Method and device for controlling an on-board vehicle sound system for broadcasting a warning signal

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for controlling an on-board sound system of a vehicle for broadcasting a warning signal in the vehicle's passenger compartment, said method being implemented by at least one processor, said method comprising the following steps: - decomposition (51) of the warning signal into a first audible sound signal and a second audible sound signal; - control (52) of the sound system to broadcast the first audible sound signal by a first sound signal broadcasting means of the sound system housed in the vehicle's passenger compartment; and - control (53) of the sound system to broadcast the second audible sound signal by a second sound signal broadcasting means of the sound system housed in the vehicle's passenger compartment, the first audible sound signal and the second audible signal being broadcast simultaneously. Figure for the abstract: Figure 5

Description

Title of the invention: Method and device for controlling an on-board sound rendering system of a vehicle for broadcasting an alert signal Technical field

[0001] The present invention relates to safety alerts on board a vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to the broadcasting of alerts inside a vehicle passenger compartment. Technological background

[0002] Sound rendering systems are known which are used to broadcast regulatory or non-regulatory alert signals inside the passenger compartment of a vehicle.

[0003] These sound rendering systems generally include loudspeakers through which sound signals can be broadcast, such as music for example. It is usual for alert signals to be broadcast on one of these loudspeakers.

[0004] However, when this loudspeaker is defective, the alert signals can no longer be broadcast. Summary of the present invention

[0005] An object of the present invention is to solve at least one of the problems of the technological background described above.

[0006] Another object of the present invention is to improve the diffusion of alert signals in the passenger compartment of a vehicle.

[0007] According to a first aspect, the present invention relates to a method for controlling an on-board sound rendering system of a vehicle for broadcasting an alert signal in a passenger compartment of the vehicle, said method being implemented by at least one processor, said method comprising the following steps: - decomposition of the alert signal into a first audible sound signal and a second audible sound signal; - control of the sound rendering system to broadcast the first audible sound signal by a first sound signal broadcasting means of the sound rendering system housed in the passenger compartment of the vehicle; and - controlling the sound rendering system to broadcast the second audible sound signal by a second sound signal broadcasting means of the sound rendering system housed in the passenger compartment of the vehicle, the first audible sound signal and the second audible signal being broadcast simultaneously.

[0008] Such a method broadcasts two sound signals which are degraded versions of an alert signal which is to be broadcast. When these two signal broadcasting means sound signal are functioning correctly, a vehicle user hears a warning signal composed of the superposition of the two sound signals. When one of the two sound signal broadcasting means is faulty, then a degraded version of the warning signal is always broadcast, thus allowing a user to hear the warning signal even if one of the two sound signal broadcasting means is faulty. The method therefore mitigates the failure of a sound signal broadcasting means intended to emit a warning signal and improves the operation of state-of-the-art warning signal rendering systems.

[0009] According to a particular and non-limiting exemplary embodiment, the alert signal is decomposed into a time domain.

[0010] According to a particular and non-limiting exemplary embodiment, the alert signal is periodic with a predetermined and fixed period and the period of the alert signal is divided into a first period and a second period, the first audible sound signal being a periodic signal with a period equal to the first period and the second audible sound signal being a periodic signal with a period equal to the second period.

[0011] According to a particular and non-limiting example of embodiment, the first period is equal to the second period.

[0012] According to a particular and non-limiting exemplary embodiment, the alert signal is decomposed in the frequency domain.

[0013] According to a particular and non-limiting exemplary embodiment, the alert signal is decomposed by applying a filter in the frequency domain.

[0014] According to a second aspect, the present invention relates to a device for controlling an on-board sound rendering system of a vehicle for broadcasting an alert signal in a passenger compartment of the vehicle, the device comprising a memory associated with a processor configured for implementing the steps of the method according to the first aspect of the present invention.

[0015] According to a third aspect, the present invention relates to a vehicle, for example of the automobile type, comprising a device as described above according to the second aspect of the present invention.

[0016] According to a fourth aspect, the present invention relates to a computer program which comprises instructions adapted for executing the steps of the method according to the first aspect of the present invention, in particular when the computer program is executed by at least one processor.

[0017] Such a computer program may use any programming language, and be in the form of source code, object code, or intermediate code between source code and object code, such as in a partially compiled form, or in any other desirable form.

[0018] According to a fifth aspect, the present invention relates to a support computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a computer program comprising instructions for carrying out the steps of the method according to the first aspect of the present invention.

[0019] On the one hand, the recording medium may be any entity or device capable of storing the program. For example, the medium may comprise a storage means, such as a ROM memory, a RAM memory, a CD-ROM or a microelectronic circuit type ROM memory, or a magnetic recording means or a hard disk.

