WO2021060026A1

WO2021060026A1 - In-vehicle information processing system, in-vehicle device, and in-vehicle information processing program

Info

Publication number: WO2021060026A1
Application number: PCT/JP2020/034501
Authority: WO
Inventors: 秀幸杉浦; 伸彦谷端
Original assignee: 株式会社デンソー
Priority date: 2019-09-26
Filing date: 2020-09-11
Publication date: 2021-04-01
Also published as: JP7192730B2; JP2021051665A

Abstract

An in-vehicle information processing system in which an in-vehicle device (1) processes in-vehicle information using resources of a mobile communication terminal (2), the system comprising: an in-vehicle-side communication unit (4, 5) provided in the in-vehicle device and communicably connected to the mobile communication terminal; a resource monitoring unit (3a) that monitors an availability state of the resources of the mobile communication terminal; and a processing unit (3b), provided in the in-vehicle device, that requests the mobile communication terminal to process a task for processing the in-vehicle information based on a monitoring result from the resource monitoring unit, and processes the in-vehicle information in accordance with a response from the mobile communication terminal. The system further comprises a terminal-side communication unit (23, 24) provided in the mobile communication terminal and communicably connected to the in-vehicle device; and a response unit (31), provided in the mobile communication terminal, that processes the task requested by the in-vehicle device while communicably connected to the in-vehicle device and returns a result of the processing.

Description

In-vehicle information processing system, in-vehicle device and in-vehicle information processing program

Cross-reference of related applications

This application is based on Japanese Application No. 2019-175468 filed on September 26, 2019, and the contents of the description are incorporated herein by reference.

This disclosure relates to an in-vehicle information processing system, an in-vehicle device, and an in-vehicle information processing program.

In recent years, the processing of application programs installed in in-vehicle devices has become complicated, and although the resources of in-vehicle devices may become insufficient, it is difficult to easily exchange the resources of in-vehicle devices. For this reason, even if a problem occurs in which resources are insufficient during operation of the in-vehicle device and the operability of the in-vehicle device is deteriorated, the in-vehicle device is continuously used.

JP-A-2002-259367

When the resources of the in-vehicle device are insufficient as described above, it is common to connect an optional expansion board to the in-vehicle device and use the resources of the expansion board as in Patent Document 1.
However, since the expansion board is expensive, it is desired to utilize the resources of the mobile communication terminal such as a smartphone or tablet possessed by the user.

In recent years, Apple Car Play of Apple and Android Auto of Google have been provided as technologies for utilizing the resources of such mobile communication terminals, and applications and data installed in the mobile communication terminals can be used in in-vehicle devices. Can be done. AppleCarPlay and Android Auto are registered trademarks.

However, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are functions that use applications and data in the mobile communication terminal on the in-vehicle device, and are not functions that the in-vehicle device uses the resources of the mobile communication terminal, so there is a margin in the resources of the mobile communication terminal. Even if there is, the operability of the in-vehicle device cannot be improved.

An object of the present disclosure is to provide an in-vehicle information processing system, an in-vehicle device, and an in-vehicle information processing program that can effectively use the resources of a mobile communication terminal.

In one aspect of the present disclosure, the resource monitoring unit monitors the availability of resources of the mobile communication terminal. The processing unit provided in the in-vehicle device requests the mobile communication terminal to process the task for processing the in-vehicle information based on the monitoring result by the resource monitoring unit. The response unit provided in the mobile communication terminal processes the task requested by the in-vehicle device and responds with the processing result. The processing unit 3b provided in the in-vehicle device processes the in-vehicle information in response to the response from the mobile communication terminal.

The above objectives and other objectives, features and advantages of this disclosure will be clarified by the detailed description below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawing is

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an in-vehicle information processing system according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a processing procedure between the in-vehicle device and the mobile communication terminal. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a modified example of the processing procedure between the in-vehicle device and the mobile communication terminal. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the margin of resources. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the margin of resources in a compressed state of other applications. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a procedure for executing processing according to a standard possessed by a mobile communication terminal.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the in-vehicle information processing system will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle is equipped with an in-vehicle device 1 such as a car navigation system, and is configured to be able to communicate with the mobile communication terminal 2.

The in-vehicle device 1 includes an in-vehicle control unit 3, a BT (Bluetooth) module 4, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) module 5, an I / F 6, a storage unit 7, a position acquisition unit 8, a display unit 9, an operation input unit 10, and the like. I have. Bluetooth is a registered trademark. The BT module 4 corresponds to the vehicle-mounted communication unit, and the USB module 5 corresponds to the vehicle-mounted communication unit.

