Charge control device for electric vehicle

Abstract

To suppress the improper charging of charging fees to an owner of a vehicle parked in a parking space corresponding to a charging device.SOLUTION: A vehicle identification unit 30 identifies that a vehicle (electric vehicle Va) has parked in a parking space PSa indicated by a parking space ID on the basis of a captured image obtained from a camera 12 and the parking space ID. When a combination of the parking space ID for the parking space PSa and a number of the electric vehicle Va is included in reservation information, a charging control unit 32 turns a charging device 14a corresponding to the parking space PSa to an authenticated state. When a charging plug 16 of the charging device 14a in the authenticated state is connected to the electric vehicle, the charging control unit 32 causes the charging device 14a to execute charging processing. If the vehicle identification unit 30 does not receive a plug connection signal from the charging device 14a within a prescribed time after identifying that the electric vehicle Va has parked in the parking space PSa, the charging control unit 32 cancels the authentication of the charging device 14a.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This specification discloses an improvement of a charging control device for an electric vehicle.

Background Art

[0002] An electric vehicle is known as a vehicle that uses electricity as an energy source and can run with the driving force of a motor. Examples of electric vehicles include electric cars and hybrid cars.

[0003] Conventionally, a charging control device for an electric vehicle that controls charging of an electric vehicle has been proposed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a power control system capable of timer charging that starts charging an electric vehicle at a specified charging start time, and notifies a user if the charging plug is not connected to the electric vehicle a predetermined time before the charging start time. Patent Document 2 discloses a charging control device for an electric vehicle that controls charging of an electric vehicle, confirms the user's intention to charge the electric vehicle and the connection to the charging plug of the electric vehicle, and notifies the user if the user intends to charge the electric vehicle and the charging plug is not connected to the electric vehicle.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] By the way, conventionally, there has been a parking lot provided with a charging device for charging an electric vehicle corresponding to a parking space. Generally, the owner of an electric vehicle charges the electric vehicle after receiving authentication from the charging device using a charging authentication card. However, in order to enable the owner of the electric vehicle to charge more easily, a charging method called automatic authentication charging is proposed in this specification. Automatic authentication charging is a charging method as follows. First, user information in which the number of the electric vehicle and the billing destination of the charging fee (for example, the number of the credit card owned by the owner of the electric vehicle, etc.) are associated is registered in advance. Next, a computer such as a server identifies the number of the electric vehicle parked in the parking space based on the captured image obtained by a camera that captures the parking space. Then, when the identified number is the number registered in the user information, the computer permits charging from the charging device corresponding to the parking space. According to automatic authentication charging, the owner of the electric vehicle can charge the electric vehicle by the charging device corresponding to the parking space without using a charging authentication card just by parking the electric vehicle in a predetermined parking space. The charging fee at this time is billed to the billing destination registered in the user information.

[0006] In a charging device adopting automatic authentication charging, there may arise a problem that the charging fee may be improperly billed to the owner of the electric vehicle parked in the parking space corresponding to the charging device. Hereinafter, this problem will be described with reference to FIG. 6.

[0007] FIG. 6 is a plan view of a parking lot including a plurality of parking spaces PS1 and PS2, with a charging device CE1 corresponding to the parking space PS1 and a charging device CE2 corresponding to the parking space PS2 provided. First, an electric vehicle V1 having a number included in the registered user information parks in the parking space PS1. A server S that controls the charging devices CE1 and CE2 identifies the number of the electric vehicle V1 based on a captured image obtained by a camera that captures the parking space PS1. Since the number of the electric vehicle V1 is included in the registered user information, charging from the charging device CE1 corresponding to the parking space PS1 is permitted by the server S. In this specification, permitting charging to the charging device is expressed as the charging device being authenticated. Also, a state in which charging is permitted to the charging device is called an authenticated state. Here, the owner of the electric vehicle V1 may leave the parking lot without charging the electric vehicle V1 (for example, when the owner of the electric vehicle V1 uses the parking space PS1 simply as a parking lot). In this case, the charging device CE1 will be left in the authenticated state.

[0008] Thereafter, assume that another electric vehicle V2 parks in the parking space PS2 near the charging device CE1. In this case, the owner of the electric vehicle V2 can charge the electric vehicle V2 using the charging device CE1. Then, the charging fee related to the charging will be billed to the owner of the electric vehicle V1, that is, the billing destination associated with the number of the electric vehicle V1 parked in the parking space PS1 corresponding to the charging device CE1 in the user information.

[0009] The object of the charging control device for an electric vehicle disclosed in this specification is to prevent the charging fee from being improperly billed to the owner of the electric vehicle parked in the parking space corresponding to the charging device.

