JPS61256528A - Switchgear for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION "Field of Industrial Application" The present invention relates to a switch device for a vehicle, and more particularly to a switch device in which a steering wheel of a vehicle is provided with operation switch means.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] In recent years, the use of electronics in automobiles has progressed, and automobiles have been proposed in which the steering wheel is provided with various operation keys for operating various electronic devices. Since the steering wheel rotates, the operation keys provided there also rotate. However, the various electronic devices whose operation is instructed by the operation keys are located on the vehicle body and do not rotate, so the problem is how to connect the two.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a switch device for a vehicle in which the above-mentioned connection is made without contact by using optical means.

"Structure of the Invention" A switch device for a vehicle according to the present invention includes an operation switch means attached to a steering wheel, and a switch device provided on a steering rotation part so as to move with rotation of the steering wheel, and blinks in response to operation of the operation switch means. A light emitting means, a light receiving means provided on a steering fixed part along a moving range of the light emitting means to detect the blinking, and a content determining means for obtaining the operation details of the switch means from the blinking state of the light emitting means detected by the light receiving means. It is characterized in that it is equipped with the following.

"Example" The present invention will be described in more detail below based on the example shown in the drawings. Here, FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of a switch device for a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of operation content determination in the switch device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of determination. Note that the present invention is not limited to this example.

As shown in FIG. 1, a switch device 1 for a vehicle basically includes an operation switch means 2, a light emitting means 3, a light receiving means 4, and a content determining means 5.

The operation switch means 2 is constituted by an arrangement of 12 operation keys similar to a button phone, and is provided at the center of the steering wheel 6.

The light emitting means 3 is a one-dimensional array of 14 LEDs,
It is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the steering shaft 7 along the rotational direction of the shaft 7. Of these 14 LEDs, two LEDs at the front and rear ends of the array are always lit. The middle 12 LEDs excluding the front end and rear end LEDs respectively correspond to the 12 operation keys of the operation switch means 2, and when any of them is pressed, the corresponding LED is connected so that it lights up.

The light receiving means 4 is composed of an optical fiber 41 and a one-dimensional image sensor 42. One end 411 of the optical fiber 41 is arranged in a ring shape on the inner peripheral surface of the steering column 8. On the other hand, the other end 421. are arranged in a straight line opposite the detection line of the -dimensional image sensor 42.

The steering shaft 4 is inserted into the steering column 8, and in this state, the light emitting means 3 and one end 41 of the optical fiber 41. and are facing each other.

When the LED of the light emitting means 3 emits light, the light enters one end 411 of the optical fiber 41, is guided through the optical fiber, exits from the other end 42I, and is sent to the -dimensional image sensor 4.
Enter 2.

When the steering wheel 6 is rotated, the light emitting means 3 is also rotated due to the rotation of the steering shaft 4, so that the position where light is detected by the one-dimensional image sensor 42 moves on the detection line.

Note that as the -dimensional image sensor 42, a CCD, a photodiode array, or the like can be used.

Data obtained by the one-dimensional image sensor 42 is serially output in synchronization with a clock pulse when a start signal is applied.

The content determination means 5 is centered on a microprocessor such as MC6801, and sends a start signal to the -dimensional image sensor 42 at predetermined intervals, for example, every - second, reads the output of the -dimensional image sensor 42, and reads the output of the -dimensional image sensor 42. , determines the operation content of the operation switch means 2, and controls various electrical equipment 9a, 96.9c according to the content.

Next, the determination processing of the content determination means 5 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. In order to make the explanation more general,
The number of operation keys in the operation switch means 2 is N,
It is assumed that the number of optical fibers 41 and the number of detection elements of the one-dimensional image sensor 42 are the same, which is M. Also, one end 41 of the optical fiber 41. are arranged on the inner peripheral surface of the steering column 8 at equal intervals, and the LEDs of the light emitting means 3 are also arranged corresponding to the intervals.

First, the content determining means 5 gives a start pulse to the one-dimensional image sensor 42 in synchronization with a clock signal. As a result, the one-dimensional image sensor 40 serially outputs detection data at the time when the start pulse is applied.

This data is a pulse train of the same number as the number M of detection elements of the one-dimensional image sensor 42, but the height of the pulse increases as the amount of light incident on the detection element increases. Therefore, the height of the pulse of the detection element at the position corresponding to the LED of the light emitting means 3 that is emitting light is higher than that of the other LEDs.

The content determining means 5 can determine at which detection element position the lit LED is located from the height of the pulse. For example, as shown in FIG. If the one-dimensional image sensor 42 responds, the content determination means 5 detects the LEDs lit on the device corresponding to the four detection element numbers nl, nl, "k+n7".
It is recognized that it is located.

In the case of the positional relationship shown in FIG. 2(a), the smallest number nl among the detection element numbers nl, n, nl, . and the largest number IJ is the LE of the light emitting means 3.
The LED that is always lit at the rear end of D is shown, and the number nLrnk between nl and nI represents the LED that is lit corresponding to the operation key.

When the positional relationship is as shown in FIG. 2(a), the value obtained by subtracting the smallest number n1 from the largest number nl is one greater than the number N of operation keys of the operation switch means 2. Therefore, conversely, if n7 nl-N+1 holds true, it can be determined that the positional relationship shown in FIG. 2(a) exists.

