WO2024014252A1

WO2024014252A1 - Theft prevention device and theft prevention method

Info

Publication number: WO2024014252A1
Application number: PCT/JP2023/023100
Authority: WO
Inventors: 貴幸神田; 俊一久保; 道雄社本; 昌宏高津; 康太竹原
Original assignee: 株式会社デンソー
Priority date: 2022-07-14
Filing date: 2023-06-22
Publication date: 2024-01-18
Also published as: JP2024011471A

Abstract

A theft prevention device comprises: a vehicle communication unit (301) that acquires, from an electric vehicle (1), identification information for identifying whether the electric vehicle (1) is a stolen vehicle, when the electric vehicle charges a battery of the vehicle from a charging station (3); a theft identification unit (302) that identifies whether the electric vehicle is a stolen vehicle using the identification information acquired by the vehicle communication unit (301); and a lock instruction unit (362) that causes the electric vehicle to be locked to prevent driving operation on the basis of the theft identification unit (302) identifying the electric vehicle as a stolen vehicle.

Description

Theft prevention device and theft prevention method

Cross-reference of related applications

This application is based on Patent Application No. 2022-113451 filed in Japan on July 14, 2022, and the content of the underlying application is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The present disclosure relates to a theft countermeasure device and a theft countermeasure method for responding to the theft of an electric vehicle.

Electric vehicles are known that charge an on-vehicle battery with power supplied from a power source external to the vehicle. Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for prohibiting charging of a stolen vehicle. In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, when an electric vehicle is charged at a charging facility, charging is prohibited if identification code verification is unsuccessful.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-42984

However, even if charging is prohibited, there is a risk that a stolen electric vehicle may not be recovered. The details are as follows. When charging an electric vehicle, the remaining capacity of the electric vehicle is generally not zero. Therefore, even if charging of a stolen electric vehicle is prohibited, there is a risk that the stolen electric vehicle may be stolen.

One purpose of this disclosure is to provide a theft countermeasure device and a theft countermeasure method that make it easier to recover a stolen electric vehicle.

The object is achieved by the combination of features recited in the independent claims, and the subclaims define further advantageous embodiments of the disclosure. The numerals in parentheses described in the claims indicate correspondence with specific means described in the embodiments described later as one aspect, and do not limit the technical scope of the present disclosure.

In order to achieve the above object, the theft prevention device of the present disclosure provides identification information for identifying whether the electric vehicle is a stolen vehicle when the electric vehicle charges its own battery from an external charger. an identification information acquisition unit that acquires the electric vehicle from the electric vehicle; a theft identification unit that uses the identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition unit to identify whether the electric vehicle is a stolen vehicle; and a theft identification unit that identifies whether the electric vehicle is stolen. The electric vehicle includes a lock instruction unit that locks the electric vehicle to prevent driving operation based on the identification of the electric vehicle.

In order to achieve the above object, the theft countermeasure method of the present disclosure is performed by at least one processor, when the electric vehicle charges its own battery from an external charger, the electric vehicle detects whether the electric vehicle is a stolen vehicle. an identification information acquisition step of acquiring identification information for identifying whether the electric vehicle is a stolen vehicle; and a theft identification step of identifying whether the electric vehicle is a stolen vehicle using the identification information acquired in the identification information acquisition step. , a lock instruction step for instructing a lock that prevents driving operation of the electric vehicle based on the fact that the electric vehicle is identified as a stolen vehicle in the theft identification step.

According to these, when charging the battery of an electric vehicle from an external charger, it becomes possible to specify whether or not this electric vehicle is a stolen vehicle. Furthermore, based on the identification of the vehicle as a stolen vehicle, the vehicle is locked to prevent operation of the electric vehicle, which prevents the thief from freely moving the electric vehicle from the charging location. As a result, a stolen electric vehicle can be recovered more easily.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle system. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle-side unit. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a charging stand. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of the flow of theft identification-related processing in the vehicle system. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle system. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a charging stand. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle system. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a charging stand. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle system. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle-side unit. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a charging stand. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle system. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle-side unit. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a charging stand. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle system. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a charging stand. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a vehicle-side unit.

A plurality of embodiments for disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. For convenience of explanation, parts having the same functions as those shown in the figures used in the previous explanations are given the same reference numerals in multiple embodiments, and the explanation thereof may be omitted. be. For parts with the same reference numerals, the descriptions in other embodiments can be referred to.

(Embodiment 1)
<Schematic configuration of vehicle system 9>
This embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings. The vehicle system 9 shown in FIG. 1 includes an electric vehicle 1, a charging station 3, an authentication server 4, a user terminal 5, and a security server 6. Examples of the electric vehicle 1 include an EV (Electric Vehicle), a PHV (Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle), and the like. Note that the electric vehicle 1 may be a range extender vehicle that drives a motor by generating electricity from an engine. Electric vehicle 1 includes a vehicle-side unit 10. The vehicle-side unit 10 will be described later.

The charging stand 3 is used to charge a battery 11 of the electric vehicle 1, which will be described later. The charging stand 3 corresponds to an external charger of the electric vehicle 1. The electric vehicle 1 and the charging station 3 are connected by a cable Ca during charging. A power supply plug is provided at one end of the cable Ca. The other end of the cable Ca is, for example, always connected to the charging stand 3. The power supply plug of the cable Ca is detachably connected to an inlet portion 12 of the vehicle unit 10, which will be described later. By connecting the power supply plug of the cable Ca to the inlet portion 12, power can be supplied from the charging stand 3 to the battery 11 of the electric vehicle 1. The cable Ca includes a power line for power feeding. Power is supplied from the charging station 3 to the battery 11 of the electric vehicle 1 via this power line. The cable Ca also includes a signal line for communication. Communication between the charging station 3 and the vehicle-side unit 10 is performed via this communication line. The charging station 3 can adopt a quick charging method as a charging method. In this embodiment, the quick charging method will be described using, for example, the CHAdeMO (registered trademark) standard.

The authentication server 4 communicates with the charging station 3 via the network. The authentication server 4 stores in advance identification information for identifying authorized users (hereinafter referred to as authorized identification information). The authentication server 4 performs authentication for permission to charge. The authentication server 4 compares the regular identification information with the identification information transmitted from the charging station 3. This verification is called regular verification. It is also assumed that the authentication server 4 has previously registered identification information of a stolen vehicle (hereinafter referred to as theft identification information). The authentication server 4 compares the theft identification information with the identification information transmitted from the charging station 3. This verification is called stolen vehicle verification. The authentication server 4 sends the results of the regular verification and stolen vehicle verification to the charging station 3.

The user terminal 5 is a mobile terminal carried by a regular user of the electric vehicle 1. The user terminal 5 may be a multifunctional mobile phone such as a smartphone. The user terminal 5 has a function of communicating via a network. The user terminal 5 has a function of displaying information. The user terminal 5 has a function of receiving input from the user.

The security server 6 communicates with the charging station 3 via the network. The security server 6 is a server of the police or a security company. The security server 6 receives a theft report, which will be described later, transmitted via the network. When the security server 6 receives the theft report, the police or a security company can go to secure the stolen vehicle.

<Schematic configuration of vehicle side unit 10>
Next, a schematic configuration of the vehicle-side unit 10 will be explained. The vehicle-side unit 10 includes a battery 11, an inlet section 12, and a charging ECU 13, as shown in FIG. The charging ECU 13 is connected to, for example, an in-vehicle LAN (see LAN in FIG. 2).

The battery 11 is a running battery for supplying electric power to the motor that is the driving force source of the electric vehicle 1. This battery 11 corresponds to an on-vehicle battery. For example, the battery 11 includes a plurality of battery cells electrically connected in series. As this battery cell, for example, a secondary battery such as a lithium ion battery can be used. The battery 11 is connected to an SMR (System Main Relay) that is a relay that disconnects and disconnects the battery 11 from an electrical load. The SMR disconnects and disconnects the battery 11 from the motor that is the driving force source of the electric vehicle 1 . Connection cutoff here refers to switching between energization and cutoff. It is assumed that the SMR is controlled by, for example, the charging ECU 13.

The inlet portion 12 is the connection destination of the aforementioned power supply plug. By connecting the power supply plug and the inlet section 12, the battery 11 can be charged from the charging stand 3. The inlet section 12 has a detection sensor that detects connection with the power supply plug and a lock mechanism that prevents the power supply plug from being unintentionally removed. This locking mechanism corresponds to a fixing mechanism. The inlet portion 12 is attached to the body of the electric vehicle 1. The inlet portion 12 is provided with a plurality of terminals. Some of these terminals are connected to the power line of the cable Ca. Another part of the plurality of terminals is connected to the signal line of the cable Ca. For example, when the connection between the power supply plug and the inlet portion 12 is detected by the above-mentioned detection sensor, a connection signal is output to the signal line. The connection signal is a signal indicating that the power supply plug and the inlet portion 12 are connected.

