System

Abstract

To enable a user to appropriately control the interior environment of a vehicle without taking out a terminal device in a system that controls the interior environment of the vehicle from the outside of the vehicle.SOLUTION: In a system, a terminal device that can communicate with a vehicle includes: an acquisition unit which acquires biological information of a user who uses the vehicle and interior environment information of the vehicle; a proposal unit which proposes adjustment of the interior environment of the vehicle to the user with the voice on the basis of the biological information and interior environment information; and a vehicle control unit which controls the interior environment of the vehicle according to the user's response contents to the proposal.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a system for controlling an interior environment of a vehicle from outside the vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art There is known a vehicle air conditioning system that automatically controls the air conditioning of a vehicle so that the temperature inside the vehicle quickly reaches a comfortable temperature (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-066359 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, when adjusting the temperature inside the vehicle from outside the vehicle, the user needs to take out a terminal device such as a smartphone. In addition, in the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is not possible to control the inside environment of the vehicle by utilizing inside environment information including odor information, for example.

[0005] One embodiment of the present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and in a system that controls the in-vehicle environment of a vehicle from outside the vehicle, enables a user to appropriately control the in-vehicle environment of the vehicle without taking out a terminal device. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above problems, a system according to one embodiment of the present invention has a terminal device capable of communicating with a vehicle, which includes an acquisition unit that acquires biometric information of a user using the vehicle and in-vehicle environment information of the vehicle, a suggestion unit that audio-suggests adjustments to the vehicle's in-vehicle environment to the user based on the biometric information and the in-vehicle environment information, and a vehicle control unit that controls the vehicle's in-vehicle environment in accordance with the user's response to the suggestion. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in a system for controlling the interior environment of a vehicle from outside the vehicle, a user can appropriately control the interior environment of the vehicle without taking out a terminal device. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process of a control unit according to the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Hereinafter, the present embodiment (the embodiment of the present invention) will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0010] <System configuration> Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a system according to this embodiment. The system 1 is a system that controls the in-vehicle environment of a vehicle 20 from outside the vehicle 20. In the example of Fig. 1, the system 1 includes a wearable terminal 11 worn by a user 10, a terminal device 100 carried by the user 10, and a vehicle 20 used by the user.

[0011] The wearable terminal 11 is a smart device that acquires biological information of the user 10 and transmits the acquired biological information by wireless communication to the terminal device 100. For example, the wearable terminal 11 acquires biological information such as the user's body temperature and heart rate (or pulse rate) and transmits it to the terminal device 100.

[0012] As a suitable example, the wearable terminal 11 is an earphone-type hearable device equipped with a microphone, earphone functions, and various sensors. However, the wearable terminal 11 is not limited to this, and may be, for example, a combination of a smart watch worn by the user 10 and a wireless earphone with a microphone. Here, the following description will be given assuming that the wearable terminal 11 is a hearable device.

[0013] The terminal device 100 is a smart device such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal carried by the user 10. The terminal device 100 is capable of communicating with the wearable terminal 11 and the vehicle 20 via wireless communication. For example, the terminal device 100 is capable of communicating with the wearable terminal 11 and the vehicle 20 via a wireless communication method such as short-range wireless communication or a wireless LAN (Local Area Network). However, the terminal device 100 may be capable of communicating with the wearable terminal 11 and the vehicle 20 via another wireless communication method.

[0014] The terminal device 100 has a control unit 110 having the configuration of a computer, and by executing a predetermined program in the control unit 110, it realizes an acquisition unit 111, a decision unit 112, a proposal unit 113, a vehicle control unit 114, etc.

[0015] The acquisition unit 111 executes an acquisition process to acquire biometric information (eg, body temperature, heart rate, etc.) of the user 10 using the vehicle 20, and in-vehicle environmental information (eg, temperature information, odor information, etc.) of the vehicle 20.

