WO2014111992A1

WO2014111992A1 - Information server and on-vehicle device for transmitting and receiving data

Info

Publication number: WO2014111992A1
Application number: PCT/JP2013/006748
Authority: WO
Inventors: 和昌夏目
Original assignee: 株式会社デンソー
Priority date: 2013-01-18
Filing date: 2013-11-18
Publication date: 2014-07-24
Also published as: JP2014137345A

Abstract

An on-vehicle device (10) for receiving data from an information server (50) is provided with an on-vehicle storage (11), an extension slot (15) connectable to a general-purpose storage (24) separate from the on-vehicle storage, and a control unit (12) connected to the on-vehicle storage and the extension slot, the control unit selecting, upon receiving data from the information serve r, at least one of the on-vehicle storage and the general-purpose storage connected to the extension slot and storing the data in at least one of the on-vehicle storage and the general-purpose storage.

Description

In-vehicle device that transmits / receives data to / from information server

Cross-reference of related applications

This disclosure is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-7519 filed on January 18, 2013, the contents of which are incorporated herein.

This disclosure relates to an in-vehicle device that transmits and receives data to and from an information server.

An in-vehicle terminal that includes a map information storage unit that stores map information, acquires the latest map information from a center that holds the latest map information via a communication network, and updates data stored in the map information storage unit Has been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1).

The above-mentioned in-vehicle terminal has a problem that the latest map information held by the information center cannot be acquired and used when the vehicle is traveling in an area such as a mountainous area where it cannot communicate with the information center.

JP 2010-203981 A

This disclosure is intended to provide an in-vehicle device that can use data held by an information server even when it cannot communicate with the information server.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, an in-vehicle device that receives data from an information server is connected to the in-vehicle storage, an expansion slot that can be connected to a general-purpose storage different from the in-vehicle storage, the in-vehicle storage, and the expansion slot, When data is received from the information server, at least one of the in-vehicle storage and the general-purpose storage connected to the expansion slot is selected, and the data is stored in at least one of the in-vehicle storage and the general-purpose storage. And a control unit for storing.

The above in-vehicle device has an expansion slot that can be connected to a general-purpose storage that is cheaper than in-vehicle storage specialized for in-vehicle use. Therefore, if a large-capacity general-purpose storage is connected to the expansion slot, a large-capacity database is constructed from the in-vehicle storage and the general-purpose storage. The data received from the information server is stored in the selected storage among the constructed databases.

Therefore, if a large-capacity general-purpose storage is connected to the expansion slot, a large-volume data can be received from the information server and a database synchronized with the information server can be built in the vehicle. Eventually, by building a database synchronized with the information server while it can communicate with the information server, the data held by the information server can be used even when communication with the information server is not possible.

Note that the in-vehicle storage specialized for in-vehicle use has resistance (vibration resistance, heat resistance, moisture resistance, etc.) that enables use while the vehicle is running.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawing
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an in-vehicle system and an information server according to the present embodiment.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the in-vehicle system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The in-vehicle system according to this embodiment includes an in-vehicle device 10 mounted on a vehicle, a plurality of devices 31 to 36 mounted on the vehicle, and a plurality of expansion devices 24 to 26 mounted on the vehicle. Communication with the server 50 is possible. In FIG. 1, broken arrows indicate wireless communication, and solid arrows indicate wired communication.

The information server 50 is a server that transmits and receives data to and from the in-vehicle device 10 and the home 60 PC. The information server 50 holds data such as map information, traffic jam information, and news information, and moving image data and music data transmitted from the home 60. And the information server 50 transmits these data to the vehicle equipment 10. Further, the information server 50 receives and holds data acquired by the drive recorder 32 and the vehicle information acquisition device 35 described later, and transmitted from the in-vehicle device 10.

In the present embodiment, the plurality of devices 31 to 36 are a navigation device 31, a drive recorder 32 (data acquisition device), an AV device 33, various sensors 34 (data acquisition device), a vehicle information acquisition device 35 (data acquisition device), This is a camera 36 (data acquisition device). The navigation device 31 guides the vehicle from the current location to the destination. The AV device performs reproduction of image data and music data. The various sensors 34 are sensors such as a temperature sensor and TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring 常時 System), and constantly monitor the outside air temperature and tire pressure. The vehicle information acquisition device 35 is an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, a GPS receiver, or the like, and acquires the traveling state and current position of the vehicle. The camera 36 is a CCD camera, for example, and acquires moving image data by photographing the front and rear of the vehicle. The drive recorder 32 creates driving record data from the acceleration data, current position, moving image data, and the like acquired by the vehicle information acquisition device 35 and the camera 36, and map information. Electronic authentication is added to data acquired by the drive recorder 32, various sensors 34, the vehicle information acquisition device 35, and the camera 36 in order to prevent tampering.