The charging ECU 13 is an electronic control device that manages charging and discharging of the battery 11. The charging ECU 13 is mainly composed of a microcomputer including a processor, memory, I/O, and a bus connecting these. The charging ECU 13 monitors the charging state of the battery 11 and controls operations related to charging. The charging ECU 13 includes a communication unit 131 as a sub-functional block that communicates with the charging stand 3 via the signal line of the cable Ca. The charging ECU 13 controls driving of the SMR. The charging ECU 13 controls the operation and release of the lock mechanism.

The charging ECU 13 acquires battery information such as the cell voltage and cell temperature of the battery 11. The charging ECU 13 calculates the SOC (State Of Charge) of the battery 11 using this battery information. The charging ECU 13 sequentially calculates the SOC of the battery 11 and specifies the remaining charge amount.

When the connection between the inlet section 12 and the power supply plug is detected, the charging ECU 13 electrically connects the power supply plug and the battery 11 to start charging the battery 11. When starting charging of the battery 11, the communication unit 131 may transmit identification information of the electric vehicle 1 and a power supply request signal to the charging station 3. The identification information is information that identifies each electric vehicle 1. The charging ECU 13 controls the locking mechanism of the inlet section 12 to lock the connection between the power supply plug and the inlet section 12. Charging ECU 13 adjusts the amount of charge based on the remaining amount of charge of battery 11 . Charging ECU 13 determines whether battery 11 is fully charged or not based on the calculated SOC. Then, when determining that the battery is fully charged, the communication unit 131 may transmit a power supply stop signal to the charging stand 3. When the charging ECU 13 receives a request from the charging station 3 through the communication unit 131, the charging ECU 13 performs processing according to the request.

<Schematic configuration of charging stand 3>
Next, a schematic configuration of the charging stand 3 will be explained. The charging stand 3 includes a control device 30 and a power supply section 31, as shown in FIG. The power supply unit 31 supplies power from a power supply source to the electric vehicle 1 via the power line of the cable Ca under the control of the control device 30. The power supply section 31 may be a relay or the like that turns on and off the supply of current under the control of the control device 30.

The control device 30 is mainly composed of a microcomputer that includes a processor, memory, I/O, and a bus that connects these. The control device 30 executes various processes by executing a control program stored in a memory. Memory as used herein is a non-transitory tangible storage medium that non-temporarily stores computer-readable programs and data. Further, the non-transitional physical storage medium is realized by a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, or the like.

As shown in FIG. 3, the control device 30 includes a vehicle communication section 301, a theft identification section 302, a network (hereinafter referred to as NW) communication section 303, a charging permission section 304, a charging control section 305, and a response instruction section 306 as functional blocks. Prepare as follows. This control device 30 corresponds to a theft countermeasure device. Further, the execution of the processing of each functional block of the control device 30 by the computer corresponds to the execution of the theft countermeasure method. Note that some or all of the functions executed by the control device 30 may be configured in hardware using one or more ICs. Furthermore, some or all of the functional blocks included in the control device 30 may be realized by a combination of software execution by a processor and hardware components.

The vehicle communication unit 301 communicates with the communication unit 131 via the signal line of the cable Ca in a state where the inlet unit 12 and the power supply plug are connected. When the identification information and the power supply request signal are transmitted from the communication unit 131, the vehicle communication unit 301 acquires the identification information and the power supply request signal. This vehicle communication section 301 corresponds to an identification information acquisition section. Further, the processing in the vehicle communication unit 301 corresponds to an identification information acquisition step. When the power supply stop signal is transmitted from the communication unit 131, the vehicle communication unit 301 acquires the power supply stop signal.

The theft identification unit 302 uses the identification information acquired by the vehicle communication unit 301 to identify whether the electric vehicle 1 is a stolen vehicle. This process by the theft identification unit 302 corresponds to a theft identification process. The theft identification unit 302 causes the NW communication unit 303 to send the identification information acquired by the vehicle communication unit 301 to the authentication server 4. The NW communication unit 303 communicates with terminals and servers connected to the network via the network. The authentication server 4 uses the identification information sent from the NW communication section 303 to perform the above-mentioned regular verification and stolen vehicle verification. The NW communication unit 303 receives the results of regular verification and stolen vehicle verification from the authentication server 4 . The theft identifying unit 302 identifies the electric vehicle 1 as a stolen vehicle when the stolen vehicle verification result received by the NW communication unit 303 is successful. On the other hand, if the stolen vehicle verification is unsuccessful, the theft identification unit 302 identifies the electric vehicle 1 as not a stolen vehicle. Therefore, the identification information acquired by vehicle communication unit 301 corresponds to identification information for specifying whether electric vehicle 1 is a stolen vehicle.

The charging permission unit 304 permits charging. The charging permission unit 304 permits charging when the result of the regular verification received by the NW communication unit 303 is that the verification is successful. The charging permission unit 304 may be configured to not permit charging when the theft identification unit 302 identifies the electric vehicle 1 as a stolen vehicle. According to this, charging of a stolen vehicle can be prevented.

The charging control unit 305 starts power supply to the electric vehicle 1 when the vehicle communication unit 301 acquires a power supply request signal and the charging permission unit 304 permits charging. On the other hand, charging control unit 305 stops power supply to electric vehicle 1 when vehicle communication unit 301 acquires a power supply stop signal. The charging control unit 305 controls the power supply unit 31 to start or stop power supply. The period from the start of power supply to the electric vehicle 1 until the power supply is stopped is called a charging period.

The response instruction unit 306 issues instructions for responding to the theft of the electric vehicle 1 (hereinafter referred to as response instructions). The response instruction unit 306 issues a response instruction when the theft identification unit 302 identifies the electric vehicle 1 as a stolen vehicle. The response instruction section 306 includes a confirmation instruction section 361, a lock instruction section 362, and a report instruction section 363 as sub-functional blocks.

The confirmation instruction unit 361 instructs the user terminal 5 to confirm whether locking of the electric vehicle 1 is acceptable (hereinafter referred to as acceptance/disapproval confirmation instruction). The confirmation instruction unit 361 causes the NW communication unit 303 to transmit an acceptance/rejection confirmation instruction to the user terminal 5 via the network. The lock of the electric vehicle 1 is a lock that prevents driving operation of the electric vehicle 1. The lock that prevents the driving operation of the electric vehicle 1 may be a lock that prevents the electric vehicle 1 from moving. The user terminal 5 corresponding to the electric vehicle 1 may be identified based on the correspondence between the identification information of the electric vehicle 1 and the identification information of the user terminal 5 that are registered in advance. This correspondence relationship may be stored in the authentication server 4, for example. The authentication server 4 may transmit the identification information of the user terminal 5 corresponding to the electric vehicle 1 along with the stolen vehicle verification result. The confirmation instruction unit 361 may cause the user terminal 5 to transmit an acceptance/rejection confirmation instruction based on the identification information of the user terminal 5. As the identification information of the user terminal 5, the address of the user terminal 5 on the network may be used.

When the user terminal 5 receives the instruction to confirm whether or not to lock the electric vehicle 1, it displays a message to confirm whether or not to lock the electric vehicle 1. Then, the user terminal 5 receives an input of a response from the user regarding this acceptance/disapproval (hereinafter referred to as an acceptance/disapproval response input). The user terminal 5 returns this acceptance/disapproval response input to the NW communication unit 303 via the network. The NW communication unit 303 acquires this acceptance/disapproval response input transmitted from the user terminal 5. Therefore, this NW communication section 303 corresponds to an answer acquisition section. If the NW communication department 303 is unable to obtain an acceptance/denial response input within a predetermined time after transmitting the acceptance/denial confirmation instruction, it may be assumed that the acceptance/denial response input has not been acquired. Hereinafter, input of an acceptance/disapproval response to permit locking will be referred to as an acceptance response input. In addition, an acceptance/disapproval input that does not permit locking is referred to as a refusal response input.

The lock instruction unit 362 causes the electric vehicle 1 to be locked based on the fact that the theft identification unit 302 identifies the electric vehicle 1 as a stolen vehicle. This process in the lock instruction section 362 corresponds to a lock instruction step. The lock instruction unit 362 may lock the electric vehicle 1 so that it cannot be moved by transmitting a signal to turn off the SMR from the vehicle communication unit 301. According to this, the electric vehicle 1 becomes unable to move. Therefore, a stolen electric vehicle can be recovered more easily. The signal that turns off the SMR corresponds to a lock instruction.