[0016] The determination unit 112 determines the adjustment level of the in-vehicle environment to be proposed to the user 10, based on the biometric information of the user 10 and the in-vehicle environment information of the vehicle 20 acquired by the acquisition unit 111. As an example, the determination unit 112 determines the adjustment level to be proposed to the user 10 from the following levels 1 to 5. Level 5: Strong cooling. ~Suggest to the user, "Would you like to turn on the air conditioner (cooling) at the specified temperature setting (low)?" · Level 4: Medium cooling. ~Suggest to the user, "Would you like to turn on the air conditioner (cooling) at the specified temperature setting (medium)?" or "Would you like to open a window?" Level 3: Medium or unusual odor. ~Suggest to the user, "Would you like to open the window?" · Level 2: Medium heating. ~Suggest to the user, "Would you like to turn on the air conditioner (heating) at the specified temperature setting?" Level 1: Strong heating ~ Propose to the user, "Would you like to turn on the air conditioner (heating) at the specified temperature setting, and turn on the seat heater and steering heater?" (However, the seat heater and steering heater are only turned on if the vehicle 20 is equipped with the relevant equipment.) For example, the determination unit 112 may pre-store correspondence information that associates the biometric information of the user 10, the in-vehicle environment information of the vehicle 20, and adjustment levels 1 to 5, and acquire the adjustment level that corresponds to the acquired biometric information and in-vehicle environment information from the correspondence information.

[0017] Alternatively, the determination unit 112 may determine the adjustment level by inputting the acquired biometric information and in-vehicle environment information into a machine learning model that has been pre-trained to output an appropriate adjustment level using the biometric information of the user 10 and the in-vehicle environment of the vehicle 20 as input data.

[0018] The suggestion unit 113 executes a suggestion process of suggesting to the user by voice an adjustment of the in-vehicle environment of the vehicle 20 based on the biometric information of the user 10 and the in-vehicle environment information of the vehicle 20. For example, the suggestion unit 113 outputs a voice message corresponding to the adjustment level determined by the determination unit 112 to the user using the wearable terminal 11 or the like.

[0019] As another example, the suggestion unit 113 may transmit biometric information of the user 10 and in-vehicle environment information of the vehicle 20 to a server device or the like having the above-mentioned machine learning model, and output to the user a voice message corresponding to the adjustment level received from the server device.

[0020] The vehicle control unit 114 executes a vehicle control process for controlling the in-vehicle environment of the vehicle 20 according to the content of the response of the user 10 to the proposal of the proposal unit 113. For example, when the user 10 utters a positive utterance such as "yes," "YES," or "OK" in response to a voice message corresponding to an adjustment level output by the proposal unit 113, the vehicle control unit 114 operates a designated device (e.g., air conditioner, windows, etc.) of the vehicle 20. On the other hand, when the user 10 utters a negative utterance such as "no," "NO," etc., the vehicle control unit 114 does not control the vehicle 20.

[0021] The vehicle 20 is a vehicle such as an automobile used by the user 10, and is equipped with, for example, a temperature measuring device 21 that measures the temperature inside the vehicle, and an odor sensor 22 that detects odors inside the vehicle. The vehicle 20 is also capable of wireless communication with a terminal device 100 carried by the user 10, and has a function of transmitting temperature information measured by the temperature measuring device 21 and odor information measured by the odor sensor 22 to the terminal device 100. The vehicle 20 also has a function of controlling predetermined devices (e.g., air conditioners, windows, etc.) equipped in the vehicle 20 in response to control from the terminal device 100.

[0022] <Processing flow> Next, the flow of the method for controlling the in-vehicle environment according to this embodiment will be described.

[0023] Fig. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of processing by the control unit according to the present embodiment. This processing shows an example of processing executed by the control unit 110 having the functional configurations described in Fig. 1. It is assumed that the terminal device 100 is already connected to the wearable terminal 11 so as to be able to communicate with them at the start of the processing shown in Fig. 2.

[0024] In step S201, when the terminal device 100 connects to the vehicle 20 through a predetermined wireless communication, the terminal device 100 executes the processes in step S202 and thereafter.

[0025] In step S202, the acquisition unit 111 collects biometric information of the user 10, temperature information and odor information of the vehicle 20, and vehicle equipment information of the vehicle 20. For example, the acquisition unit 111 acquires biometric information such as the user's body temperature and heart rate (or pulse rate) from the wearable terminal 11. The acquisition unit 111 also acquires in-vehicle environment information such as temperature information and odor information of the vehicle 20 from the vehicle 20. Furthermore, the acquisition unit 111 acquires vehicle equipment information from the vehicle 20, which is information on equipment (e.g., seat heater, steering heater, etc.) equipped in the vehicle 20. The acquisition unit 111 may acquire the already acquired vehicle equipment information of the vehicle 20 from a storage device or the like equipped in the terminal device 100.