Means for Solving the Problem

[0010] The charging control device for an electric vehicle disclosed in this specification is capable of accessing a memory in which user information associating the number of the electric vehicle with information indicating the billing destination of the owner of the electric vehicle is registered, and based on a captured image obtained from a camera that captures a parking space, a vehicle identification unit that identifies that a vehicle has parked in the parking space and the number of the vehicle, and when the number of the vehicle identified by the vehicle identification unit is registered in the user information and a charging plug of a charging device provided corresponding to the parking space is connected to the electric vehicle, a charging control unit that causes the charging device to execute a charging process for charging the electric vehicle to which the charging plug is connected, and a billing processing unit that executes a billing process for billing the owner of the electric vehicle with the number identified by the vehicle identification unit for the charging fee related to the charging process based on the user information, wherein the charging control unit does not cause the charging device to execute the charging process even when the charging plug is connected to the electric vehicle after a predetermined time has elapsed since the vehicle identification unit identified that a vehicle has parked in the parking space.

[0011] The charging control device further includes an authentication unit that authenticates the owner of the electric vehicle, and the charging control unit may cause the charging device to execute the charging process in response to a request from the owner authenticated by the authentication unit even after the predetermined time has elapsed since the vehicle identification unit identified that a vehicle has parked in the parking space.

Advantages of the Invention

[0012] According to the charging control device for an electric vehicle disclosed in this specification, it is possible to suppress the improper billing of the charging fee to the owner of the electric vehicle parked in the parking space corresponding to the charging device.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0013]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0014] FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a charging control system 10 for an electric vehicle according to the present embodiment. The charging control system 10 includes a camera 12, a charging device 14, and a charging control server 18 as a charging control device for an electric vehicle. The camera 12 and the charging control server 18, and the charging device 14 and the charging control server 18 are communicably connected to each other.

[0015] Before explaining the charging control system 10, the parking lot P where the camera 12 and the charging device 14 are provided will be explained. Since the parking lot P according to the present embodiment is a parking lot for electric vehicles, the vehicles parked in the parking space PS are electric vehicles. The parking lot P includes a plurality of parking spaces PS. In FIG. 1, two adjacent parking spaces PSa and PSb are shown, but the parking lot P may be provided with a larger number of parking spaces PS. In the present embodiment, the parking lot P is a reservation system. A user who wants to use the parking lot P needs to register user information including a combination of the number of the electric vehicle owned by the user and information indicating the billing destination of the charging fee with the charging control server 18, and then make a reservation with the charging control server 18 in advance for a combination of a parking space PS and the number of the electric vehicle that wants to be parked in the parking space PS. The parking lot P can be used as a charging station for electric vehicles, but can also be used for simple parking rather than for charging purposes.

[0016] Camera 12 captures the parking space PS. When an electric vehicle is parked in the parking space PS, camera 12 will also capture the electric vehicle. Camera 12 associates the acquired captured image with a parking space ID that uniquely identifies the parking space PS to be captured and transmits it to the charging control server 18.

[0017] The charging device 14 is a device for charging an electric vehicle. Although not shown in FIG. 1, the charging device 14 has a charging plug 16 that is connected to the electric vehicle. The charging device 14 is provided corresponding to each parking space PS. In the example of FIG. 1, each charging device 14 is provided at the corner of each parking space PS. FIG. 1 shows a charging device 14a corresponding to the parking space PSa and a charging device 14b corresponding to the parking space PSb. As will be described in detail later, when the charging of the electric vehicle is permitted (i.e., the authentication state is set) by the charging control server 18 and the charging plug 16 is connected to the electric vehicle in the authentication state, the charging device 14 starts charging the electric vehicle according to the instructions of the charging control server 18.

[0018] FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the charging control server 18. The charging control server 18 is composed of, for example, a server computer, but may be any device as long as it exhibits the functions described below. Also, the functions of the charging control server 18 may be exhibited by a plurality of physically separated devices.

[0019] The communication interface 20 is composed of, for example, a network adapter or the like. The communication interface 20 exhibits the function of communicating with the camera 12 and the charging device 14.

[0020] The memory 22 is configured to include an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), an eMMC (embedded Multi Media Card), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), or the like. The memory 22 stores a charging control program for an electric vehicle for operating each part of the charging control server 18. Note that the charging control program can also be stored in a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory or an SD card, for example. The charging control server 18 can read and execute the charging control program from such a storage medium. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a user DB (DataBase) 24 and a reservation DB 26 are stored in the memory 22.