[0020] Furthermore, this recording medium may also be a transmissible medium such as an electrical or optical signal, such a signal being able to be conveyed via an electrical or optical cable, by conventional or hertzian radio or by self-directed laser beam or by other means. The computer program according to the present invention may in particular be downloaded from an Internet-type network.

[0021] Alternatively, the recording medium may be an integrated circuit in which the computer program is incorporated, the integrated circuit being adapted to perform or to be used in performing the method in question. Brief description of the figures

[0022] Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will emerge from the description of the particular and non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the present invention below, with reference to the appended figures 1 to 5, in which:

[0023] [Fig-1] schematically illustrates a part of a vehicle interior, according to a particular and non-limiting example of embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] [Fig.2] illustrates an example of obtaining two audible sound signals from a periodic alert signal, according to a particular and non-limiting example embodiment;

[0025] [Fig.3] illustrates an example of obtaining two audible sound signals from a periodic alert signal, according to a particular and non-limiting example of embodiment;

[0026] [Fig.4] schematically illustrates a device configured to control an on-board sound rendering system of a vehicle for broadcasting an alert signal, according to a particular and non-limiting example of the present invention;

[0027] [Fig.5] illustrates a flowchart of the different steps of a method for controlling an on-board sound rendering system of a vehicle for broadcasting an alert signal, according to a particular and non-limiting exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Description of examples of implementation

[0028] A method and device for controlling an on-board sound rendering system of a vehicle for broadcasting an audible alert signal will now be described in the following with joint reference to figures 1 to 5. The same elements are identified with the same reference signs throughout the description which follows.

[0029] The terms "first(s)", "second(s)" (or "first(s)", "second(s)"), etc. are used in this document by arbitrary convention to enable different elements (such as operations, means, etc.) implemented in the embodiments described below to be identified and distinguished. Such elements may be distinct or correspond to a single element, depending on the embodiment.

[0030] According to a particular and non-limiting example of embodiment of the present invention, a sound rendering system on board a vehicle 10 is controlled to broadcast an alert signal. The alert signal is broken down into a first audible sound signal and a second audible sound signal. The first and second audible sound signals are degraded versions of the alert signal. These two audible sound signals are broadcast by separate sound signal broadcasting means, which allows the broadcasting of a degraded version of the alert signal when one of the two sound signal broadcasting means is faulty and a better quality version, close to the original version of the alert signal, when the two sound signal broadcasting means are functioning correctly.

[0031] The vehicle 10 corresponds for example to a vehicle with a thermal engine, with electric motor(s) or even a hybrid vehicle with a thermal engine and one or more electric motors. The vehicle 10 thus corresponds for example to a land vehicle, for example a car, a truck, a bus, a motorcycle. Finally, the vehicle 10 corresponds to an autonomous vehicle or not, that is to say a vehicle traveling according to a determined level of autonomy or under the total supervision of the driver.

[0032] [Fig. 1] schematically illustrates a part of a passenger compartment of the vehicle 10, according to a particular and non-limiting exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[0033] The vehicle 10 comprises a sound rendering system comprising a device 4 described in relation to [Fig.4], a first sound signal diffusion means 12 and a second sound signal diffusion means 13.

[0034] According to a particular and non-limiting exemplary embodiment, the first sound signal diffusion means 12 and / or the second sound diffusion means 13 is / are housed in a dashboard 11 of the vehicle 10.

[0035] For example, the first sound signal diffusion means 12 is housed in a part of the dashboard located near a steering wheel 14 and the second sound signal diffusion means 13 is housed in a part of the dashboard 11 located as far as possible from the first sound signal diffusion means 12.

[0036] According to a particular and non-limiting exemplary embodiment, the first sound signal diffusion means 12 and / or the second sound signal diffusion means 13 is / are housed in a door of the vehicle 10.

[0037] For example, the first sound signal diffusion means 12 is housed in the left front door of the vehicle 10 and the second sound signal diffusion means 13 is housed in a right front door of the vehicle 10 as illustrated in [Fig.l].

[0038] The present invention is not limited to a particular positioning of the first and second sound signal diffusion means 12 and 13 in the passenger compartment of the vehicle 10.

[0039] According to a particular and non-limiting exemplary embodiment, the first sound signal diffusion means 12 and / or the second sound signal diffusion means 13 comprises a loudspeaker.

[0040] According to a particular and non-limiting exemplary embodiment, the first sound signal diffusion means 12 and / or the second sound signal diffusion signal 13 comprises several loudspeakers located at different locations in the vehicle 10 such as, for example, on the dashboard 11, in one or more doors, in the floor, the ceiling, etc.