[0026] In step S203, if the vehicle 20 is in a parked state, the determination unit 112 determines a temperature adjustment level inside the vehicle 20 based on the collected information. For example, the determination unit 112 determines a temperature adjustment level (levels 1 to 5) inside the vehicle 20 based on the collected biometric information of the user 10 and the in-vehicle environment information of the vehicle 20.

[0027] In step S204, the suggestion unit 113 suggests adjustment of the in-vehicle environment to the user 10 based on the determined temperature adjustment level. For example, the suggestion unit 113 causes the wearable terminal 11 or the like to output the above-mentioned suggestion contents corresponding to levels 1 to 5 as voice messages.

[0028] Preferably, the suggestion unit 113 changes the content of the suggestion to be suggested to the user 10 in accordance with the vehicle equipment information acquired by the acquisition unit 111. For example, in the case where the vehicle 20 does not have a steering heater, the suggestion content of the above-mentioned level 1 is changed to "Would you like to turn on the air conditioner (heating) at a specified temperature setting and turn on the seat heater?"

[0029] In step S205, the vehicle control unit 114 determines whether or not a positive response, such as "YES", "OK", or the like, has been received from the user 10. If a positive response has been received, the vehicle control unit 114 transitions the process to step S206. On the other hand, if a positive response has not been received (if a negative response, such as "NO", "NO", or the like, has been received, or if a positive response has not been received within a predetermined time), the vehicle control unit 114 ends the process of FIG. 2.

[0030] Preferably, the wearable terminal 11 has a biometric authentication function for authenticating the user 10 wearing the wearable terminal 11, and limits users who can operate the vehicle 20 to those users 10 who have passed the biometric authentication. If the wearable terminal 11 is a hearable device, the wearable terminal 11 can authenticate the user 10 by known ear acoustic authentication or the like.

[0031] In step S206, the vehicle control unit 114 operates designated devices (eg, air conditioner, windows, etc.) in the vehicle 20 in accordance with the proposed content.

[0032] In step S207, when the stop condition is met (for example, when a predetermined time has elapsed, etc.), the vehicle control unit 114 notifies the user that the device will be stopped, and stops the operated device. Note that when the temperature adjustment level inside the vehicle 20 is the above-mentioned level 3, the windows may be left open.

[0033] 2, in the system 1 that controls the in-vehicle environment of the vehicle 20 from outside the vehicle 20, the user 10 can appropriately control the in-vehicle environment of the vehicle 20 without taking out the terminal device 100.

[0034] 1 is an example. For example, the control unit 110 may be included in the wearable terminal 11. In this case, the wearable terminal 11 realizes an acquisition unit 111, a determination unit 112, a proposal unit 113, a vehicle control unit 114, and the like by executing a predetermined program in the control unit 110. In this case, the wearable terminal 11 is another example of a terminal device according to the present embodiment.

[0035] In addition, the interior environment information of the vehicle 20 acquired by the acquisition unit 111 is not limited to temperature information and odor information, and may include other environmental information, such as humidity information, carbon dioxide concentration information, etc. In addition, the devices controlled by the vehicle control unit 114 are not limited to air conditioners and windows, and may include other devices, such as a ventilation device or an air purifier.

[0036] As described above, according to this embodiment, in the system 1 that controls the in-vehicle environment of the vehicle 20 from outside the vehicle 20, the user 10 can appropriately control the in-vehicle environment of the vehicle 20 without taking out the terminal device 100.

[0037] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications, changes, or applications are possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0038] 1 System 10 users 11 Wearable devices 20 Vehicles 21 Temperature measuring device 22 Odor Sensor 100 Terminal Equipment 110 Control section 111 Acquisition Department 112 Decision Section 113 Proposal Department 114 Vehicle control unit

Claims

[Claim 1] A terminal device capable of communicating with a vehicle, an acquisition unit that acquires biometric information of a user who uses the vehicle and in-vehicle environment information of the vehicle; a suggestion unit that suggests to the user by voice an adjustment of the in-vehicle environment of the vehicle based on the biological information and the in-vehicle environment information; A vehicle control unit that controls an interior environment of the vehicle in response to a response of the user to the suggestion; The system has:

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