[0021] The user DB 24 stores user information regarding users who have registered with the charging control server 18. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the contents of the user DB 24. The user information stored in the user DB 24 is information in which a user ID that uniquely identifies a registered user, the number of an electric vehicle owned by the user, and information indicating the billing destination of the user are associated with each other. The billing destination of the user may be, for example, the number of a credit card.

[0022] The reservation DB 26 stores reservation information regarding the reservation of the parking space PS included in the parking lot P. FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the content of the reservation DB 26. The reservation information stored in the reservation DB 26 is information in which the number of the electric vehicle using the parking space PS and the parking space ID of the parking space are associated with each other. As shown in FIG. 4, it is preferable that information indicating the reservation time is further associated with the reservation information. A user registered in the charging control server 18 can make a reservation for using the parking space PS by transmitting this information to the charging control server 18 from his / her own user terminal (for example, a smartphone or a personal computer). When receiving a reservation request from the user, the processor 28 registers the reservation information in the reservation DB 26. Also, when the user finishes using the parking space PS related to the reservation information, or when the reservation time included in the reservation information has elapsed, the processor 28 deletes the reservation information from the reservation DB 26.

[0023] The processor 28 is composed of, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The processor 28 is communicably connected to the communication interface 20 and the memory 22 via a data bus. The processor 28 functions as a vehicle identification unit 30, a charging control unit 32, a billing processing unit 34, and an authentication unit 36 according to a vehicle charging control program stored in the memory 22.

[0024] The vehicle identification unit 30 identifies that a vehicle (in fact, an electric vehicle) has parked in the parking space PS indicated by the parking space ID based on the captured image acquired from the camera 12 and the parking space ID. The identification of the fact that a vehicle has parked in the parking space PS can be performed using known techniques (for example, an object determined to be a vehicle is detected within the parking space PS in the captured image, and the difference in the position of the object in the captured images acquired at different timings is equal to or less than a predetermined amount, etc.), so detailed description is omitted here. Also, the vehicle identification unit 30 identifies the number of the vehicle parked in the parking space PS. The identification of the vehicle number based on the captured image can also be performed using known techniques (for example, license plate detection processing and character detection processing, etc.), so detailed description is omitted here.

[0025] The charging control unit 32 performs processing to change the authentication state of the charging device 14 and controls the start and stop of charging from the charging device 14 to the electric vehicle. In the present embodiment, when the combination of the parking space ID acquired from the camera 12 and the number of the vehicle identified by the vehicle identification unit 30 is included in the reservation information stored in the reservation DB 26, the charging control unit 32 sets the charging device 14 corresponding to the parking space PS indicated by the parking space ID to the authenticated state. That is, when the electric vehicle related to the reservation parks in the reserved parking space PS, the charging control unit 32 sets the charging device 14 corresponding to the parking space PS to the authenticated state. As described above, since the reservation of the parking space PS can be made only by the users registered in the charging control server 18, the number of the electric vehicle included in the reservation information is the number of the electric vehicle included in the user information stored in the user DB 24. The charging control unit 32 holds in the memory 22 information for identifying the authentication state of each charging device 14.

[0026] When the reservation information includes information indicating the reservation time, if the combination of the parking space ID acquired from the camera 12 and the vehicle number identified by the vehicle identification unit 30 is included in the reservation information stored in the reservation DB 26, and when the time at which the vehicle identification unit 30 identifies that a vehicle has parked in the parking space PS is within the reservation time, the charging device 14 corresponding to the parking space PS indicated by the parking space ID may be set to the authenticated state.

[0027] When the charging plug 16 is connected to the electric vehicle, the charging device 14 transmits a plug connection signal indicating that the charging plug 16 is connected to the electric vehicle to the charging control server 18. When the charging control unit 32 receives the plug connection signal from the charging device 14, it determines whether the charging device 14 is in the authenticated state. If it is in the authenticated state, the charging control unit 32 causes the charging device 14 to perform a charging process for charging the electric vehicle. When the charging control unit 32 receives the plug connection signal from the charging device 14 and the charging device 14 is not in the authenticated state, the charging control unit 32 does not cause the charging device 14 to start the charging process for the electric vehicle.

[0028] After charging from the charging device 14 to the electric vehicle is started, when the power storage amount of the battery of the electric vehicle reaches a predetermined amount, or when an instruction to stop charging is input from the user to the charging device 14, the charging control unit 32 causes the charging device 14 to stop the charging process for the electric vehicle.