The charging ECU 13 of the electric vehicle 1 turns off the SMR when the communication unit 131 receives this signal. As a result, the motor cannot receive power from the battery 11, and the electric vehicle 1 cannot be moved. According to the above configuration, by using a signal that turns off the SMR, it is possible to prevent the electric vehicle 1 from moving with a small number of bits. Therefore, even when performing communication in accordance with the CHAdeMO standard, it is possible to suppress the number of bits used and prevent the electric vehicle 1 from moving easily.

The lock instruction unit 362 may lock the vehicle when the theft identification unit 302 identifies the vehicle as a stolen vehicle and the NW communication unit 303 receives a rejection response input. That is, it is preferable that the lock instruction unit 362 also adds the fact that the NW communication unit 303 has received a rejection response input as a condition for performing the lock. The lock instruction unit 362 does not need to lock the vehicle even if the NW communication unit 303 obtains a consent response input or the theft identification unit 302 identifies the vehicle as a stolen vehicle. According to this, by adding the user's approval or disapproval to the locking conditions, it becomes possible to suppress locking due to erroneous judgment.

If the theft identification unit 302 identifies the vehicle as a stolen vehicle, the lock instruction unit 362 preferably causes the vehicle to be temporarily locked even if the NW communication unit 303 is unable to obtain an acceptance/rejection input. In contrast to the temporary lock, the lock described above is the permanent lock. The temporary lock is a lock that prevents driving operation of the electric vehicle 1 only within a predetermined period of time. The predetermined time may be a time shorter than the time during which the main lock continues. For example, this lock will not be released unless a release operation is performed from a terminal such as a dealer. On the other hand, the temporary lock may be released within several minutes to several tens of minutes, for example. According to this, even if the user does not notice the confirmation of approval or disapproval of locking on the user terminal 5 and does not input an acceptance/disapproval response, the electric vehicle 1 can be temporarily locked. Therefore, even if the user does not input an acceptance/disapproval response, the stolen electric vehicle 1 can be recovered more easily.

The report instruction unit 363 transmits a theft report to the security server 6 when the lock instruction unit 362 performs locking. The report instruction unit 363 transmits this information from the NW communication unit 303 to the security server 6 via the network. The theft report may include the fact that the electric vehicle 1 is a stolen vehicle and the current location of the electric vehicle 1. This makes it possible for the security server 6 to grasp the location of the stolen vehicle and go to secure it. As a result, the stolen electric vehicle 1 can be recovered more easily. As the current position of the electric vehicle 1, information on the installation position of the charging station 3 may be used. This is because the current position of the electric vehicle 1 being charged at the charging station 3 can be estimated to be approximately the same as the installation position of the charging station 3.

<Theft identification related processing in vehicle system 9>
Next, an example of the flow of processing related to identification of a stolen vehicle during charging in the vehicle system 9 (hereinafter referred to as theft identification related processing) will be described using the sequence diagram of FIG. 4. In the example of FIG. 4, a case will be described in which the electric vehicle 1 is identified as a stolen vehicle.

First, at t1, the power supply plug of the charging station 3 and the inlet section 12 of the electric vehicle 1 are connected. At t2, the communication unit 131 of the electric vehicle 1 transmits identification information and a power supply request signal to the charging station 3. The vehicle communication unit 301 of the charging station 3 receives and acquires this identification information and the power supply request signal. At t3, the NW communication unit 303 of the charging station 3 transmits the identification information acquired at t2 to the authentication server 4. Authentication server 4 receives this identification information.

At t4, the authentication server 4 performs regular verification and stolen vehicle verification using the identification information received at t3. In FIG. 4, the explanation will be continued by taking as an example a case where stolen vehicle verification is successful. At t5, the authentication server 4 replies to the charging station 3 with the verification results of the regular verification and the stolen vehicle verification. The NW communication unit 303 receives this verification result. At t6, the theft identifying unit 302 identifies the electric vehicle 1 as a stolen vehicle based on the stolen vehicle verification result.

At t7, the confirmation instruction unit 361 of the charging station 3 causes the NW communication unit 303 to transmit an acceptance/rejection confirmation instruction to the user terminal 5. The user terminal 5 receives this acceptance confirmation instruction. At t8, the user terminal 5 displays a message for confirming whether or not to lock the electric vehicle 1. In FIG. 4, the explanation will be continued by taking as an example a case where the user terminal 5 accepts an input of an acceptance/disapproval response to permit locking. At t9, the user terminal 5 replies to the NW communication unit 303 with an input of an acceptance/rejection answer.

At t10, the confirmation instruction unit 361 of the charging station 3 causes the vehicle communication unit 301 to transmit to the electric vehicle 1 an instruction to lock the electric vehicle 1 so that it cannot be moved. In this embodiment, a signal to turn off the SMR is transmitted from the vehicle communication unit 301 via the signal line of the cable Ca. Communication unit 131 of electric vehicle 1 receives this signal. At t11, the charging ECU 13 locks the electric vehicle 1 so that it cannot be moved by turning off the SMR.

At t12, the report instruction unit 363 of the charging station 3 causes the NW communication unit 303 to transmit a theft report to the security server 6. Note that the configuration may be such that after the process at t9, the process at t12 is performed before the process at t10.

(Embodiment 2)
In the first embodiment, a configuration is shown in which the electric vehicle 1 is locked so that it cannot be moved by turning off the SMR, but the present invention is not necessarily limited to this. For example, the configuration of Embodiment 2 below may be used. An example of the configuration of Embodiment 2 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<Schematic configuration of vehicle system 9a>
The vehicle system 9a includes an electric vehicle 1, a charging station 3a, an authentication server 4, a user terminal 5, and a security server 6, as shown in FIG. The vehicle system 9a is the same as the vehicle system 9 of Embodiment 1, except that the vehicle system 9a includes a charging station 3a instead of the charging station 3.

<Schematic configuration of charging stand 3a>
Here, a schematic configuration of the charging stand 3a will be explained. The charging stand 3a includes a control device 30a, a power supply section 31, and an emergency stop button 32, as shown in FIG. The charging station 3a is the same as the charging station 3 of the first embodiment, except that it includes an emergency stop button 32 and a control device 30a instead of the control device 30. The charging stand 3a also corresponds to a charger external to the electric vehicle 1.

The emergency stop button 32 is an input unit for interrupting charging of the electric vehicle 1 from the charging stand 3a during the charging period. When the emergency stop button 32 is operated, the charging control unit 305 stops power supply to the electric vehicle 1. When the emergency stop button 32 is operated, a signal indicating an emergency stop of charging (hereinafter referred to as an emergency stop signal) is transmitted from the vehicle communication unit 301 to the communication unit 131.

When the charging ECU 13 of the electric vehicle 1 receives the emergency stop signal through the communication unit 131, the charging ECU 13 ends processing related to charging such as adjusting the charging amount. Furthermore, when the communication unit 131 receives an emergency stop signal, the charging ECU 13 releases the lock mechanism of the inlet unit 12 . Note that, in the first embodiment as well, the charging stand 3 may be configured to include the emergency stop button 32.

As shown in FIG. 5, the control device 30a includes a vehicle communication section 301, a theft identification section 302, a NW communication section 303, a charging permission section 304, a charging control section 305, and a response instruction section 306a as functional blocks. The control device 30a is the same as the control device 30 of the first embodiment except that it includes a response instruction section 306a instead of the response instruction section 306. This control device 30a also corresponds to a theft prevention device. Further, the execution of the processing of each functional block of the control device 30a by the computer also corresponds to the execution of the theft countermeasure method.

The response instruction section 306a includes a confirmation instruction section 361, a lock instruction section 362a, and a notification instruction section 363 as sub-functional blocks. The response instruction section 306a is the same as the response instruction section 306 of the first embodiment, except that it includes a lock instruction section 362a instead of the lock instruction section 362.

The lock instruction unit 362a causes the vehicle communication unit 301 to transmit a signal that keeps the locking mechanism of the inlet unit 12 in operation instead of the signal that turns off the SMR. Except for this point, the lock instruction section 362a is the same as the lock instruction section 362 of the first embodiment. This process in the lock instruction section 362a also corresponds to a lock instruction step. The signal that continues to maintain the operation of the locking mechanism of the inlet section 12 will be referred to as a lock maintenance signal below. The lock maintenance signal also corresponds to a lock instruction.

When the charging ECU 13 of the electric vehicle 1 receives the lock maintenance signal through the communication unit 131, the charging ECU 13 continues to maintain the lock mechanism of the inlet unit 12. In other words, the charging ECU 13 prevents the locking mechanism of the inlet section 12 from being released even when the communication section 131 receives the emergency stop signal. According to this, when the locking mechanism of the electric vehicle 1 is activated in response to an instruction from the locking instruction section 362a, the locking mechanism can be made unreleasable regardless of the operation of the emergency stop button 32. Therefore, the stolen electric vehicle 1 can be recovered more easily.

