Vehicle height control system

Abstract

To provide a vehicle height control system that can adjust a vehicle height to reduce burdens of taking in and out baggage.SOLUTION: A vehicle height control system comprises a control part 16 that controls a vehicle height, a back-door opening / closing sensing part 18 that senses opening and closing of a back door 14 of a vehicle 12, and a user sensing part 20 that senses a user outside the vehicle. The control part 16 receives information from the back-door opening / closing sensing part 18 and the user sensing part 20, and when the back door 14 is opened and when the user is in the vicinity of the vehicle 12, controls the vehicle height.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle height control system.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, a vehicle height control device is known that arranges an actuator between a wheel and a vehicle body to control the vehicle height to an appropriate desired value. There is also a vehicle having a back door at the rear, and the height of the tip of the back door (i.e., the open position) when the back door is opened changes depending on the vehicle height at that time. In such a vehicle, if the open position of the back door is too low, it may interfere with loading and unloading of luggage, and if it is too high, it may be difficult to reach the back door.

[0003] Patent Document 1 discloses a motor vehicle with a back door that controls to change the height of the back door. This motor vehicle with a back door includes a vehicle height control device that controls the vehicle height and an open position control device that controls the open position of the back door in response to the vehicle height control by the vehicle height control device. With this configuration, it is said that when the height position of the back door with respect to the road surface changes due to a change in the vehicle height by vehicle height control, the inconvenience caused by changing the open position of the back door can be reduced.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] Incidentally, when a user loads and unloads luggage, if the luggage compartment is high, it may be inconvenient to load and unload. In Patent Document 1, the opening position of the back door is controlled according to the vehicle height, but there is no idea of controlling the vehicle height in consideration of loading and unloading luggage. Therefore, in this specification, a vehicle height control system is realized that controls the vehicle height so that it is easy to load and unload luggage.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The vehicle height control system disclosed in this specification includes a control unit that controls the vehicle height, a back door opening / closing detection unit that detects the opening and closing of the back door of the vehicle, and a user detection unit that detects a user outside the vehicle. The control unit receives information from the back door opening / closing detection unit and the user detection unit, and controls the vehicle height when the back door is opened and the user is around the vehicle.

[0007] According to the above configuration, regardless of the user's operation, the opening and closing of the back door of the vehicle and whether there is a user outside the vehicle are detected, and the vehicle height is controlled according to the detection result. By adjusting the vehicle height, the burden of loading and unloading the user's luggage can be reduced.

[0008] Further, when the control unit determines from the information received from the back door opening / closing detection unit that the back door has been closed from the open state, the control unit controls the vehicle height to return to the initial position.

[0009] According to the above configuration, in response to the closing operation of the back door, the vehicle height can be returned to the initial position from the lowered or raised state.

[0010] Further, the control unit registers user information, and when the registered user is detected by the user detection unit, determines the vehicle height corresponding to the registered user from the user information, and adjusts the vehicle height.

[0011] According to the above configuration, instead of uniformly changing the vehicle height to a certain height, it is adjusted according to the pre-registered user. As a result, the vehicle height can be made more in line with the user's preference.

Effect of the Invention

[0012] According to the vehicle height control system disclosed in this specification, by adjusting the vehicle height, the burden of loading and unloading luggage can be reduced.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0013]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0014] Hereinafter, the vehicle height control system will be described with reference to the drawings. In the embodiment, the vehicle height control system will be described as being mounted on a vehicle, but it is not limited thereto. For example, a part of the vehicle height control system may be installed in a vehicle management center outside the vehicle, or may be constructed on the cloud.

[0015] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the vehicle height control system. The vehicle height control system 10 is a system that controls the vehicle height of the vehicle 12. A back door 14 is installed at the rear of the vehicle 12. This back door 14 is a power back door whose back door is opened and closed by an actuator. In addition, the vehicle 12 in this example is equipped with an air suspension system that adjusts the height of the vehicle body with air springs (that is, suspensions) and alleviates the impact during driving due to unevenness on the road surface.

[0016] As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle height control system 10 includes a control unit 16, a back door opening / closing detection unit 18, and a user detection unit 20. The control unit 16 is an electronic control unit having at least a CPU that performs various arithmetic processes and a memory in which control programs and data are stored. The control unit 16 controls a communication unit (not shown) provided outside or in the vehicle height control system 10 to exchange data with various systems provided in the vehicle height control system 10 and the vehicle 12. Further, the control unit 16 controls the vehicle height and also controls the operations of the respective parts mounted on the vehicle 12. As an example, the control unit 16 controls the operation of a vehicle height adjustment unit 22 mounted on the vehicle 12. By the control of the control unit 16, the vehicle height adjustment unit 22 controls the air suspension system to adjust the vehicle height of the vehicle 12.

[0017] The back door opening / closing detection unit 18 detects the opening and closing of the back door 14. Further, the user detection unit 20 detects a user outside the vehicle. Various sensors 24 are provided on the vehicle 12, and signals detected by these various sensors 24 are transmitted to the vehicle height control system 10. The back door opening / closing detection unit 18 and the user detection unit 20 each receive information transmitted from the various sensors 24. For example, the information detected by the user detection unit 20 is information of a signal from an electronic key held by a user registered in advance as a user of the vehicle 12. This electronic key is a known electronic key that wirelessly communicates with the vehicle height control system 10, and is, for example, a smart key or a smartphone. When this electronic key is outside the vehicle 12 and within a preset range, the user detection unit 20 detects that the user is outside the vehicle 12 and is in the vicinity.