The vehicle-mounted control unit 3 is composed of a well-known microcomputer having a CPU, RAM, RAM, ROM, an I / O bus, etc. (not shown), and Linux is installed as an OS, for example. Linux is a registered trademark. The vehicle-mounted control unit 3 controls all operations of the vehicle-mounted device 1 such as communication operations and data management operations according to a computer program stored in a non-transitional substantive storage medium such as a ROM or a storage unit 7.

The BT module 4 performs data communication with the mobile communication terminal 2 through a BT communication line.
The USB module 5 can be connected to the mobile communication terminal 2 via the USB terminal 11 by a connection cable (not shown), and performs data communication with the mobile communication terminal 2 via a USB communication line in the connected state.

The storage unit 7 is composed of a non-volatile storage medium such as a hard disk drive, and stores various programs such as the above-mentioned computer program and application program, and data used in each program. Hereinafter, the application program will be referred to as APP. This APP also includes an APP for executing the content. The storage unit 7 may be configured to be built in the vehicle-mounted device 1, or may be configured to use an external storage medium that can be removed from the vehicle-mounted device 1.
The display unit 9 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display or an organic EL, and displays various information based on a command from the vehicle-mounted control unit 3.

The operation input unit 10 detects the operation by the user and outputs the detection result to the vehicle-mounted control unit 3. The vehicle-mounted control unit 3 outputs information to the display unit 9 based on the operation on the operation input unit 10, and notifies the operation content to the communicably connected mobile communication terminal 2.

The position acquisition unit 8 includes a well-known geomagnetic sensor (not shown), a gyroscope, a vehicle speed sensor, a GPS receiver, and the like. The position acquisition unit 8 acquires the current position information of the vehicle by complementing the detection signals input from the geomagnetic sensor, the gyroscope, the vehicle speed sensor, the GPS receiver, and the like. The position acquisition unit 8 does not need to include all of these elements if it can acquire the position information of the vehicle with the required detection accuracy, and also includes a steering sensor (not shown) for detecting the steering angle of the steering wheel and each wheel. It may be configured in combination with a wheel sensor or the like that detects rotation. The position acquisition unit 8 outputs the acquired position information of the own vehicle to the vehicle-mounted control unit 3. The vehicle-mounted control unit 3 provides route guidance based on the vehicle position information acquired by the position acquisition unit 8.

The I / F 6 is connected to the vehicle-mounted terminal 12 and can communicate with an expansion board (not shown) connected to the vehicle-mounted terminal 12. When the expansion board is connected to the vehicle-mounted terminal 12, the main board of the vehicle-mounted device 1 becomes accessible to the expansion board.

In this embodiment, a smartphone or tablet is assumed as the mobile communication terminal 2. The mobile communication terminal 2 can acquire contents from a server provided in an external center via the telephone communication network 100.

The mobile communication terminal 2 includes a terminal side control unit 21, a telephone communication unit 22, a BT module 23, a USB module 24, a storage unit 25, a display unit 26, an operation key input unit 27, and the like. The BT module 23 corresponds to the terminal-side communication unit, and the USB module 24 corresponds to the terminal-side communication unit.

The terminal-side control unit 21 is composed of a well-known microcomputer having a CPU 29, a RAM 30, a ROM, an I / O bus, and the like shown in FIG. The terminal-side control unit 21 controls all operations of the mobile communication terminal 2, such as communication operations, data management operations, and acquisition and execution of contents described later, according to a computer program stored in the ROM or the storage unit 25.

The telephone communication unit 22 executes telephone communication with the telephone communication network 100. The telephone communication network 100 includes equipment that provides a mobile phone communication service using a well-known public line network such as a mobile phone base station or a base station control device (not shown). Further, the telephone communication unit 22 acquires various contents such as APP, music, and images from a server (not shown) connected to the telephone communication network 100. Image is a concept that includes video.

The BT module 23 has a function of performing BT communication with the in-vehicle device 1 through the BT communication line. The BT module 23 is configured so that a plurality of profiles defined by the BT communication standard can be connected at the same time. These plurality of profiles mean communication profiles defined for each function.

The USB module 24 performs data communication with the in-vehicle device 1 via the USB terminal 28 via a USB communication line. The storage unit 25 has a storage area for storing various data, and also stores the above-mentioned computer program, acquired contents, and APP for executing the contents. The storage unit 25 may be configured to be removable, for example, a memory card.

The display unit 26 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display or an organic EL display, and displays various information based on a command from the terminal side control unit 21. The display unit 26 displays, for example, a well-known telephone directory, received mail, information on acquired content, an operation screen for the content, and the like.