[0029] When the charging process from the charging device 14 to the electric vehicle according to the instruction of the charging control unit 32 is completed, the billing processing unit 34 specifies, based on the user DB 24, the billing destination associated with the vehicle number of the electric vehicle parked in the parking space PS corresponding to the charging device 14 for which the charging control unit 32 has executed the charging process. The billing destination is the billing destination of the owner of the electric vehicle parked in the parking space PS, whose number was identified by the vehicle identification unit 30. Then, the billing processing unit 34 executes a billing process for billing the specified billing destination for the charging fee related to the charging process.

[0030] Here, consider the case where the electric vehicle parked in the parking space PS and the electric vehicle with the charging plug 16 of the charging device 14 corresponding to the parking space PS connected thereto are different from each other. For example, referring to FIG. 1, assume that the combination of the parking space PSa and the number of the electric vehicle Va is included in the reservation information, and the electric vehicle Va is parked in the parking space PSa. In this case, the charging control unit 32 sets the charging device 14a corresponding to the parking space PSa to the authenticated state. In that state, if, for example, another electric vehicle Vb is parked in the parking space PSb and the owner of the electric vehicle Vb connects the charging plug 16 of the charging device 14a to the electric vehicle Vb, the charging control unit 32 causes the charging device 14a to execute a charging process for charging the electric vehicle Vb. Then, the billing processing unit 34 bills the owner of the electric vehicle Va for the charging fee related to the charging process.

[0031] In the present embodiment, in order to address the above problem, after a predetermined time has elapsed since the vehicle identification unit 30 identifies that a vehicle (electric vehicle Va) is parked in the parking space PSa, even if the charging plug 16 of the charging device 14a corresponding to the parking space PSa is connected to an electric vehicle, the charging control unit 32 does not cause the charging device 14a to execute a charging process. In the present embodiment, when the charging control unit 32 does not receive a plug connection signal from the charging device 14a within a predetermined time after the vehicle identification unit 30 identifies that the electric vehicle Va is parked in the parking space PSa, the charging control unit 32 releases the authentication of the charging device 14a.

[0032] As a result, after a predetermined time has elapsed since the electric vehicle Va was parked in the parking space PSa, even if the charging plug 16 of the charging device 14a is connected to another electric vehicle (for example, electric vehicle Vb), the charging device 14a will not execute a charging process. Therefore, it is suppressed that the owner of the electric vehicle Va is improperly billed for the charging fee.

[0033] The predetermined time here may be set as appropriate. Considering the case where the owner of the electric vehicle Va uses the charging device 14a to charge the electric vehicle Va through automatic authentication charging, for example, after parking the electric vehicle in the parking space PS, the time equivalent to the time required until the owner of the electric vehicle connects the charging plug 16 of the charging device 14 corresponding to the parking space PS to the electric vehicle may be set as the predetermined time.

[0034] After the elapse of the predetermined time since the electric vehicle Va is parked in the parking space PSa, the electric vehicle Va can no longer be charged from the charging device 14a by automatic authentication charging either. Therefore, after the elapse of the predetermined time since the electric vehicle Va is parked in the parking space PSa, it is preferable that the owner of the electric vehicle Va can charge the electric vehicle Va from the charging device 14a by using a charging application operating on the user terminal (such as a smartphone etc.) used by himself / herself.

[0035] Specifically, first, after the elapse of the predetermined time since the vehicle identification unit 30 of the electric vehicle Va identifies that the vehicle (electric vehicle Va) is parked in the parking space PSa, the owner of the electric vehicle Va uses the charging application to send an authentication request to the charging control server 18 while presenting the pre-registered user ID. The authentication unit 36 of the charging control server 18 refers to the user DB 24 to authenticate the owner of the electric vehicle Va. Next, the owner of the electric vehicle Va uses the charging application to send a charging permission request while designating the charging device 14a. The charging control unit 32 sets the charging device 14a to the authenticated state based on the charging permission request. Then, when the charging plug 16 of the charging device 14a is connected to the electric vehicle Va and the charging device 14a receives a plug connection signal, the charging control unit 32 causes the charging device 14a to execute a charging process for the electric vehicle Va. After the charging process from the charging device 14a to the electric vehicle Va is completed, the billing processing unit 34 executes a billing process for billing the charging fee related to the charging process to the billing destination associated with the user ID of the owner authenticated by the authentication unit 36 based on the user DB 24.

[0036] The outline of the charging control system 10 according to this embodiment is as above. Hereinafter, according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 5, the processing flow of the charging control server 18 according to this embodiment will be described. Here, the case where the electric vehicle Va is parked in the parking space PSa in FIG. 1 will be described as an example.