The in-vehicle device 10 includes an in-vehicle storage 11, an expansion slot 15, a wireless communication unit 13, a wired communication unit 14 (in-vehicle communication device), and a control unit 12, and receives and uses data transmitted from the information server 50.

The wireless communication unit 13 is a wireless communication device that transmits and receives data to and from the information server 50 by connecting to the Internet using a wireless communication method such as Wi-Fi (registered trademark), and is communicably connected to the control unit 12 described later. Has been.

The wired communication unit 14 is a communication device that transmits / receives data to / from each of the plurality of devices 31 to 36 mounted on the vehicle by a wired communication method such as CAN, and is connected to the control unit 12 described later so as to be communicable. Yes.

The in-vehicle storage 11 is an in-vehicle storage that is installed in the in-vehicle device 10 as a standard. The in-vehicle storage 11 is a storage specialized for in-vehicle use, and has resistance (vibration resistance, heat resistance, cold resistance, moisture resistance, etc.) that can be used while the vehicle is running. The in-vehicle storage 11 is expensive because it is specialized for in-vehicle use, and its capacity is about several hundred GB, which is smaller than the data of several TB held by the information server 50. Therefore, it is difficult to store a large amount of data held by the information server 50 in the in-vehicle storage 11 and use the in-vehicle storage 11 in synchronization with the information server 50.

The present inventor has paid attention to the fact that the data held by the information server 50 cannot be used when the conventional in-vehicle device cannot communicate with the information server 50. Further, the inventor of the present invention pays attention to the fact that the conventional in-vehicle device does not have the expandability capable of connecting a general-purpose device including a large-capacity general-purpose storage. 15 was provided.

The expansion slot 15 is configured so that a USB interface board 21 provided with a plurality of USB ports can be connected. By connecting the USB interface board 21 to the expansion slot 15, a plurality of USB ports are added to the in-vehicle device 10. A plurality of expansion devices 24 to 26 are connected to the plurality of added USB ports. In the present embodiment, the plurality of expansion devices 24 to 26 are an HDD 24 (general-purpose storage), an in-vehicle wireless communication device 25, and a home appliance 26.

The HDD 24 is a commercially available general-purpose storage that is cheaper than the in-vehicle storage 11, and is a large capacity storage of several TB. In the present embodiment, a large-capacity database is constructed in the vehicle from the in-vehicle storage 11 and the HDD 24. The storage to be expanded is not limited to the HDD 24 but may be an SD memory card or a combination of a plurality of storages. Depending on the amount of data to be stored, the type and capacity of storage to be expanded may be selected as appropriate.

Here, the present inventor suppose that a plurality of devices 31 to 36 are individually provided with storage, and if data is individually stored in each storage, the data is stored in the vehicle more than in the case where the data is centrally stored in one database. We focused on the increase in the total storage capacity required. In other words, the present inventor can create a useless empty area in the storage area by storing data individually, or can be shared by two or more devices such as map information shared by the navigation device 31 and the drive recorder 32, for example. We paid attention to the fact that data is stored redundantly. Therefore, the present inventor has made a plurality of devices 31 to 36 share a large-capacity database constructed from the in-vehicle storage 11 and the HDD 24.

The in-vehicle wireless communication device 25 is a communication device that transmits / receives data to / from each of the plurality of devices 31 to 36 by a wireless communication method such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (registered trademark), or NFC (Near Field Communication). By connecting the in-vehicle wireless communication device 25 to the expansion slot 15, a function for performing wireless communication between the in-vehicle device 10 and each of the plurality of devices 31 to 36 is added to the in-vehicle device 10.

The home appliance 26 is a home appliance such as a mobile terminal (for example, a smartphone) or a video camera. By connecting a mobile terminal or a video camera to the expansion slot 15, the functions of the mobile terminal can be used in the in-vehicle device 10, or data of the mobile terminal or the video camera can be used. The expansion device connected to the expansion slot 15 may be selected as appropriate.