[0041] According to this example, all of the loudspeakers forming the first sound signal diffusion means diffuse the first audible sound signal and all of the loudspeakers forming the first sound signal diffusion means diffuse the second audible sound signal.

[0042] A process for controlling an on-board sound rendering system of a vehicle for broadcasting an alert signal in a passenger compartment of the vehicle 10 is advantageously implemented by one or more processors of a device on board the vehicle 10, such a device corresponding for example to a computer or a combination of computers of the vehicle 10, for example an IVI computer (from the English “In-Vehicle Infotainment” or in French “Infodivertissement monté”).

[0043] A warning signal is emitted by a computer of the vehicle 10 to signal, for example, a fault in a vehicle component. This warning signal is received by a device implementing the following process such as for example the device 4 described in relation to [Fig.4].

[0044] In a first operation, the device 4 decomposes the alert signal into a first audible sound signal and a second audible sound signal.

[0045] In a second operation, the device 4 controls the on-board sound rendering system of the vehicle 10 to broadcast the first audible sound signal by the first sound signal broadcasting means 12, and, in a third operation, to broadcast the second audible sound signal by the second signal broadcasting means 13. The first audible sound signal and the second audible signal are broadcast simultaneously.

[0046] According to a particular and non-limiting example, the alert signal is decomposed into a time domain.

[0047] According to a particular and non-limiting example, the alert signal is periodic with a predetermined and fixed period and the period of the sound signal is divided into a first period and a second period, the first signal being a periodic signal with a period equal to the first period and the second signal being a periodic signal with a period equal to the second period.

[0048] Figures 2 and 3 illustrate two examples of obtaining two audible sound signals from a periodic alert signal, according to a particular and non-limiting example embodiment.

[0049] In the example of [Fig.2], the alert signal is a gate signal comprising a low level and a high level. This gate signal may for example correspond to a bitonal signal, a sound signal 21 according to a first tone being broadcast for the duration of the low level by the first sound signal broadcasting means 12 and another sound signal 22 according to a second tone being broadcast by the second sound signal broadcasting means 22 for the duration of the high level.

[0050] In the example of [Fig.3], the alert signal is a sinusoidal signal formed of two successive lobes whose sum of durations is equal to the period of the alert signal. The first lobe 31 may correspond to the first audible sound signal and the second lobe 32 may correspond to the second audible sound signal.

[0051] According to a particular and non-limiting example, the first period is equal to the second period.

[0052] According to an exemplary and non-limiting embodiment, the first period is a multiple of the second period or conversely the second period is a multiple of the first period.

[0053] According to a particular and non-limiting example, the alert signal is decomposed in the frequency domain.

[0054] According to a particular and non-limiting example, the alert signal is decomposed by applying a filter in the frequency domain.

[0055] [Fig. 4] schematically illustrates a device 4 configured to control the on-board sound rendering system of the vehicle 10 for broadcasting an alert signal, according to a particular and non-limiting exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The device 4 corresponds for example to a device on board the vehicle 10, for example a computer.

[0056] According to a particular embodiment, the device 4 corresponds to a calculator such as for example the IVI calculator.

[0057] The device 4 is for example configured for the implementation of the operations described with regard to figures 1, 2 and 3 and / or the steps of the method described with regard to [Fig.5]. Examples of such a device 4 include, but are not limited to, on-board electronic equipment such as an on-board computer of a vehicle, an electronic calculator such as an ECU (“Electronic Control Unit”), a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop. The elements of the device 4, individually or in combination, can be integrated in a single integrated circuit, in several integrated circuits, and / or in discrete components. The device 4 can be produced in the form of electronic circuits or software (or computer) modules or even a combination of electronic circuits and software modules.

[0058] The device 4 comprises one (or more) processor(s) 40 configured to execute instructions for carrying out the steps of the method and / or for executing the instructions of the software(s) embedded in the device 4. The processor 40 may include integrated memory, an input / output interface, and various circuits known to those skilled in the art. The device 4 further comprises at least one memory 41 corresponding for example to a volatile and / or non-volatile memory and / or comprises a memory storage device which may comprise volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as EEPROM, ROM, PROM, RAM, DRAM, SRAM, flash, magnetic or optical disk.

[0059] The computer code of the embedded software(s) comprising the instructions to be loaded and executed by the processor is for example stored in the 4L memory.

[0060] According to various particular and non-limiting embodiments, the device 4 is coupled in communication with other similar devices or systems and / or with communication devices, for example a TCU (from the English “Telematic Control Unit” or in French “Telematic Control Unit”), for example via a communication bus or through dedicated input / output ports.