[0037] In step S10, based on the captured image acquired from the camera 12 and the parking space ID, the vehicle identification unit 30 identifies that a vehicle (in reality, the electric vehicle Va) is parked in the parking space PS (here, the parking space PSa) indicated by the parking space ID, and identifies the number of the vehicle.

[0038] In step S12, the charging control unit 32 determines whether or not the combination of the parking space ID of the parking space PSa acquired in step S10 and the number of the identified electric vehicle Va is included as reservation information in the reservation DB 26. If the combination of the parking space ID of the parking space PSa and the number of the electric vehicle Va is not included in the reservation information, the process ends. If it is included, the process proceeds to step S14.

[0039] In step S14, the charging control unit 32 sets the charging device 14a corresponding to the parking space PSa to the authenticated state.

[0040] In step S16, the charging control unit 32 determines whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the vehicle identification unit 30 identified in step S10 that a vehicle is parked in the parking space PSa. If the predetermined time has elapsed, the process proceeds to step S18.

[0041] In step S18, the charging control unit 32 releases the authentication of the charging device 14a. Thereafter, even if the charging plug 16 of the charging device 14a is connected to the electric vehicle, the charging device 14a will not charge the electric vehicle by automatic authentication charging.

[0042] If it is determined in step S16 that the predetermined time has not elapsed, the process proceeds to step S20.

[0043] In step S20, the charge control unit 32 determines whether it has received a plug connection signal from the charging device 14a. If the charging plug 16 of the charging device 14a is connected to the electric vehicle (here, the electric vehicle Va is assumed), and a plug connection signal from the charging device 14a is received, the process proceeds to step S22. If a plug connection signal is not received from the charging device 14a, the process returns to step S16.

[0044] In step S22, the charge control unit 32 determines whether the charging device 14a is in an authenticated state. Here, since it is in an authenticated state, the charging device 14a is made to execute a charging process for charging the electric vehicle Va.

[0045] In step S24, after the completion of the charging process in step S22, the billing processing unit 34 executes a billing process for billing the charging fee related to the charging process in step S22 to the billing destination associated with the number of the electric vehicle Va identified in step S10 in the user DB 24.

[0046] As described above, the embodiment of the charging control device for an electric vehicle according to the present disclosure has been described. However, the charging control device for an electric vehicle according to the present disclosure is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit thereof.

[0047] For example, in the above embodiment, the parking lot P is reservation-based, and when the parking space ID of the parking space PS and the number of the electric vehicle parked there are included in the reservation information, the charging device 14 corresponding to the parking space PS is set to an authenticated state. However, the parking lot P does not have to be reservation-based. In that case, when the number of the electric vehicle parked in the parking space PS is included in the user information stored in the user DB 24, the charging device 14 corresponding to the parking space PS may be set to an authenticated state.

[0048] Also, in the above embodiment, the charging device 14 and the charge control server 18 are separate devices, but the charging device 14 may be configured to perform the functions of the charge control server 18.

Description of Reference Numerals

[0049] 10 Charging control system, 12 Camera, 14 Charging device, 16 Charging plug, 18 Charging control server, 20 Communication interface, 22 Memory, 24 User DB, 26 Reservation DB, 28 Processor, 30 Vehicle identification unit, 32 Charging control unit, 34 Billing processing unit, 36 Authentication unit.

Claims

1. It is possible to access a memory in which user information is registered, in which the number of an electric vehicle is associated with information indicating the billing destination of the owner of the electric vehicle, a vehicle identification unit that identifies that a vehicle is parked in the parking space and the number of the vehicle based on a captured image obtained from a camera that captures the parking space, a charging control unit that causes the charging device to execute a charging process for charging the electric vehicle to which the charging plug is connected when the number of the vehicle identified by the vehicle identification unit is registered in the user information and the charging plug provided corresponding to the parking space is connected to the electric vehicle, a billing processing unit that executes a billing process for billing the owner of the electric vehicle with the number identified by the vehicle identification unit for the charging fee related to the charging process based on the user information, comprising: after a predetermined time has elapsed since the vehicle identification unit identifies that a vehicle is parked in the parking space, the charging control unit does not cause the charging device to execute the charging process even if the charging plug is connected to the electric vehicle, A charging control device for an electric vehicle, characterized in that.

2. an authentication unit that authenticates the owner of the electric vehicle, further comprising: after the predetermined time has elapsed since the vehicle identification unit identifies that a vehicle is parked in the parking space, the charging control unit causes the charging device to execute the charging process in response to a request from the owner authenticated by the authentication unit, The charging control device for an electric vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that.

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