Note that although a configuration in which the charging stand 3a is provided with the emergency stop button 32 that interrupts charging is shown here, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this. For example, the electric vehicle 1 may be provided with an emergency stop button that interrupts charging.

(Embodiment 3)
The electric vehicle 1 may be locked so that it cannot be moved by means other than those described in the first and second embodiments. For example, the electric vehicle 1 may be locked so that the user cannot ride and drive the electric vehicle 1. Alternatively, the electric vehicle 1 may be prevented from moving by disabling the accessory switch from being turned off. Alternatively, the electric vehicle 1 may be prevented from moving by using an immobilizer to prevent the driving power source from starting.

(Embodiment 4)
The present invention is not limited to the configuration of the embodiment described above, but may be the configuration of the fourth embodiment below. An example of the configuration of Embodiment 4 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<Schematic configuration of vehicle system 9b>
The vehicle system 9b includes an electric vehicle 1, a charging station 3b, an authentication server 4, a user terminal 5, and a security server 6, as shown in FIG. The vehicle system 9b is the same as the vehicle system 9 of Embodiment 1, except that the vehicle system 9b includes a charging station 3b instead of the charging station 3.

<Schematic configuration of charging stand 3b>
Here, a schematic configuration of the charging stand 3b will be explained. As shown in FIG. 8, the charging stand 3b includes a control device 30b and a power supply section 31b. The power supply unit 31b is similar to the charging stand 3 of the first embodiment, except that a plurality of types of power supply sources are required to be connected. Examples of the plurality of types of power supply sources to which the power supply section 31b is connected include a commercial power source, a storage battery, and the like. The integrated controller may control how the charging station 3b receives power from the plurality of types of power supply sources. The charging stand 3b also corresponds to a charger external to the electric vehicle 1.

As shown in FIG. 8, the control device 30b includes a vehicle communication section 301, a theft identification section 302, a NW communication section 303, a charging permission section 304, a charging control section 305b, and a response instruction section 306b as functional blocks. The control device 30b includes a charging control section 305b instead of the charging control section 305. The control device 30b includes a response instruction section 306b instead of the response instruction section 306. The control device 30b is similar to the control device 30 of the first embodiment except for these points. This control device 30b also corresponds to a theft countermeasure device. Further, the execution of the processing of each functional block of the control device 30b by the computer also corresponds to the execution of the theft countermeasure method.

The charging control unit 305b is similar to the charging control unit 305 of Embodiment 1, except that it also performs processing for accepting discharge from the electric vehicle 1 (hereinafter referred to as discharge-related processing). The charging control unit 305b performs discharge-related processing when a discharge instruction signal is transmitted by a discharge instruction unit 364, which will be described later. As the discharge-related process, the charging control unit 305b may perform a process of returning the power discharged from the electric vehicle 1 via the cable Ca to the storage battery connected to the power supply unit 31b. This allows the battery 11 of the electric vehicle 1 to be discharged.

The response instruction section 306b includes a confirmation instruction section 361, a lock instruction section 362, a notification instruction section 363, and a discharge instruction section 364 as sub-functional blocks. The response instruction section 306b is similar to the response instruction section 306 of the first embodiment, except that it includes a discharge instruction section 364.

The discharge instruction unit 364 also causes the battery 11 to be discharged when the lock instruction unit 362 performs locking. The discharge instruction unit 364 may cause the vehicle communication unit 301 to transmit a signal instructing the discharge of the battery 11 (hereinafter referred to as a discharge instruction signal) to the communication unit 131. The charging ECU 13 of the electric vehicle 1 causes the battery 11 to discharge when the communication unit 131 receives the discharge instruction signal. According to this, the battery 11 of the stolen vehicle is discharged, further making it difficult to move the stolen vehicle.

(Embodiment 5)
The present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above-described embodiment, but may be a configuration of the following fifth embodiment. An example of the configuration of Embodiment 5 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<Schematic configuration of vehicle system 9c>
The vehicle system 9c includes an electric vehicle 1c, a charging station 3c, an authentication server 4, a user terminal 5, and a security server 6, as shown in FIG. The vehicle system 9c includes an electric vehicle 1c instead of the electric vehicle 1. The vehicle system 9c includes a charging stand 3c instead of the charging stand 3. The vehicle system 9c is the same as the vehicle system 9 of the first embodiment except for these points.

The electric vehicle 1c is an electric vehicle capable of automatic operation. Automated driving as used herein refers to automated driving in which the driver has no obligation to monitor safety driving (hereinafter simply referred to as monitoring obligation). The term "automated driving" referred to here may be defined as automatic driving in which the system can perform all driving tasks, except under specific conditions such as roads that cannot be handled or extreme environments. In other words, it may be automatic driving at an automation level corresponding to highly automated driving. Automated driving here may mean automated driving in which the system can perform all driving tasks under any environment. In other words, the vehicle may be operated at an automation level equivalent to complete automation. Electric vehicle 1c includes a vehicle-side unit 10c.

<Schematic configuration of vehicle side unit 10c>
Next, a schematic configuration of the vehicle-side unit 10 will be explained. As shown in FIG. 10, the vehicle side unit 10c includes a battery 11, an inlet section 12, a charging ECU 13c, a communication module 14, a locator 15, a map database (hereinafter referred to as map DB) 16, a vehicle condition sensor 17, a surrounding monitoring sensor 18, It includes a vehicle control ECU 19, a body ECU 20, and an automatic driving ECU 21. The charging ECU 13, the communication module 14, the locator 15, the map DB 16, the vehicle condition sensor 17, the vehicle control ECU 19, the body ECU 20, and the automatic driving ECU 21 are connected to, for example, an in-vehicle LAN (see LAN in FIG. 10).

The communication module 14 transmits and receives information to and from a center outside the own vehicle via wireless communication. In other words, it performs wide area communication. The communication module 14 may send and receive information to and from other vehicles via wireless communication. In other words, inter-vehicle communication may be performed. The communication module 14 may transmit and receive information to and from a roadside machine installed on the roadside via wireless communication. In other words, road-to-vehicle communication may be performed. When performing road-to-vehicle communication, the communication module 14 may receive information about surrounding vehicles transmitted from surrounding vehicles of the host vehicle via a roadside device. Further, the communication module 14 may receive information on surrounding vehicles transmitted from surrounding vehicles of the host vehicle via wide area communication via the center.

The locator 15 includes a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receiver and an inertial sensor. The GNSS receiver receives positioning signals from multiple positioning satellites. The inertial sensor includes, for example, a gyro sensor and an acceleration sensor. The locator 15 sequentially measures the vehicle position of the own vehicle (hereinafter referred to as the own vehicle position) by combining the positioning signal received by the GNSS receiver and the measurement result of the inertial sensor. The vehicle position may be expressed by latitude and longitude coordinates, for example. Note that the vehicle position measurement may also be performed using a travel distance obtained from signals sequentially output from a vehicle speed sensor mounted on the vehicle, which will be described later.

The map DB 16 is a nonvolatile memory that stores high-precision map data. High-precision map data is map data with higher precision than map data used for route guidance in the navigation function. The map DB 16 may also store map data used for route guidance. The high-precision map data includes information that can be used for automatic driving, such as information on the three-dimensional shape of the road, information on the number of lanes, and information indicating the direction of travel allowed for each lane. In addition, the high-precision map data may also include information on node points indicating the positions of both ends of road markings such as lane markings, for example. Note that the locator 15 may be configured to use three-dimensional shape information of the road without using a GNSS receiver. For example, the locator 15 may be configured to identify the vehicle position using three-dimensional shape information of the road and detection results from the surrounding monitoring sensor 18. In this case, as the surrounding monitoring sensor 18, LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging/Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) that detects point groups of feature points of road shapes and structures may be used. Alternatively, a surrounding monitoring camera may be used as the surrounding monitoring sensor 18. The three-dimensional shape information of the road may be generated based on a captured image by REM (Road Experience Management).

Note that the map data distributed from the center may be received via wide area communication via the communication module 14 and stored in the map DB 16. In this case, the map DB 16 may be a volatile memory, and the communication module 14 may sequentially acquire map data of an area corresponding to the position of the vehicle.

The vehicle condition sensor 17 is a group of sensors for detecting various conditions of the own vehicle. Examples of the vehicle condition sensor 17 include a vehicle speed sensor and a seating sensor. The vehicle speed sensor detects the speed of the own vehicle. The seating sensor detects whether or not an occupant of the own vehicle is seated. As the seating sensor, a pressure-sensitive sensor embedded in the seating surface of each seat may be used. The vehicle condition sensor 17 outputs detected sensing information to the in-vehicle LAN. Note that the sensing information detected by the vehicle condition sensor 17 may be output to the in-vehicle LAN via an ECU installed in the vehicle.