The HDD 24, which is a general-purpose storage, is not specialized for in-vehicle use unlike the in-vehicle storage 11, and therefore has less resistance to earthquakes, heat resistance, etc. than the in-vehicle storage 11. In view of this, an anti-vibration material 28 (anti-vibration function) such as a damper that absorbs vibrations while the vehicle is running is provided on the bottom surface, and a storage box 20 provided with an air conditioner 22 (air-conditioning function) inside is provided with an HDD 24 and an in-vehicle wireless communication device 25. Household appliance 26 is accommodated. Then, the storage box 20 is installed under a seat, for example, in a vehicle that does not easily reach a high temperature so that the vibration isolator 28 is fixed to a vehicle structure or the like. As a result, the HDD 24, which is a general-purpose storage, is held in the storage box 20 that is suppressed from vibration during traveling of the vehicle and is kept at room temperature and constant humidity.

The control unit 12 is configured as a microcomputer including a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, an I / O, and a bus line connecting these, and is connected to the in-vehicle storage 11, the wireless communication unit 13, the wired communication unit 14, and the expansion slot 15. Has been. The control unit 12 stores the data received from the information server 50 via the wireless communication unit 13 by selecting either the in-vehicle storage 11 or the general-purpose storage (here, the HDD 24) connected to the expansion slot 15. A method for selecting a storage for storing data will be described later.

The control unit 12 stores all data held by the information server 50 via the wireless communication unit 13 in a database composed of the in-vehicle storage 11 and the HDD 24, and constructs a database synchronized with the information server 50 in the vehicle. . Specifically, the in-vehicle device 10 first receives all data held by the information server 50 from the information server 50 and stores it in the database. When the in-vehicle device 10 receives all data from the information server 50, the amount of communication is large and it takes time. When the vehicle is a so-called plug-in hybrid vehicle that can charge a storage battery or operate a device with electric power from a commercial power source, it receives and stores all data while the commercial power source is connected to the vehicle. Good.

After receiving all the data from the information server 50 and storing it in the database, the in-vehicle device 10 stores only the difference between the data held by the information server 50 and the data stored in the database in the vehicle. Receive from and store. The user can set the timing at which the in-vehicle device 10 receives data from the information server 50. For example, when a destination is set in the navigation device 31, data can be received from the information server 50 and stored, and thereafter, data can be received and stored from the information server 50 every hour. Further, when the vehicle travels in an area where the vehicle cannot communicate with the information server 50 such as a mountainous area, in order to obtain map information in advance, the data from the information server 50 is entered before entering the area where the vehicle cannot communicate. Can be set to receive and store.

Furthermore, the user can set the range of data received from the information server 50. By synchronizing the database in the vehicle and the information server 50 completely, if the communication volume becomes too large, the user can set the database in the vehicle and the information server 50 in order not to increase the communication volume unnecessarily. The range to be synchronized can be set. For example, it can be set so that the map information and the traffic information are synchronized and the news information and the weather information are not synchronized. In this way, map information and traffic jam information are transmitted from the information server 50 to the vehicle-mounted device 10, but news information and weather information are not transmitted.

The data received from the information server 50 and stored in the database includes data used by each of the plurality of devices 31 to 36 such as moving image data and music data used by the AV device 33, for example. The data used by each of the plurality of devices 31 to 36 includes shared data shared by two or more devices, such as map information shared by the navigation device 31 and the drive recorder 32, for example.

The control unit 12 receives and receives a large amount of data acquired by the drive recorder 32, various sensors 34, the vehicle information acquisition device 35, and the camera 36 via the wired communication unit 14 or the in-vehicle wireless communication device 25. The various data are stored in a database in the vehicle including the HDD 24. The database in the vehicle can also store a large-capacity driving record that is always created by the drive recorder 32 during driving.

Even if the HDD 24, which is a commercially available general purpose storage, is housed in the housing box 20, it is less resistant to vibration, high temperature, low temperature, and humidity than the in-vehicle storage 11 specialized for in-vehicle use. That is, in the vehicle, the HDD 24 that is a general-purpose storage has lower reliability than the in-vehicle storage 11. Therefore, the control unit 12 divides the data acquired from the information server 50, the drive recorder 32, the various sensors 34, the vehicle information acquisition device 35, and the camera 36 into relatively high importance data and low data. Then, data with relatively high importance is stored in the in-vehicle storage 11, and data with relatively low importance is stored in the HDD 24. Examples of relatively high importance data include personal information and map information shared by the navigation device 31 and the drive recorder 32. In addition, examples of relatively less important data include real-time information such as news information and weather information, temporarily recorded or recorded data, and used data. Further, the control unit 12 may store relatively large capacity data in the HDD 24 even if the data is relatively high in importance. Map information shared by the vigination device 31 and the drive recorder 32 may also be stored in the HDD 24 when the capacity is relatively large. The user can set the importance of data.