[0018] The control unit 16 receives information from the back door opening / closing detection unit 18 and the user detection unit 20. Then, when the control unit 16 determines that the back door 14 has been opened and that a registered user is in the vicinity of the vehicle 12, the control unit 16 operates the vehicle height adjustment unit 22 to control the vehicle height.

[0019] In addition, the memory of the control unit 16 may hold information of users registered in advance as users of the vehicle 12. For example, when the height of the registered user is low, it may be inconvenient when loading and unloading luggage from the cargo bed. Therefore, the control unit 16 causes the memory to hold, as information of this registered user, information that "the appropriate vehicle height for this user is the height lowered by several steps from the initial position". By using the information of the registered user in this way in advance, when the registered user is detected by the user detection unit 20, the control unit 16 determines an appropriate vehicle height and can adjust it to an appropriate vehicle height for each user (in other words, a vehicle height that suits the preference of each user).

[0020] Next, with reference to FIG. 2, the control of the vehicle height control system 10 performed by the control unit 16 will be further described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing performed by the vehicle height control system. In the vehicle height control system 10, for example, the vehicle height is not adjusted triggered by a user performing some operation. Instead or in addition, when the vehicle height control system 10 determines that the vehicle height needs to be controlled, the vehicle height is automatically adjusted. In this example, a series of processes are executed triggered by the back door 14 being opened.

[0021] First, the control unit 16 determines whether the back door 14 has been opened based on the information received from the back door open / close detection unit 18 (S10). If the back door 14 has not been opened (No in S10), the control unit 16 does not perform any particular control (S20). On the other hand, if the back door 14 has been opened (Yes in S10), the process proceeds to S12. Subsequently, the control unit 16 determines whether there is a pre-registered user outside the vehicle based on the information received from the user detection unit 20 (S12). If no user is detected outside the vehicle (No in S12), the control unit 16 does not perform any particular control (S20). On the other hand, when a user outside the vehicle is detected (Yes in S12), the control unit 16 operates the vehicle height adjustment unit 22 to adjust the vehicle height of the vehicle 12 (S14). Here, the control unit 16 lowers the vehicle height so that the user can load luggage. Next, the control unit 16 determines whether the back door 14 has been closed based on the information received from the back door open / close detection unit 18 (S16). If the back door 14 has not been closed (No in S16), the control unit 16 does not perform any particular control (S20). On the other hand, when the back door 14 has been closed (Yes in S16), the control unit 16 operates the vehicle height adjustment unit 22 to adjust the vehicle height of the vehicle 12 (S18). Specifically, when the back door 14 has been closed, it can be determined that the loading and unloading work of the luggage is completed, so the control unit 16 returns the vehicle height to the initial position.

[0022] Through the above series of processes, regardless of the user's operation regarding the vehicle height, the opening and closing of the back door 14 and whether there is a user outside the vehicle are detected, and the vehicle height is controlled according to the detection results. By adjusting the vehicle height in this way, the burden of loading and unloading the user's luggage can be reduced. Also, in response to the closing operation of the back door 14, the vehicle height can be returned to the initial position from the state where it was lowered or raised. As a result, when the user completes loading and unloading the luggage and drives the vehicle 12, a situation where the vehicle height is too low or too high for driving can be avoided.

[0023] Note that the above description is just an example. In the vehicle height control system disclosed in this specification, the control unit may receive information from the back door opening / closing detection unit and the user detection unit, and control the vehicle height when the back door is opened and the user is near the vehicle. Therefore, other configurations may be changed as appropriate. For example, in the vehicle height control system disclosed in this specification, as long as the vehicle height can be adjusted, the type of the back door is not particularly limited. The back door 14 of the vehicle 12 according to the embodiment is a flip-up type back door, but it is not limited to this, and it may be a side-opening type back door or a double-opening type back door.

[0024] Also, for example, the vehicle height control system may further include an estimation means. When the back door is opened after the user gets out of the vehicle, this estimation means estimates that the user is unloading luggage from the luggage compartment. On the other hand, when the user comes from the outside (in other words, if it is not after the vehicle has traveled), this estimation means estimates that the user is loading luggage into the luggage compartment. Then, the control unit may adjust whether to raise or lower the vehicle height based on the information from this estimation means.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0025] 10 Vehicle height control system, 12 Vehicle, 14 Back door, 16 Control unit, 18 Back door opening / closing detection unit, 20 User detection unit, 22 Vehicle height adjustment unit, 24 Various sensors.

Claims

1. A control unit for controlling the vehicle height, A back door opening / closing detection unit for detecting the opening and closing of the back door of the vehicle, A user detection unit for detecting a user outside the vehicle, comprising: The control unit receives information from the back door opening / closing detection unit and the user detection unit, and controls the vehicle height when the back door is opened and the user is around the vehicle. A vehicle height control system characterized by the above.

2. When the control unit determines from the information received from the back door opening / closing detection unit that the back door has been closed from the open state, it controls to return the vehicle height to the initial position. The vehicle height control system according to Claim 1, characterized by the above.

3. The control unit registers user information, when the registered user is detected by the user detection unit, determines the vehicle height corresponding to the registered user from the user information, and adjusts the vehicle height. The vehicle height control system according to Claim 1, characterized by the above.

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