The surroundings monitoring sensor 18 monitors the surrounding environment of the own vehicle. As an example, the surroundings monitoring sensor 18 detects obstacles around the own vehicle. In addition, the surroundings monitoring sensor 18 detects road markings such as lane markings around the vehicle. The surrounding monitoring sensor 18 may be a surrounding monitoring camera, millimeter wave radar, sonar, LIDAR, or the like. The surrounding surveillance camera images a predetermined area around the vehicle. Millimeter wave radar, sonar, and LIDAR transmit search waves to a predetermined range around the vehicle. Hereinafter, millimeter wave radar, sonar, and LIDAR will be referred to as exploration wave sensors. The surroundings monitoring camera sequentially outputs the sequentially captured images to the automatic driving ECU 21 as sensing information. The exploration wave sensor sequentially outputs a scanning result based on a received signal obtained when receiving a reflected wave reflected by an obstacle to the automatic driving ECU 21 as sensing information. The sensing information detected by the surroundings monitoring sensor 18 may be output to the in-vehicle LAN.

The vehicle control ECU 19 is an electronic control device that controls the running of the own vehicle. Travel control includes acceleration/deceleration control and steering control. The vehicle control ECU 19 includes a steering ECU that performs steering control, a power unit control ECU that performs acceleration/deceleration control, a brake ECU, and the like. The vehicle control ECU 19 performs driving control by outputting control signals to each driving control device mounted on the own vehicle. Examples of the travel control device include an electronically controlled throttle, a brake actuator, and an EPS (Electric Power Steering) motor. The body ECU 20 is an electronic control device that controls the electrical components of the own vehicle. The body ECU 20 locks and unlocks the doors of the vehicle by controlling the door lock motor.

The automatic driving ECU 21 is an electronic control device that realizes automatic driving functions. The automatic driving ECU 21 recognizes the surrounding environment of the own vehicle. The vehicle position of the own vehicle acquired from the locator 15 is used to recognize the surrounding environment. Map data acquired from the map DB 16 is used to recognize the surrounding environment. Sensing information acquired from the surrounding monitoring sensor 18 is used to recognize the surrounding environment. For example, the automatic driving ECU 21 recognizes the shape and movement state of objects around the own vehicle from sensing information acquired from the surroundings monitoring sensor 18. By combining this recognition result with the vehicle's position and map data, a virtual space is created that reproduces the actual driving environment in three dimensions.

The automatic driving ECU 21 determines a travel plan for driving the own vehicle based on the recognized surrounding environment. As the travel plan, a long-term travel plan and a short-term travel plan are generated. In the long-term and medium-term travel plans, a route is generated to direct the vehicle to a set destination. In the short-term travel plan, a planned travel trajectory is generated using the generated virtual space around the own vehicle to realize driving according to the long-term and medium-term travel plan. Specifically, the execution of steering for changing lanes, acceleration/deceleration for speed adjustment, steering and braking for avoiding obstacles, etc. is determined. The automatic driving ECU 21 executes acceleration/deceleration control, steering control, etc. of the own vehicle according to the determined travel plan. The automatic driving ECU 21 switches control authority for driving operation. Here, it is assumed that manual operation is a state in which the driver has control over the driving operation. On the other hand, automatic driving is defined as a state in which the control authority for driving operations lies with the own vehicle's system.

The battery 11 and inlet section 12 are the same as in the first embodiment. The charging ECU 13c includes a communication section 131 and a boarding detection section 132 as sub-functional blocks. The charging ECU 13c is the same as the charging ECU 13 of the first embodiment, except that some processes are different. The boarding detection unit 132 detects boarding of a passenger in the electric vehicle 1c. The occupancy detection unit 132 may detect the occupant's entry into the electric vehicle 1c since the aforementioned occupancy sensor detects the seating. The boarding detection unit 132 may also include the fact that the door of the electric vehicle 1c has been opened and then closed as a condition for detecting boarding. The opening/closing of the door of the electric vehicle 1c may be determined by the occupancy detection unit 132 based on the signal from the door courtesy switch.

When the charging ECU 13c receives a restraint instruction, which will be described later, from the charging station 3 through the communication unit 131, it waits until the riding detection unit 132 detects the rider, and then locks the vehicle. In the fifth embodiment, as a lock, the electric vehicle 1c is locked and the electric vehicle 1c is locked so that no driving operation of the electric vehicle 1c is accepted. The charging ECU 13c may lock all the doors of the electric vehicle 1c via the body ECU 20. The charging ECU 13c may fix the control authority for the driving operation to the system of the own vehicle via the automatic driving ECU 21. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the driving operation of the electric vehicle 1c from being accepted. According to this, it becomes possible to trap the thief of the electric vehicle 1c in the electric vehicle 1c and prevent him from freely moving the electric vehicle 1c. Therefore, the stolen electric vehicle 1c can be recovered more easily.

When the automatic driving ECU 21 receives a driving instruction, which will be described later, through the communication unit 131, the electric vehicle 1c is automatically driven to the police station after being locked by the charging ECU 13c. The automatic driving ECU 21 can automatically drive the electric vehicle 1c to the police station by determining a travel plan in which the destination is the police station. As the destination, for example, the police station closest to the position of the electric vehicle 1c may be selected from the map data. According to this, by having the police identify the thief of the electric vehicle 1c, the stolen electric vehicle 1c can be recovered more easily.

<Schematic configuration of charging stand 3c>
Next, a schematic configuration of the charging stand 3c will be explained. The charging stand 3c includes a control device 30c and a power supply section 31, as shown in FIG. The charging station 3c is the same as the charging station 3 of the first embodiment except that it includes a control device 30c instead of the control device 30. The charging stand 3c corresponds to an external charger of the electric vehicle 1c.

As shown in FIG. 11, the control device 30c includes a vehicle communication section 301, a theft identification section 302, a NW communication section 303, a charging permission section 304, a charging control section 305, and a response instruction section 306c as functional blocks. The control device 30c is the same as the control device 30 of the first embodiment except that it includes a response instruction section 306c instead of the response instruction section 306. This control device 30c also corresponds to a theft countermeasure device. Further, the execution of the processing of each functional block of the control device 30c by the computer also corresponds to the execution of the theft countermeasure method.

The response instruction section 306c includes a confirmation instruction section 361, a lock instruction section 362c, a notification instruction section 363, and a travel instruction section 365 as sub-functional blocks. The response instruction section 306c includes a travel instruction section 365. The correspondence instruction section 306c includes a lock instruction section 362c instead of the lock instruction section 362. The correspondence instruction section 306c is similar to the correspondence instruction section 306 of the first embodiment except for these points.

The lock instruction unit 362c is the same as the lock instruction unit 362 of the first embodiment, except that the instruction transmitted from the vehicle communication unit 301 is different. Even when the lock is to be performed, the lock instruction unit 362c waits until it is detected that the occupant has entered the electric vehicle 1c, and then transmits an instruction to perform the lock to restrain the occupant. This instruction is called a constraint instruction. The restraint instruction corresponds to a lock instruction. The lock that restrains the occupant is a lock that prevents the electric vehicle 1c from being locked and from accepting driving operations of the electric vehicle 1c.

The travel instruction unit 365 causes the electric vehicle 1 to be locked in accordance with the restraint instruction, and then transmits an instruction (hereinafter referred to as a travel instruction) to cause the electric vehicle 1 to automatically drive to the police station. Travel instruction section 365 causes vehicle communication section 301 to transmit a travel instruction to communication section 131 .

In the fifth embodiment, a configuration is shown in which the electric vehicle 1c is driven automatically to the police station, but the configuration is not necessarily limited to this. For example, a configuration may be adopted in which the electric vehicle 1c does not perform automatic driving without monitoring obligation. In this case, the electric vehicle 1c may be configured to perform locking in accordance with the restraint instruction.

(Embodiment 6)
In the above-described embodiment, the charging

stations

3, 3a, 3b, and 3c transmit locking instructions to the electric vehicles 1 and 1c through communication via the signal line of the cable Ca, but this is not necessarily the case. do not have. For example, the configuration of Embodiment 6 below may be used. An example of the configuration of Embodiment 6 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<Schematic configuration of vehicle system 9d>
This embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings. The vehicle system 9d shown in FIG. 12 includes an electric vehicle 1d, a charging station 3d, an authentication server 4, a user terminal 5, and a security server 6. The vehicle system 9d includes an electric vehicle 1d instead of the electric vehicle 1. The vehicle system 9d includes a charging station 3d instead of the charging station 3. The electric vehicle 1 of the third embodiment includes a vehicle-side unit 10b instead of the vehicle-side unit 10. The vehicle system 9d is the same as the vehicle system 9 of the first embodiment except for these points. The electric vehicle 1d is the same as the electric vehicle 1 of the first embodiment, except that it includes a vehicle-side unit 10d instead of the vehicle-side unit 10.

