whether the left direction manual switch is on.

If the left manual switch is not on/off,
As described above, it is determined in step 29 whether or not the upward manual switch is on, and step 30 is performed.
At this point, it is determined whether or not the downward manual switch is on. If the upper manual switch and the lower manual switch are not turned on, the process moves to step 100 according to the present invention.

On the other hand, if any one of the right manual switch, left manual switch, up manual switch, and down manual switch is on, in steps 31 to 34, the angle of the mirror surface is set to IJ. If the angle of the mirror surface exceeds the limit, the injectors M1 and M2 are stopped in steps 39 to 42, respectively. On the other hand, if the angle of the mirror surface does not exceed the IJ limit, the motors Ml, M are rotated in steps 35 to 38, and the mirror surface is rotated in the rightward, leftward, upward, and downward directions, respectively. be moved.

Next, the mirror angle control when the direction indicator is activated and when the reverse light is turned on in step 100 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

If it is determined in step 30 that the downward manual switch is not on, it is determined in step 101 whether or not the right turn switch 18Jl has changed from off to on. If the right turn switch 18a does not change from off to on, it is determined in step 102 whether the left turn switch 18b changes from off to on; if the left turn switch 18b does not change from off to on. In step 103, it is determined whether the reverse switch 18C has changed from off to on. Here, when the right direction turn switch 9 changes from off to on, the right direction indicator is turned on, and in step 104, the mirror surface of the right fender mirror is moved downward and rightward at a predetermined angle. Driven. Further, when the left direction turn switch changes from off to on, the left direction indicator is turned on and the mirror surface of the left fender mirror is driven downward and leftward by a predetermined angle in step 105. Ru.

Furthermore, when the reverse switch changes from OFF to ON, the reversing light is turned on and the mirror surfaces of the left fender mirror and the right fender mirror are driven downward by a predetermined angle in step 106. Note that the above predetermined angle is stored in the ROM of the microcomputer 2 in advance. As a result, the mirror surface of the fender mirror is corrected to an appropriate angle when changing running or backing up, and it is possible to obtain clear rear visibility when towing.

If it is determined in step 103 that the reverse switch has not changed from off to on, step 1
In steps 07 to 109, it is determined whether the right turn switch has changed from on to off, the left turn switch has changed from on to off, or the reverse switch has changed from on to off. Here, if the right turn switch changes from on to off, step 11
0, if the left turn switch changes from on to off, step 111; if the reverse switch changes from on to off, step 112;
, the mirror surfaces of each fender mirror are returned to their pre-correction state. If none of the above changes from on to off, the process returns to step 22 in FIG.

The above description has been given of the case where the mirror angle is returned to the state at the end of operation at the start of operation as control of the mirror angle at the start of operation, but as shown in FIG. 10, it may be returned to a fixed value at the start of operation.

If it is detected in step 22 that the ■G contact has changed from off to on, then in step 43, the current value of the angle of the mirror surface is determined from the angle signal and stored in advance in a read-only memory (ROM). The current value is compared with a fixed value representing the appropriate angle, and if the current value and the fixed value are equal, the process proceeds to step 27 and subsequent manual operations. On the other hand, if the current value and fixed value are not equal, step 4
At step 4, the motors M1 and M2 are rotationally controlled so that the current value and the fixed value become equal, and the process returns to step 43, where steps 43 and 44 are repeated until the current value and the fixed value become equal.

Although the angle control of the fender mirror has been described above, the present invention can also be applied to outside mirrors and inside mirrors other than the front and rear mirrors 2-. 9. In addition to the IG contact, the detection at the start of driving includes an ACC contact, a switch that detects that the ignition key is inserted into the keyhole, a seat switch that detects whether the driver is seated, etc. can be used.

In addition, the amount of deflection that deflects the fender mirror, etc. by a certain amount when turning right, left, left, or backing up using input signals from the turn switch and reverse switch can be stored in advance as a ROMK fixed value as described above, but it is not shown in Fig. 1. Alternatively, a new manual switch may be provided, and the driver may preset the deviation amount by operating this manual switch.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment, FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the mirror angle control operation when the direction indicator is activated and the reverse light is turned on, and FIG. It is a flow diagram showing another example of mirror angle control. 2...Microcontroller 111/22...Potentiometer 12.14...Motor switching circuit. 16...Manual switch. 18... Running state detection senna. Agent Tatsuyuki Unuma (and 2 others)

Claims (1)

[Claims] a rearview mirror drive device that rotates the mirror surface of the rearview mirror; a driving state detection sensor that detects when the vehicle is changing the driving direction or reversing the vehicle and outputs a driving direction change signal and a reverse signal; An angle control device for a rearview mirror for a vehicle, comprising: a control circuit that outputs a control signal for rotating a mirror surface of the rearview mirror by a predetermined angle to the rearview mirror drive device when any one of reverse signals is input.