In addition, the control unit 12 causes the data used by the plurality of devices 31 to 36 including the shared data to be transmitted to the plurality of devices 31 to 36. Specifically, the control unit 12 reads data used from the in-vehicle storage 11 when the importance of data used by the plurality of devices 31 to 36 is relatively high. On the other hand, when the importance of the data used by the plurality of devices 31 to 36 is relatively low, the control unit 12 reads the data used from the HDD 24. If data having a relatively high importance and a relatively large capacity is stored in the HDD 24, the data is read from the HDD 24. Then, the control unit 12 causes the read data to be transmitted to the plurality of devices 31 to 36 by the wired communication unit 14 or the in-vehicle wireless communication device 25. For example, when moving image data and image data transmitted from the home 60 to the in-vehicle device 10 via the information server 50 are read from the HDD 24 and transmitted to the AV device 33, the moving image and music used at the home 60 are stored in the AV in the vehicle. The device 33 can also be used.

Further, the control unit 12 causes the data acquired by the drive recorder 32, various sensors 34, the vehicle information acquisition device 35, and the camera 36 to be transmitted to the information server 50. Specifically, the control unit 12 reads the acquired data from the in-vehicle storage 11 when the importance of the data acquired by the drive recorder 32, the various sensors 34, the vehicle information acquisition device 35, and the camera 36 is relatively high. On the other hand, when the importance of the data acquired by the drive recorder 32, the various sensors 34, the vehicle information acquisition device 35, and the camera 36 is relatively low, the control unit 12 transmits the acquired data from the HDD 24. read out. If data having a relatively high importance and a relatively large capacity is stored in the HDD 24, the data is read from the HDD 24. Then, the control unit 12 causes the wireless communication unit 13 to transmit the read data to the information server 50. For example, data acquired by the drive recorder 32 is read from the HDD 24 and transmitted to the information server 50. Then, by connecting to the information server 50 from the home 60 and downloading the data acquired by the drive recorder 32, the driving record can be viewed and enjoyed at the home 60, or the driving technique can be improved.

According to this embodiment described above, the following effects are obtained.

If the HDD 24, which is a large-capacity general-purpose storage, is connected to the expansion slot 15, a large-capacity data can be received from the information server 50 and a database synchronized with the information server 50 can be built in the vehicle. As a result, by constructing a database synchronized with the information server 50 while being able to communicate with the information server 50, data held by the information server 50 can be used even when communication with the information server 50 is impossible.

The navigation device 31, the drive recorder 32, the AV device 33, the various sensors 34, the vehicle information acquisition device 35, and the camera 36 mounted on the vehicle can share the HDD 24 connected to the in-vehicle device 10, and thus have separate storage. There is no need. Furthermore, it is more common to share one database or create useless free space in the storage area than to store data individually in the storage provided separately for each device. Therefore, the storage area can be used effectively. As a result, the total storage capacity of the storage prepared in the vehicle can be saved.

-By uploading the video data and music data used at home 60 to the information server 50, the video data and music data used at home 60 can be used even in the vehicle.

The various data acquired by the drive recorder 32, various sensors 34, the vehicle information acquisition device 35, and the camera 36 are stored in a database in the vehicle including the HDD 24. Therefore, a large amount of data acquired by the drive recorder 32, various sensors 34, the vehicle information acquisition device 35, and the camera 36 can be stored in the vehicle.

Of the data received from the information server 50, the drive recorder 32, the various sensors 34, the vehicle information acquisition device 35, and the camera 36, relatively high importance data is stored in the in-vehicle storage 11 with high reliability. . On the other hand, data with relatively low importance is stored in the HDD 24 with low reliability. Therefore, the in-vehicle storage 11 and the HDD 24 can be properly used according to the relative importance of the data.

If the home 60 is connected to the information server 50, various data acquired by the drive recorder 32, various sensors 34, the vehicle information acquisition device 35, and the camera 36 can be used at the home 60. Further, when a vehicle is involved in an accident, various data acquired by the drive recorder 32, various sensors 34, the vehicle information acquisition device 35, and the camera 36 can be used for the verification of the accident.

· By setting the range of data received from the information server 50, it is possible to prevent data from being received from the information server 50 more than necessary. Further, when traveling in an area where communication with the information server 50 is impossible, the data of the information server 50 can be set even when entering the area where communication is not possible by setting to receive data from the information server 50 before entering the area where communication is impossible. Can be used.

· The HDD 24 can be protected from vibration, high temperature, low temperature, and humidity by storing the HDD 24 in the storage box 20 having an anti-vibration function and an air conditioning function. As a result, the reliability of the HDD 24 can be improved.