<Schematic configuration of vehicle side unit 10d>
Next, a schematic configuration of the vehicle-side unit 10d will be explained. The vehicle-side unit 10d includes a battery 11, an inlet section 12, a charging ECU 13, and a wireless communication device 22, as shown in FIG. The charging ECU 13 and the wireless communication device 22 are connected to, for example, an in-vehicle LAN (see LAN in FIG. 13). The vehicle-side unit 10d is the same as the vehicle-side unit 10 of the first embodiment, except that it includes a wireless communication device 22.

The wireless communication device 22 is a communication module for communicating by wireless communication. The wireless communication device 22 performs short-range wireless communication according to, for example, a short-range wireless communication standard. The wireless communication device 22 may be configured to perform short-range wireless communication according to a short-range wireless communication standard such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) or BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). When the wireless communication device 22 receives a lock instruction from the charging stand 3d, it sends this instruction to the charging ECU 13. Upon receiving this instruction, the charging ECU 13 performs processing in accordance with the lock instruction, as described above.

<Schematic configuration of charging stand 3d>
Next, a schematic configuration of the charging stand 3d will be explained. The charging stand 3d includes a control device 30d and a power supply section 31, as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 14, the control device 30d includes a vehicle communication section 301d, a theft identification section 302, a NW communication section 303, a charging permission section 304, a charging control section 305, and a response instruction section 306 as functional blocks. The charging station 3d is the same as the charging station 3 of the first embodiment except that it includes a vehicle communication section 301d instead of the vehicle communication section 301. The charging stand 3d also corresponds to a charger outside the electric vehicle 1. This control device 30d also corresponds to a theft countermeasure device. Further, the execution of the processing of each functional block of the control device 30d by the computer also corresponds to the execution of the theft countermeasure method.

The vehicle communication unit 301d is similar to the vehicle communication unit 301 of the first embodiment, except that it can also transmit and receive information with the wireless communication device 22 by wireless communication. Therefore, this vehicle communication section 301d also corresponds to an identification information acquisition section. Further, the processing in this vehicle communication section 301d also corresponds to the identification information acquisition step. The vehicle communication unit 301d transmits the lock instruction from the lock instruction unit 362 to the wireless communication device 22. In the sixth embodiment as well, communication regarding authentication may be configured to be performed via the signal line of the cable Ca. Note that the vehicle communication unit 301d may be configured to include a member that performs communication via the signal line of the cable Ca and a member that performs wireless communication.

Although the sixth embodiment shows a configuration in which communication related to authentication is performed via the signal line of cable Ca, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this. For example, communication regarding authentication may also be performed wirelessly. Furthermore, the configuration of the sixth embodiment and the configurations of the first to fifth embodiments may be combined. When Embodiment 6 and Embodiment 4 are combined, a configuration may be adopted in which the discharge instruction is transmitted via wireless communication. When Embodiment 6 and Embodiment 5 are combined, a configuration may be adopted in which the driving instruction is transmitted by wireless communication.

(Embodiment 7)
In the embodiment described above, a configuration was shown in which the authentication server 4 performs authentication for permission to charge, but the present invention is not necessarily limited to this. For example, instead of performing authentication using the authentication server 4, a configuration may be adopted in which authentication is performed using the charging

stations

3, 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3d. In this case, the regular identification information and theft identification information may be registered in advance at the charging

stations

3, 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3d. Then, regular verification and stolen vehicle verification may be performed at the charging

stations

3, 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3d.

(Embodiment 8)
In the above-described embodiment, a configuration was shown in which regular verification and stolen vehicle verification are performed by the authentication server 4 or the charging

stations

3, 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3d, but the present invention is not necessarily limited to this. For example, the configuration of Embodiment 8 below may be used. An example of the configuration of Embodiment 8 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<Schematic configuration of vehicle system 9e>
This embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings. The vehicle system 9d shown in FIG. 15 includes an electric vehicle 1e, a charging station 3e, a user terminal 5, a security server 6, and an authentication information server 7. The vehicle system 9e includes an electric vehicle 1e instead of the electric vehicle 1. The vehicle system 9e includes a charging stand 3e instead of the charging stand 3. The vehicle system 9e includes an authentication information server 7 instead of the authentication server 4. The vehicle system 9e is the same as the vehicle system 9 of the first embodiment except for these points. The electric vehicle 1e is the same as the electric vehicle 1 of the first embodiment except that it includes a vehicle-side unit 10e instead of the vehicle-side unit 10.

The authentication information server 7 communicates with the charging station 3e via the network. The authentication information server 7 stores regular identification information in advance. Theft identification information is registered in advance in the authentication information server 7.

<Schematic configuration of charging stand 3e>
Here, a schematic configuration of the charging stand 3e will be explained. The charging stand 3e includes a control device 30e and a power supply section 31, as shown in FIG. The charging station 3e is the same as the charging station 3 of the first embodiment except that it includes a control device 30e instead of the control device 30. The charging stand 3e also corresponds to an external charger of the electric vehicle 1e.

As shown in FIG. 16, the control device 30e includes a vehicle communication section 301, a NW communication section 303, a charging permission section 304e, a charging control section 305, and a relay section 307 as functional blocks. The control device 30e does not include the theft identification section 302 and the response instruction section 306. The control device 30e includes a relay section 307. The control device 30e is similar to the control device 30 of the first embodiment except for these points.

When a power supply request signal is transmitted from the electric vehicle 1e, the vehicle communication unit 301 of the charging station 3e acquires this power supply request signal. The relay unit 307 acquires the regular identification information and theft identification information from the authentication information server 7 when the vehicle communication unit 301 acquires the power supply signal. The relay unit 307 acquires the regular identification information and theft identification information via the NW communication unit 303. The relay unit 307 causes the vehicle communication unit 301 to transmit the acquired regular identification information and theft identification information to the electric vehicle 1e. In the electric vehicle 1e, regular verification and stolen vehicle verification are performed using this regular identification information and theft identification information. Then, the vehicle communication unit 301 receives the results of the regular verification and stolen vehicle verification transmitted from the electric vehicle 1e.

The charging permission unit 304e permits charging when the result of the regular verification received by the vehicle communication unit 301 is successful. The charging permission unit 304e may be configured to not permit charging if the stolen vehicle verification result received by the vehicle communication unit 301 is successful. According to this, charging of a stolen vehicle can be prevented.

<Schematic configuration of vehicle side unit 10e>
Next, a schematic configuration of the vehicle-side unit 10e will be explained. The vehicle-side unit 10e includes a battery 11, an inlet section 12, a charging ECU 13e, a communication module 14, and a locator 15, as shown in FIG. The charging ECU 13e, the communication module 14, and the locator 15 are connected to, for example, an in-vehicle LAN (see LAN in FIG. 17). The vehicle unit 10e includes a communication module 14 and a locator 15. The vehicle-side unit 10e includes a charging ECU 13e instead of the charging ECU 13. The vehicle-side unit 10e is the same as the vehicle-side unit 10 of the first embodiment except for these points. The communication module 14 is similar to the communication module 14 of the fifth embodiment. The communication module 14 sends and receives information via the network. The locator 15 is similar to the locator 15 of the fifth embodiment.

The charging ECU 13e includes a communication section 131, an identification information acquisition section 133, an authentication section 134, a confirmation instruction section 135, an answer acquisition section 136, a lock instruction section 137, and a report instruction section 138 as sub-functional blocks. Communication unit 131 is similar to communication unit 131 of charging ECU 13. The charging ECU 13e executes various processes by executing a control program stored in a memory. Memory as used herein is a non-transitory tangible storage medium that non-temporarily stores computer-readable programs and data. Further, the non-transitional physical storage medium is realized by a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, or the like. It is assumed that identification information for identifying each electric vehicle 1e is stored in advance in the nonvolatile memory of the charging ECU 13e.

This charging ECU 13e also corresponds to a theft prevention device. Further, the execution of the processing of each functional block of the charging ECU 13e by the computer corresponds to the execution of the theft countermeasure method. Note that some or all of the functions executed by the charging ECU 13e may be configured in hardware using one or more ICs. Further, some or all of the functional blocks included in the charging ECU 13e may be realized by a combination of software execution by a processor and hardware components.