The operation key input unit 27 includes various operation keys (not shown) including a touch switch provided on the screen of the display unit 26 and switches provided around or in the vicinity of the display unit 26. The operation key input unit 27 outputs an operation detection signal to the terminal side control unit 21 in response to the user operating the operation key. The terminal side control unit 21 specifies the operation content by the user based on the operation detection signal input from the operation key input unit 27, and notifies the operation content to the in-vehicle device 1 which is the device on the connection partner side by BT communication. ..

The in-vehicle device 1 performs pairing with the mobile communication terminal 2 when connecting to the in-vehicle device so that BT communication is possible. That is, when the mobile communication terminal 2 and the in-vehicle device 1 are arranged at a short distance capable of communicating by BT when the user gets on board, the mobile communication terminal 2 and the in-vehicle device 1 are connected to each other so as to be able to communicate with each other by BT. To do.

They are arranged at a short distance where they can communicate with each other in a state where the connection by BT communication has been performed in the past, that is, in a state where the information necessary for each other's BT communication is registered in the in-vehicle device 1 and the mobile communication terminal 2. At that time, the user is connected to enable BT communication without any operation.

By the way, the vehicle-mounted control unit 3 can use the resources of the expansion board in a state where the expansion board is connected via the vehicle-mounted terminal 12, and when the free area of the resources on the vehicle-mounted device 1 side is insufficient. In-vehicle information is processed using the resources of the expansion board. As a result, the vehicle-mounted information being processed can be processed without slowing down the operating speed, so that it is possible to prevent the operability of the vehicle-mounted device 1 from deteriorating.

However, since the expansion board is relatively expensive, a configuration capable of processing in-vehicle information without using the expansion board is desired.
Under these circumstances, in the present embodiment, the mobile communication terminal 2 carried by the user is used instead of the expansion board. That is, since the resources of the mobile communication terminal 2 are not used during operation, the resources of the mobile communication terminal 2 are used instead of the expansion board.

In order to realize that the resources of the mobile communication terminal 2 are used instead of the expansion board in this way, the terminal side APP31 is installed in the mobile communication terminal 2, and the in-vehicle mode is executed by the terminal side APP31. .. The terminal side APP31 corresponds to the response unit. That is, the mobile communication terminal 2 normally executes the mobile mode, but when the terminal-side APP 31 is activated, the mobile communication terminal 2 executes the vehicle-mounted mode. When the vehicle-mounted mode is executed by the terminal-side APP31, the resources of the mobile communication terminal 2 can be used instead of the expansion board. The user can switch to the in-vehicle mode by activating the terminal-side APP31, but the portable mode may be automatically switched to the in-vehicle mode by starting up the terminal-side APP31 when connecting to the in-vehicle device 1.

In the in-vehicle device 1, when the in-vehicle mode is executed by the terminal-side APP 31, unused parts of resources such as the CPU 29 and RAM 30 that are not used in the mobile communication terminal 2 can be used in the in-vehicle APP, and the in-vehicle APP becomes the mobile communication terminal. In-vehicle information can be processed by using the resources of 2. The unused portion is shown by the shaded area in FIG.
The shaded area of the CPU 29 shown in FIG. 2 indicates the margin area of the CPU 29, and the shaded area of the RAM 30 indicates the margin area of the RAM 30.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the vehicle-mounted control unit 3 of the vehicle-mounted device 1 includes a resource monitoring unit 3a and a processing unit 3b for monitoring the free state of the RAM 30 of the mobile communication terminal 2. When the resource monitoring unit 3a inquires of the in-vehicle device 1 about the size of the free resource area, the terminal-side APP 31 responds with the size of the free resource area in response to the request from the in-vehicle device 1. As a result, the resource monitoring unit 3a can confirm the size of the free resource area of the mobile communication terminal 2.

A scheduler 3c is realized by a program in the vehicle-mounted control unit 3. The scheduler 3c appropriately allocates tasks for processing in-vehicle information to real-time queues and general-purpose queues, and assigns tasks requiring high-speed processing to real-time queues. The scheduler 3c corresponds to the allocation unit, the real-time queue corresponds to the high-speed processing unit, and the general-purpose queue corresponds to the general-purpose processing unit.