(Other embodiments)
As shown by a broken line in FIG. 1, a power supply module 27 that can supply stable power to the HDD 24, the in-vehicle wireless communication device 25, and the home appliance 26 may be connected to the USB interface board 21. In this way, the reliability of the operation of the HDD 24, the in-vehicle wireless communication device 25, and the home appliance 26 can be improved.

A general interface board other than the USB interface board 21 may be connected to the expansion slot 15. For example, a wireless interface board such as Bluetooth may be connected, and the extension device may be wirelessly connected to the in-vehicle device 10.

• The expansion slot 15 itself may be a USB port.

In the storage box 20, only the HDD 24 that is a general-purpose storage is stored, and the in-vehicle wireless communication device 25 and the home appliance 26 may not be stored.

· The storage box 20 may not include the air conditioner 22. In this case, the temperature in the storage box 20 is measured. When the temperature in the storage box 20 is lower than the proper temperature range for the operation of the HDD 24, the HDD 24 is not operated until the temperature rises, and when the temperature is higher than the proper temperature range, Try to reduce access frequency.

Although the present disclosure has been described based on the embodiments, it is understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments and structures. The present disclosure includes various modifications and modifications within the equivalent range. In addition, various combinations and forms, as well as other combinations and forms including only one element, more or less, are within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure.

Claims

An in-vehicle device (10) for receiving data from an information server (50),
In-vehicle storage (11),
An expansion slot (15) connectable to a general-purpose storage (24) different from the in-vehicle storage;
When receiving data from the information server connected to the in-vehicle storage and the expansion slot, select at least one of the in-vehicle storage and a general-purpose storage connected to the expansion slot; An in-vehicle device comprising: a control unit (12) that stores the data in at least one of the general-purpose storages.
An in-vehicle communication device (14) capable of transmitting / receiving data to / from each of the plurality of devices (31 to 36) mounted on the vehicle;
The in-vehicle communication device is communicably connected to the control unit,
The data received from the information server includes shared data shared by the plurality of devices,
The control unit stores the shared data in at least one of the in-vehicle storage and the general-purpose storage,
The in-vehicle device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit reads the shared data from at least one of the in-vehicle storage and the general-purpose storage and transmits the shared data to the plurality of devices by the in-vehicle communication device.
The vehicle further includes an in-vehicle communication device capable of transmitting / receiving data to / from each of a plurality of devices mounted on the vehicle,
The in-vehicle communication device is communicably connected to the control unit,
The data received from the information server includes data used by each of the plurality of devices,
The control unit stores data used by each of the plurality of devices in at least one of the in-vehicle storage and the general-purpose storage,
The control unit reads out data used by each of the plurality of devices from at least one of the in-vehicle storage and the general-purpose storage, and transmits the data to the plurality of devices by the in-vehicle communication device. In-vehicle machine.
The in-vehicle device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the control unit stores the data in the general-purpose storage, reads the data from the general-purpose storage, and transmits the data to the plurality of devices by the in-vehicle communication device.
The plurality of devices include data acquisition devices (32, 34, 35, 36) for acquiring data,
The in-vehicle communication device receives data acquired by the data acquisition device,
The control unit selects at least one of the in-vehicle storage and the general-purpose storage from the data received by the in-vehicle communication device,
The in-vehicle device according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the control unit stores the data received by the in-vehicle communication device in at least one of the in-vehicle storage and the general-purpose storage.
The plurality of devices mounted on the vehicle includes a data acquisition device that acquires data,
The control unit divides data received from the information server and the data acquisition device into relatively high importance data and low data,
The in-vehicle device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the control unit stores the high importance data in the in-vehicle storage and stores the low importance data in the general-purpose storage.
The in-vehicle device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the control unit reads out data acquired by the data acquisition device from at least one of the in-vehicle storage and the general-purpose storage and transmits the data to the information server.
The in-vehicle device according to claim 6, wherein the determination of the importance of the data received from the information server and the data acquisition device is set by a user.
The in-vehicle device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein a range of data received from the information server and a reception timing are set by a user.
The in-vehicle device according to any one of claims 2 to 9, wherein the expansion slot is configured to be able to connect an in-vehicle wireless communication device (25) capable of transmitting and receiving data to and from the plurality of devices.
The in-vehicle device according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the general-purpose storage is stored in a storage box (20) having an anti-vibration function (28) and an air conditioning function (22) and installed in a vehicle.
The in-vehicle device according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the expansion slot is configured to be connectable with a power supply module (27) capable of supplying stable power to the general-purpose storage.