[0061] According to a particular and non-limiting exemplary embodiment, the device 4 comprises a block 42 of interface elements for communicating with external devices, for example a remote server or the “cloud” or a node of an ad hoc network. The interface elements of the block 42 comprise one or more of the following interfaces: - RF radio frequency interface, for example Wi-Fi® type (according to IEEE 802.11), for example in the 2.4 or 5 GHz frequency bands, or Bluetooth® type (according to IEEE 802.15.1), in the 2.4 GHz frequency band, or Sigfox type using UBN (Ultra Narrow Band) radio technology, or LoRa in the 868 MHz frequency band, LTE (LTE) “Long-Term Evolution” or in French “Evolution à long ternie”), LTE-Advanced (or in French LTE-avancé); - USB interface (from the English “Universal Serial Bus” or “Universal Serial Bus” in French); - HDMI interface (from the English “High Definition Multimedia Interface” or “High Definition Multimedia Interface” in French); - LIN interface (from the English “Local Interconnect Network”).

[0062] According to another particular and non-limiting exemplary embodiment, the device 4 comprises a communication interface 43 which makes it possible to establish communication with other devices (such as other computers of the on-board system) via a communication channel 44. The communication interface 43 corresponds for example to a transmitter configured to transmit and receive information and / or data via the communication channel 44. The communication interface 43 corresponds for example to a wired network of the CAN (from the English “Controller Area Network” or in French “Réseau de contrôles”) type, CAN FD (from the English “Controller Area Network Flexible Data-Rate” or in French “Réseau de contrôles à débit de données flexible”), FlexRay (standardized by the ISO 17458 standard) or Ethernet (standardized by the ISO / IEC 802-3 standard).

[0063] According to a particular and non-limiting exemplary embodiment, the device 4 can provide output signals to one or more external devices, such as a display screen 44, touch-sensitive or not, one or more speakers 45 and / or other peripherals 46 (projection system) via output interfaces 44, 45, 46 respectively. According to a variant, one or other of the external devices is integrated into the device 4.

[0064] [Fig. 5] illustrates a flowchart of the different steps of a method for controlling an on-board sound rendering system of a vehicle for broadcasting an alert signal, according to a particular and non-limiting example of the present invention. The method is for example implemented by a device on board the vehicle 10 or by the device 4 of [Fig. 4].

[0065] In a first step 51, an alert signal is broken down into a first audible sound signal and a second audible sound signal.

[0066] In a second step 52, the on-board sound rendering system of the vehicle 10 is controlled to broadcast the first audible sound signal by a first sound signal broadcasting means of the sound rendering system housed in the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

[0067] In a third step 53, the sound rendering system is controlled to broadcast the second audible sound signal by a second sound signal broadcasting means of the sound rendering system housed in the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

[0068] According to a variant, the variants and examples of the operations described in relation to figures 1 to 3 apply to the steps of the method of [Fig.5].

[0069] Of course, the present invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments described above but extends to a method for controlling an on-board sound rendering system of a vehicle for broadcasting an alert signal in a passenger compartment of the vehicle which would include secondary steps without thereby departing from the scope of the present invention. The same would apply to a device configured for implementing such a method.

[0070] The present invention also relates to a vehicle, for example an automobile or more generally an autonomous land-based motor vehicle, comprising the device 4 of [Fig.4].

Claims

Claims

1. Method for controlling an on-board sound rendering system of a vehicle for broadcasting an alert signal in a passenger compartment of the vehicle, said method being implemented by at least one processor, said method comprising the following steps: - decomposition (51) of the alert signal into a first audible sound signal and into a second audible sound signal; - control (52) of the sound rendering system to broadcast the first audible sound signal by a first sound signal broadcasting means of the sound rendering system housed in the passenger compartment of the vehicle; and - control (53) of the sound rendering system to broadcast the second audible sound signal by a second sound signal broadcasting means of the sound rendering system housed in the passenger compartment of the vehicle, the first audible sound signal and the second audible signal being broadcast simultaneously.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert signal is decomposed into a time domain.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the alert signal is periodic of predetermined and fixed period and the period of the alert signal is divided into a first period and a second period, the first audible sound signal being a periodic signal of period equal to the first period and the second audible sound signal being a periodic signal of period equal to the second period.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first period is equal to the second period.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert signal is decomposed into the frequency domain.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the alert signal is decomposed by applying a filter in the frequency domain.

7. Device (4) for controlling an on-board sound rendering system of a vehicle for broadcasting an alert signal in a passenger compartment of the vehicle, said device (4) comprising a memory (41) associated with at least one processor (40) configured for implementing the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

8.

9. Vehicle (10) comprising a device according to claim 7. Computer program comprising instructions for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6,

10. when these instructions are executed by a processor. A computer-readable recording medium on which is recorded a computer program comprising instructions for executing the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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