The identification information acquisition unit 133 acquires the identification information of the own vehicle from the nonvolatile memory of the charging ECU 13e when the connection between the inlet unit 12 and the power supply plug is detected. That is, the identification information acquisition unit 133 acquires the identification information of the electric vehicle 1e when starting charging of the battery 11. The processing in this identification information acquisition unit 133 also corresponds to an identification information acquisition step. The communication unit 131 transmits a power supply request signal to the charging stand 3e when starting charging of the battery 11. Furthermore, the communication unit 131 receives the regular identification information and theft identification information returned from the charging station 3e in response to the transmission of the power supply request signal.

The authentication unit 134 compares the identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition unit 133 with the regular identification information received by the communication unit 131. In other words, regular matching is performed. The authentication unit 134 compares the identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition unit 133 with the theft identification information received by the communication unit 131. In other words, stolen vehicle verification is performed. The communication unit 131 transmits the results of the regular verification and stolen vehicle verification performed by the authentication unit 134 to the vehicle communication unit 301. The authentication unit 134 identifies the electric vehicle 1e as a stolen vehicle when the stolen vehicle verification results in a successful verification. This authentication section 134 also corresponds to a theft identification section. Further, the processing performed by the authentication unit 134 also corresponds to the theft identification process.

The confirmation instruction unit 135 instructs the user terminal 5 to confirm whether or not to lock the electric vehicle 1e (that is, an instruction to confirm whether or not to lock the electric vehicle 1e). The confirmation instruction unit 135 may cause the communication module 14 to transmit the acceptance/rejection confirmation instruction to the user terminal 5 via the network. The lock of the electric vehicle 1e is a lock that prevents driving operation of the electric vehicle 1e. The lock that prevents the driving operation of the electric vehicle 1e may be, for example, a lock that prevents the electric vehicle 1e from moving. The lock that prevents the driving operation of the electric vehicle 1e may be a lock that prevents the electric vehicle 1e from being locked and from accepting the driving operation of the electric vehicle 1e. The user terminal 5 corresponding to the electric vehicle 1 may be identified based on the correspondence between the identification information of the electric vehicle 1 and the identification information of the user terminal 5 that are registered in advance. This correspondence relationship may be stored in the nonvolatile memory of the electric vehicle 1, for example. The confirmation instruction unit 135 may cause the user terminal 5 to transmit an acceptance/rejection confirmation instruction based on the identification information of the user terminal 5. As the identification information of the user terminal 5, the address of the user terminal 5 on the network may be used.

When the user terminal 5 receives the instruction to confirm whether or not to lock the electric vehicle 1, it displays a message to confirm whether or not to lock the electric vehicle 1. Then, the user terminal 5 receives an input of a response from the user regarding this acceptance/disapproval (that is, an input of an acceptance/disapproval response). The user terminal 5 returns this acceptance/disapproval response input to the communication module 14 via the network.

The answer acquisition unit 136 acquires this yes/no answer input received by the communication module 14. If the answer acquisition unit 136 is unable to obtain an acceptance/rejection input within a predetermined time after transmitting the acceptance/rejection confirmation instruction, it may be determined that the acceptance/rejection input has not been obtained. The input of an acceptance/disapproval response to permit locking is called an acceptance response input. In addition, an acceptance/disapproval input that does not permit locking is referred to as a refusal response input.

The lock instruction unit 137 causes the electric vehicle 1e to be locked based on the authentication unit 134 identifying the electric vehicle 1e as a stolen vehicle. This process in the lock instruction section 137 also corresponds to a lock instruction step. The lock instruction unit 137 may lock the electric vehicle 1e so that it cannot be moved by turning off the SMR. According to this, the electric vehicle 1e becomes unable to move. Therefore, a stolen electric vehicle can be recovered more easily.

The lock instruction unit 137 may lock the electric vehicle 1e so that it cannot be moved by continuing to maintain the locking mechanism of the inlet unit 12. In other words, the lock instruction section 137 prevents the locking mechanism of the inlet section 12 from being released even when the communication section 131 receives the above-mentioned emergency stop signal. According to this, when the locking mechanism of the electric vehicle 1 is activated in response to an instruction from the locking instruction section 137, the locking mechanism can be made unreleasable regardless of the operation of the emergency stop button. Therefore, the stolen electric vehicle 1e can be recovered more easily. The emergency stop button is an input unit for interrupting charging of the battery 11 from the charging stand 3e. The emergency stop button may be provided on the charging station 3e or on the electric vehicle 1e.

The lock instruction unit 137 may lock the vehicle when the authentication unit 134 identifies the vehicle as a stolen vehicle and the response acquisition unit 136 receives a rejection response input. That is, it is preferable that the lock instruction unit 137 also adds the fact that the response acquisition unit 136 has received a rejection response input as a condition for performing the lock. The lock instruction unit 137 does not have to lock the vehicle even if the response acquisition unit 136 acquires a consent response input or the authentication unit 134 identifies the vehicle as a stolen vehicle. According to this, by adding the user's approval or disapproval to the locking conditions, it becomes possible to suppress locking due to erroneous judgment.

If the authentication unit 134 identifies the vehicle as a stolen vehicle, the lock instruction unit 137 preferably causes the above-mentioned temporary lock to be performed even if the response acquisition unit 136 is unable to obtain an acceptance/disapproval response input. According to this, even if the user does not notice the confirmation of approval or disapproval of locking on the user terminal 5 and does not input an acceptance/disapproval response, the electric vehicle 1e can be temporarily locked. Therefore, even if the user does not input an acceptance/disapproval response, the stolen electric vehicle 1e can be recovered more easily.

The report instruction unit 138 transmits a theft report to the security server 6 when the lock instruction unit 137 performs locking. The report instruction unit 138 may transmit this information from the communication module 14 to the security server 6 via the network. The theft report may include the fact that the electric vehicle 1e is a stolen vehicle and the current location of the electric vehicle 1e. This makes it possible for the security server 6 to grasp the location of the stolen vehicle and go to secure it. As a result, the stolen electric vehicle 1e can be recovered more easily. As the current position of the electric vehicle 1e, the own vehicle position measured by the locator 15 may be used.

Note that the configuration of Embodiment 8 and the configurations of Embodiments 3 to 6 may be combined. When combining Embodiment 8 and Embodiment 4, what is necessary is just to do as follows. When locking is performed by the lock instruction unit 137, the communication unit 131 may transmit an instruction to the charging station 3e to perform the above-described discharge-related processing. Further, when the charging ECU 13e causes the lock instruction unit 137 to perform the locking, the charging ECU 13e may also cause the battery 11 to be discharged. When combining Embodiment 8 and Embodiment 5, the following may be done. When locking is to be performed, lock instruction section 137 may lock all doors of electric vehicle 1c via body ECU 20 after waiting until boarding is detected. Riding may be detected by providing the charging ECU 13e with a riding detection section 132. Further, after the lock instruction unit 137 performs this locking, the charging ECU 13e instructs the automatic driving ECU 21 to travel, and the electric vehicle 1c may automatically travel to the police station. When Embodiment 8 and Embodiment 6 are combined, a configuration may be adopted in which, for example, regular identification information and stolen identification information are transmitted and received by wireless communication.

In addition, the boarding detection section 132, the identification information acquisition section 133, the authentication section 134, the confirmation instruction section 135, the answer acquisition section 136, the lock instruction section 137, and the notification instruction section 138 are configured to be included in an electronic control device other than the charging ECU 13e. Good too. In this case, this electronic control device other than the charging ECU 13e corresponds to the theft prevention device.

Note that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various changes can be made within the scope of the claims, and can be obtained by appropriately combining technical means disclosed in different embodiments. The embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present disclosure. Further, the control unit and the method described in the present disclosure may be implemented by a dedicated computer constituting a processor programmed to perform one or more functions embodied by a computer program. Alternatively, the apparatus and techniques described in this disclosure may be implemented with dedicated hardware logic circuits. Alternatively, the apparatus and techniques described in this disclosure may be implemented by one or more special purpose computers configured by a combination of a processor executing a computer program and one or more hardware logic circuits. The computer program may also be stored as instructions executed by a computer on a computer-readable non-transitory tangible storage medium.

(Disclosed technical idea)
This specification discloses multiple technical ideas described in multiple sections listed below. Some sections may be written in a multiple dependent form, in which subsequent sections alternatively cite preceding sections. Additionally, some terms may be written in a multiple dependent form referring to another multiple dependent form. The terms written in these multiple dependent forms define multiple technical ideas.