The processing unit 3b monitors the free status of the general-purpose queue, and if the number of tasks that can be allocated to the general-purpose queue is insufficient, the free area of the resource of the mobile communication terminal 2 is confirmed, and then the general-purpose queue is used. Requests that the mobile communication terminal 2 process the oldest held task.
The terminal-side APP31 of the mobile communication terminal 2 processes the requested task and returns the processing result to the in-vehicle device 1.
The APP of the in-vehicle device 1 continuously executes the processing of the in-vehicle information based on the processing result from the in-vehicle device 1.
By the above operation, the in-vehicle device 1 can process the in-vehicle information by using the resources of the mobile communication terminal 2.

As shown in FIG. 3, it is also possible to mount the resource monitoring unit 2a on the mobile communication terminal 2. In this case, the resource monitoring unit 2a notifies the in-vehicle device 1 side that the resource is free when its own resource is free. As a result, the processing unit 3b requests the in-vehicle device 1 to process the task when the task that can be allocated to the general-purpose queue is insufficient.

By the way, as the resource of the mobile communication terminal 2, it is common that other APP32 is also used at normal times. Hereinafter, the other APP 32 will be referred to as another APP. When the other APP 32 is using the resource in this way, the free area of the resource is limited as shown in FIG. 4, so that the resource of the mobile communication terminal 2 cannot be effectively utilized.

Therefore, the terminal side APP 31 uses the resources of the mobile communication terminal 2 and compresses the other APP 32 to expand the resources of the mobile communication terminal 2 that can be used by the in-vehicle side APP.

When the processing is requested from the vehicle-mounted APP, the terminal-side APP 31 compresses the other APP 32 using the resource as shown in FIG. 5, and when the processing is completed, the compressed other APP 32 is decompressed and restored. To do. Alternatively, the other APP 32 may be terminated once, and when the processing is completed, the other APP 32 may be activated.

By making the resources of the mobile communication terminal 2 available to the vehicle-mounted APP as described above, the user who owns the vehicle-mounted device 1 can deal with the resource shortage of the vehicle-mounted device 1 without purchasing an expansion board.

As a method of effectively utilizing the resources of the mobile communication terminal 2 as described above, it is assumed that the mobile communication terminal 2 is used as a calculation resource, for example, when the mobile communication terminal 2 is also required to perform processing in edge computing. .. Specifically, the mobile communication terminal 2 periodically calculates the usage rate of the CPU 29 and the RAM 30, and if there is a margin, a part of the calculation process of the vehicle-mounted control unit 3 is received and calculated in the mobile communication terminal 2. , The calculation result is transmitted to the in-vehicle device 1.

On the other hand, although the in-vehicle device 1 does not support it, if the mobile communication terminal 2 has a compatible video or communication standard, the mobile communication terminal 2 is allowed to process the processed image, communication information, or the like. It is conceivable to transfer to the in-vehicle device 1.
For example, when the in-vehicle device 1 and the mobile communication terminal 2 are connected, the in-vehicle device 1 manages a list of standards supported by the mobile communication terminal 2.

That is, when the format of the media that can be decoded from the mobile communication terminal 2 and the compatible WiFi standard are notified and the in-vehicle device 1 uses the standard, the mobile communication terminal 2 is notified of the processing. Request. The format is mp4, aac, etc., and the standard is 11ac, 11ax, etc.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, the mobile communication terminal 2 notifies the in-vehicle device 1 of the standard supported by the mobile communication terminal 2 in advance, and APP and the user request the processing of the standard. At that time, if the mobile communication terminal 2 supports the standard, the mobile communication terminal 2 is requested to perform processing according to the standard, and the mobile communication terminal 2 transfers the processed data to the in-vehicle device 1.

In addition, since the mobile communication terminal 2 is more frequently replaced than the in-vehicle device 1 and is likely to be equipped with a new OS and high-spec CPU 29 and RAM 30, it is expected that the function as a resource will be improved. Can be done. Furthermore, since it is highly possible that it also supports the latest standards such as video and communication, it is expected that they will be processed.

According to such an embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
Since the in-vehicle device 1 monitors the availability of resources of the mobile communication terminal 2 and requests the mobile communication terminal 2 to process a task for processing in-vehicle information, the resources of the mobile communication terminal 2 are effective. Can be used for.
Since the mobile communication terminal 2 is required to process a task for which high-speed processing is not required as a task, it is possible to prevent the task processing by the mobile communication terminal 2 from being delayed.

The scheduler 3c allocates tasks to real-time queues and general-purpose queues, and requests the mobile communication terminal 2 to process the oldest task held in the normal queue. Therefore, tasks that are required to be processed immediately. Can be processed effectively.
When the in-vehicle device 1 uses the resource, the terminal-side APP31 compresses the other APP32 when the other APP32 uses the resource, decompresses the other APP32 after executing the process, and returns, so that the other APP31 is used as the resource. The possible area can be expanded.