When it is determined in this way, the content determining means 5 determines the number nl of the detection element corresponding to the lit LED,
Subtract the smallest number nl from each of nl + nk + nl, so the original number n1 becomes 0, the original number nt becomes n□-nl-j, and the original number nl becomes n4 nI -, and the original number n7
becomes nz nl-N+1.

Of the new numbers obtained in this way, O and N+1 are the LEDs of the light emitting means 3 that are always emitting light at the front and rear ends.
D, and the other numbers j represent the key numbers of the operated operation keys.

In this way, the content determining means 5 can determine the number of the operated operation key. In addition, nl at this time
Since and nl represent the positions of both ends of the light emitting means 3, the rotation angle of the steering wheel 6 can be detected based on these.

Now, since one end 41□ of the optical fiber 41 is arranged in a ring shape, both ends of the detection element in the -dimensional image sensor 42 are connected, and from the positional relationship shown in FIG. 2(a), the steering wheel 6 is rotated, the positional relationship becomes as shown in FIG. 3(a).

In the positional relationship shown in FIG. 3(a), the content determining means 5
The detection element number obtained is “I+ nL, nl, .
It is n7.

In this case, the smallest number nl and the largest number n
The difference between N
If the result is not +1, then nl is subtracted from nl and the result is not N+1, it can be determined that the positional relationship is as shown in FIG. 3(a).

When it is determined in this way, as shown in FIG. 3(b), the determination is made separately for cases in which the number is greater than N+1 and cases in which it is smaller than N+1.

First, if the number is smaller than N+1, the largest number n□ corresponds to the LED that is always lit at the rear end of the light emitting means 3, and the smaller number n1 corresponds to the operation key. corresponds to the LED that is lit. Therefore, subtract n from those numbers nl+nl and add (N+1). As a result of this calculation, the number N+1 indicates an LED that is always lit. Other values indicate the number of the operated operation key.

Next, for numbers nl, , nl larger than N+1,
The smallest number n- indicates the LED which is always lit at the front end of the light emitting means 3. Therefore, nI is subtracted from each number "li+" 7.

If the result obtained is O, it indicates an LED that is always lit, and other values indicate the number of the operated operation key.

In this way, the content determining means 5 can determine the number of the operated operation key and can also detect the rotation angle of the steering wheel 6.

As can be understood from the above description, according to this switch device 1 for a vehicle, the contents of the operation switch means 2 provided on the steering wheel 6 can be read optically without contact, so when wiring is performed. It does not interfere with the rotation of the steering wheel 6 as in the case of using a slip ring, and it can be used semi-permanently without problems such as wear of the contacts as in the case of using a slip ring.

Furthermore, since the rotation angle of the steering wheel 6 can be detected, so-called four-wheel steering, in which the rear wheels are steered, can be performed using this rotation angle detection signal. Also, since the cornering radius of the car can be estimated from this steering rotation angle, the lateral acceleration that the car receives when cornering can be calculated by considering the vehicle speed.
Using this, it becomes possible to control the roll angle of a car.

As another embodiment, instead of using the optical fiber 41 and the one-dimensional image sensor 42, a circular image sensor in which detection elements are arranged in a ring shape in advance may be used.

Another example is one in which instead of performing a computational bit shift as in the above example, a bit shift is actually performed in a register or memory to determine the number of the operated operation key. .

"Effects of the Invention" According to the present invention, there is provided an operation switch means attached to a steering wheel, a light emitting means provided on the steering rotation part so as to move with rotation of the steering wheel and blinks in response to the operation of the operation switch means; The light receiving means is provided on the steering fixed part along the moving range of the light emitting means and detects the blinking, and the light receiving means detects the blinking state of the light emitting means detected by the light receiving means, and the content determining means obtains the operation content of the switch means. A switch device for a vehicle is provided, which is characterized in that the contents of the operation switch means attached to the steering wheel can be read out without contact.

Therefore, rotational operation of the steering wheel is not obstructed, and there are no problems such as wear of the contacts.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of a switch device for a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of determining the operation content in the switch device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the operation content. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of determination. (Explanation of symbols) 1... Vehicle switch device 2... Operation switch means 3... Light emitting means 4... Light receiving means 5... Content determining means 6... Steering wheel 7... Steering shaft 8...Steering column 41...Optical fiber 42...-dimensional image sensor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An operation switch means attached to a steering wheel, a light emitting means provided on a steering rotating part so as to move with rotation of the steering wheel and flashing in accordance with the operation of the operation switch means, and a light emitting means for the light emitting means. The light receiving means is provided on the steering fixed part along the movement range and detects the blinking, and the content determining means obtains the operation content of the switch means from the blinking state of the light emitting means detected by the light receiving means. A switch device for vehicles with special features. 2. The switch device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the operation switch is an operation key attached to the center of the steering wheel. 3. The vehicle switch device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the light emitting means is a group of LEDs arranged in a row in the rotational direction on the outer peripheral surface of the steering shaft. 4. The light receiving means includes a large number of optical fibers with one end arranged in a ring shape on the inner peripheral surface of the steering column, and a one-dimensional image sensor provided opposite to the other end of the optical fibers arranged in a straight line. A switch device for a vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 5. A switch device for a vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the content determining means comprises a microprocessor. 6. The vehicle switch device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the content determining means also determines the rotation angle of the steering wheel.