Technical thought 1
When an electric vehicle (1, 1c, 1d, 1e) charges its battery (11) from an external charger (3, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e), the electric vehicle is stolen. an identification information acquisition unit (301, 301d, 133) that acquires identification information for specifying whether or not the electric vehicle is a vehicle;
a theft identification unit (302, 134) that identifies whether the electric vehicle is a stolen vehicle using the identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition unit;
A theft countermeasure device comprising: a lock instruction unit (362, 362a, 362c, 137) that causes the electric vehicle to be locked to prevent driving operation of the electric vehicle based on the theft identification unit identifying the electric vehicle as a stolen vehicle; .

Technical thought 2
The theft countermeasure device according to technical idea 1,
The lock instruction unit (362, 362a) is a theft countermeasure device that locks the electric vehicle (1, 1d, 1e) so that it cannot be moved.

Technical thought 3
The theft countermeasure device according to technical idea 2,
A theft countermeasure device included in the charger (3, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d) or a server (4) communicably connected to the charger.

Technical thought 4
The theft countermeasure device according to technical idea 3,
The lock instruction unit (362) transmits a signal from the charger to the electric vehicle (1) to turn off a relay that disconnects the battery from the driving power source of the electric vehicle. A theft prevention device that locks the vehicle so that it cannot be moved.

Technical thought 5
The theft countermeasure device according to technical idea 2,
A theft countermeasure device included in the electric vehicle (1e).

Technical thought 6
The theft countermeasure device according to technical idea 2 or 5,
The electric vehicle (1, 1e) and the charger are connected to each other by a cable including a power line when charging the battery,
The lock instruction unit (362a, 137) prevents the electric vehicle from moving by continuing to operate a fixing mechanism that fixes the electric vehicle and the charger so that the connection via the cable cannot be released. Anti-theft device that locks the device.

Technical thought 7
The theft countermeasure device according to technical idea 6,
The lock instruction unit includes an emergency stop button (an emergency stop button) that forcibly releases the fixing mechanism before the charging of the battery is completed, based on the fact that the electric vehicle is identified as a stolen vehicle by the theft identification unit. 32) A theft countermeasure device that prevents the fixing mechanism from being released even if the locking mechanism is operated.

Technical thought 8
The theft countermeasure device according to technical idea 2 or 5,
The lock instruction unit (362c) may cause the electric vehicle (1c) to be locked based on the theft identifying unit identifying the electric vehicle (1c) as a stolen vehicle. The theft countermeasure device locks the electric vehicle and locks the electric vehicle so that no driving operation is accepted, after waiting until a passenger is detected to be riding the electric vehicle.

Technical thought 9
The theft countermeasure device according to technical idea 8,
The electric vehicle is capable of autonomous driving to the destination,
A theft countermeasure device comprising a travel instruction unit (365) that causes the electric vehicle to automatically drive to a police station after locking the electric vehicle and locking the electric vehicle so as not to accept driving operations of the electric vehicle.

Technical thought 10
The theft countermeasure device according to any one of technical ideas 1 to 9,
A theft countermeasure device comprising a discharge instruction section (364) that causes the battery to be discharged when the lock instruction section causes the lock to be performed.

Technical thought 11
The theft prevention device according to any one of technical ideas 1 to 10,
a confirmation instruction unit (361, 135) that instructs a user terminal of a regular user of the electric vehicle to confirm whether or not the lock is accepted via a network;
an answer acquisition unit (303, 136) that acquires, via the network, an answer input regarding acceptance or disapproval of the lock, which is received by the user terminal;
The lock instruction unit is configured to control the operation of the electric vehicle when the theft identification unit identifies the electric vehicle as a stolen vehicle and the response acquisition unit acquires a response input that does not permit the lock. A theft countermeasure device that causes a lock that prevents an operation to be performed, but prevents the lock from being performed when the answer acquisition unit obtains a response input that permits the lock.

Technical thought 12
The theft countermeasure device according to technical idea 11,
The lock instruction unit is configured to control the driving operation of the electric vehicle when the theft identification unit identifies the electric vehicle as a stolen vehicle, even if the response acquisition unit cannot acquire the response input. A theft prevention device that locks the device only within a predetermined period of time.

Technical thought 13
The theft prevention device according to any one of technical ideas 1 to 12,
Theft includes a report instruction section (363, 138) that causes the police or a security company to be notified that the electric vehicle is a stolen vehicle and the current location of the electric vehicle when the lock instruction section performs the lock. Compatible device.

Claims

When an electric vehicle (1, 1c, 1d, 1e) charges its battery (11) from an external charger (3, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e), the electric vehicle is stolen. an identification information acquisition unit (301, 301d, 133) that acquires identification information for specifying whether or not the electric vehicle is a vehicle;
a theft identification unit (302, 134) that identifies whether the electric vehicle is a stolen vehicle using the identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition unit;
A theft countermeasure device comprising: a lock instruction unit (362, 362a, 362c, 137) that causes the electric vehicle to be locked to prevent driving operation of the electric vehicle based on the theft identification unit identifying the electric vehicle as a stolen vehicle; .
The theft prevention device according to claim 1,
The lock instruction unit (362, 362a) is a theft countermeasure device that locks the electric vehicle (1, 1d, 1e) so that it cannot be moved.
The theft prevention device according to claim 2,
A theft countermeasure device included in the charger (3, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d) or a server (4) communicably connected to the charger.
The theft prevention device according to claim 3,
The lock instruction unit (362) transmits a signal from the charger to the electric vehicle (1) to turn off a relay that disconnects the connection between the battery and the driving power source of the electric vehicle. A theft prevention device that locks the vehicle so that it cannot be moved.
The theft prevention device according to claim 2,
A theft countermeasure device included in the electric vehicle (1e).
The theft prevention device according to claim 2 or 5,
The electric vehicle (1, 1e) and the charger are connected to each other by a cable including a power line when charging the battery,
The lock instruction unit (362a, 137) prevents the electric vehicle from moving by continuing to operate a fixing mechanism that fixes the electric vehicle and the charger so that the connection via the cable cannot be released. Anti-theft device that locks the device.
The theft prevention device according to claim 6,
The lock instruction unit includes an emergency stop button (an emergency stop button) that forcibly releases the fixing mechanism before the charging of the battery is completed, based on the fact that the electric vehicle is identified as a stolen vehicle by the theft identification unit. 32) A theft countermeasure device that prevents the fixing mechanism from being released even if the locking mechanism is operated.
The theft prevention device according to claim 2 or 5,
The lock instruction unit (362c) prevents occupants from entering the electric vehicle even when the electric vehicle (1c) is identified as a stolen vehicle by the theft identification unit. A theft countermeasure device that locks the electric vehicle and locks the electric vehicle so that driving operations of the electric vehicle are not accepted after waiting until riding is detected.
The theft countermeasure device according to claim 8,
The electric vehicle is capable of autonomous driving to the destination,
A theft countermeasure device comprising a travel instruction unit (365) that causes the electric vehicle to automatically drive to a police station after locking the electric vehicle and locking the electric vehicle so as not to accept driving operations of the electric vehicle.
The theft prevention device according to claim 1,
A theft countermeasure device comprising a discharge instruction section (364) that causes the battery to be discharged when the lock instruction section causes the lock to be performed.
The theft prevention device according to claim 1,
a confirmation instruction unit (361, 135) that instructs a user terminal of a regular user of the electric vehicle to confirm whether or not the lock is accepted via a network;
an answer acquisition unit (303, 136) that acquires, via the network, an answer input regarding acceptance or disapproval of the lock, which is received by the user terminal;
The lock instruction unit is configured to control the operation of the electric vehicle when the theft identification unit identifies the electric vehicle as a stolen vehicle and the response acquisition unit acquires a response input that does not permit the lock. A theft countermeasure device that causes a lock that prevents an operation to be performed, but prevents the lock from being performed when the answer acquisition unit obtains a response input that permits the lock.
The theft countermeasure device according to claim 11,
The lock instruction unit is configured to control the driving operation of the electric vehicle when the theft identification unit identifies the electric vehicle as a stolen vehicle, even if the response acquisition unit cannot acquire the response input. A theft prevention device that locks the device only within a predetermined period of time.
The theft prevention device according to claim 1,
Theft includes a report instruction section (363, 138) that causes the police or a security company to be notified that the electric vehicle is a stolen vehicle and the current location of the electric vehicle when the lock instruction section performs the lock. Compatible device.
executed by at least one processor;
When an electric vehicle (1, 1c, 1d, 1e) charges its battery (11) from an external charger (3, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e), the electric vehicle is stolen. an identification information acquisition step of acquiring identification information for specifying whether or not from the electric vehicle;
a theft identification step of identifying whether the electric vehicle is a stolen vehicle using the identification information acquired in the identification information acquisition step;
A method for dealing with theft, including a step of instructing a lock that prevents driving of the electric vehicle based on the fact that the electric vehicle is identified as a stolen vehicle in the theft identification step.