(Other embodiments)
The APP that has not been used for a long time may be moved to the flash memory, or the processing priority of the APP may be lowered.
The scheduler 3c on the in-vehicle device 1 side may determine interrupts and priorities, and determine the execution order. For example, processing with high priority or processing with a near deadline is processed with priority.

As a task for requesting processing from the mobile communication terminal 2, for example, high-priority processing or processing with a near deadline may be preferentially requested.
In the above embodiment, Linux is installed as the OS of the in-vehicle device 1, but for example, Android, iOS, or RTOS (Real Time Operating System) may be installed. Android and iOS are registered trademarks.

Although this disclosure has been described in accordance with an embodiment, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to that embodiment or structure. The present disclosure also includes various modifications and modifications within an equal range. In addition, various combinations and forms, as well as other combinations and forms that include only one element, more, or less, are also within the scope of the present disclosure.

The controls and methods thereof described in the present disclosure are realized by a dedicated computer provided by configuring a processor and memory programmed to perform one or more functions embodied by a computer program. May be done. Alternatively, the controls and methods thereof described in the present disclosure may be implemented by a dedicated computer provided by configuring the processor with one or more dedicated hardware logic circuits. Alternatively, the control unit and method thereof described in the present disclosure may be a combination of a processor and memory programmed to perform one or more functions and a processor composed of one or more hardware logic circuits. It may be realized by one or more dedicated computers configured. Further, the computer program may be stored in a computer-readable non-transitional tangible recording medium as an instruction executed by the computer.

Claims

An in-vehicle information processing system in which an in-vehicle device (1) processes in-vehicle information using the resources of a mobile communication terminal (2).
An in-vehicle communication unit (4,5) provided in the in-vehicle device and connected to the mobile communication terminal so as to be able to communicate with the in-vehicle device.
A resource monitoring unit (3a) that monitors the availability of resources of the mobile communication terminal, and
It is provided in the in-vehicle device and requests the mobile communication terminal to process a task for processing the in-vehicle information based on the monitoring result by the resource monitoring unit, and responds to a response from the mobile communication terminal. A processing unit (3b) for processing the in-vehicle information is provided.
Terminal-side communication units (23, 24) provided in the mobile communication terminal and connected to the in-vehicle device so as to be able to communicate with the in-vehicle device.
A response unit (31) provided in the mobile communication terminal, processing the task requested by the in-vehicle device in a state of being communicably connected to the in-vehicle device, and responding to the processing result.
In-vehicle information processing system equipped with.
The in-vehicle information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit requires the mobile communication terminal to process a task that does not require high-speed processing as the task.
It is equipped with a allocation unit (3c) that allocates tasks for processing in-vehicle information to a high-speed processing unit and a general-purpose processing unit according to the required processing speed.
The in-vehicle information processing system according to claim 2, wherein the processing unit requires the mobile communication terminal to process the oldest task held in the general-purpose processing unit.
A claim that the response unit compresses the application when the application (32) is using the resource when the processing is requested from the in-vehicle device, decompresses the application after executing the processing, and returns. The in-vehicle information processing system according to any one of 1 to 3.
Claim 1 that the response unit terminates the application when the application (32) is using the resource when the in-vehicle device requests execution of the process, and returns the application after the process is executed. The in-vehicle information processing system according to any one of 3 to 3.
An in-vehicle device (1) that processes in-vehicle information using the resources of a mobile communication terminal.
In-vehicle communication units (4,5) that are communicably connected to the mobile communication terminal, and
A resource monitoring unit (3a) that monitors the availability of resources of the mobile communication terminal while being connected to the mobile communication terminal so as to be able to communicate with the mobile communication terminal.
The mobile communication terminal is requested to process a task for processing the in-vehicle information based on the monitoring result by the resource monitoring unit, and the in-vehicle information is processed in response to a response from the mobile communication terminal. Processing unit (3b) and
In-vehicle device equipped with.
An in-vehicle information processing program installed in an in-vehicle device (1) that processes in-vehicle information using the resources of the mobile communication terminal (2).
The procedure for connecting to the mobile communication terminal so as to be communicable by the in-vehicle communication unit (4,5).
A procedure for monitoring the availability of resources of the mobile communication terminal while being communicably connected to the mobile communication terminal by the resource monitoring unit (3a), and
The processing unit (3b) requests the mobile communication terminal to process a task for processing the in-vehicle information based on the monitoring result by the resource monitoring unit, and responds to a response from the mobile communication terminal. And the procedure for processing the in-vehicle information
In-vehicle information processing program that executes.