Vehicle air conditioner control system

Abstract

The present invention provides a vehicle air conditioner control device that can direct airflow to a desired location. [Solution] This vehicle air conditioner control device includes a control unit that performs a selection process to identify a part of the occupant's body to be blown with air, based on an image of the occupant inside the vehicle taken by a camera, and a wind direction control process that controls the wind direction to blow air towards the identified part, following the movement of the occupant's body in the image.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioner control device.

Background Art

[0002] Vehicles are equipped with vehicle air conditioners so that passengers can comfortably spend time in the vehicle interior. In Patent Document 1, a technique has been proposed in which an image indicating a blowable area is displayed on a display, and a part to be the blowing target is specified by a touch operation on the image.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] In a vehicle, a display is often provided on a dashboard. When a touch operation is performed on such a display, the passenger has to lean forward or tilt the body left and right. Therefore, when the passenger returns to the posture before the touch operation after specifying the part to be the blowing target by the touch operation, the position of the passenger's body is different from that at the time of the touch operation, and the air may be blown to an unintended part.

[0005] One aspect of the disclosed technology aims to provide a vehicle air conditioner control device that can direct air toward a desired part.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] One aspect of the disclosed technology is exemplified by a vehicle air conditioner control device, which includes a control unit that performs an identification process to identify a part of the occupant's body to be blown air onto, based on an image of the occupant in the vehicle interior taken by a camera, and an airflow direction control process that controls the airflow direction to blow air onto the identified part, following the movement of the occupant's body in the image. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to the disclosed technology, air can be directed to a desired area. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1] Figure 1 shows an example of a vehicle according to this embodiment. [Figure 2] Figure 2 shows an example of the hardware configuration of the control device and air conditioner according to the embodiment. [Figure 3] Figure 3 shows an example of a processing block for a control device. [Figure 4] Figure 4 shows an example of a guidance screen output by the output unit in this embodiment. [Figure 5] Figure 5 shows an example of the processing flow of the control device according to the embodiment. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] <Embodiment> The embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings. Figure 1 is a diagram showing an example of a vehicle 100 according to the embodiment. Figure 1 is a view of the vehicle 100 from above. Also, in order to explain the interior of the vehicle 100, the ceiling is not shown in Figure 1. The vehicle 100 is, for example, a passenger It is a vehicle. Vehicle 100 is equipped with tires 80, 80, 80, and 80.

[0010] Vehicle 100 is equipped with the following seats for occupants: a driver's seat 1, a passenger seat 2, a right rear seat 3, a center rear seat 4, and a left rear seat 5. The driver's seat 1 and passenger seat 2 are arranged in a row along the width of the vehicle 100. The right rear seat 3, center rear seat 4, and left rear seat 5 are also arranged in a row along the width of the vehicle 100, behind the driver's seat 1 and passenger seat 2. A dashboard 10 is located in front of the driver's seat 1 and passenger seat 2. A steering wheel 20 is located in front of the driver's seat 1. Vehicle 100 is also equipped with the following doors 50 for entry and exit: a right front door 51, a left front door 52, a right rear door 53, and a left rear door 54. The right front door 51 is located to the right of the driver's seat 1. The left front door 52 is located to the left of the passenger seat 2. The right rear door 53 is located to the right of the right rear seat 3. The left rear door 54 is located to the left of the left rear seat 6.

[0011] The dashboard 10 includes a display 30, a camera 40, and an air vent 60. The display 30 is, for example, a liquid crystal display. The camera 40 is, for example, a thermal imaging camera for photographing the occupants of the vehicle 100. The camera 40 is positioned, for example, approximately in the center of the width of the dashboard 10. By positioning the camera 40 approximately in the center of the width of the dashboard 10, it becomes easy to photograph the occupants inside the vehicle 100 with the camera 40. The camera 40, being a thermal imaging camera, outputs a thermal image showing the heat distribution. The air vent 60 blows air from the air conditioner installed in the vehicle 100 into the vehicle interior. The air vent 60 has louvers 650 that change the direction of the airflow.

[0012] The air vents 60 include a right air vent 61, a center right air vent 62, a center left air vent 63, and a left air vent 64. The right air vent 61 has a louver 651. The center right air vent 62 has a louver 652. The center left air vent 63 has a louver 653. The left air vent 64 has a louver 654. Air from the right air vent 61 and the center right air vent 62 is blown out, for example, towards an occupant seated in the driver's seat 1. Air from the center left air vent 63 and the left air vent 64 is blown out, for example, towards an occupant seated in the passenger seat 2. In Figure 1, air vents 60 for occupants seated in the driver's seat 1 and passenger seat 2 are located inside the vehicle 100. However, additional air vents for occupants seated in the right rear seat 3, the center rear seat 4, and the left rear seat 5 may also be located inside the vehicle 100.

[0013] <Hardware configuration of control unit 200 and air conditioner 220> Figure 2 shows an example of the hardware configuration of a control device 200 and an air conditioner 220 according to an embodiment. The control device 200 includes a CPU 21, a main memory unit 22, an auxiliary memory unit 23, a drive unit 24, a connection unit 25, and a connection bus B1. The CPU 21, the main memory unit 22, the auxiliary memory unit 23, the drive unit 24, and the connection unit 25 are interconnected by the connection bus B1. The control device 200 is an example of a "vehicle air conditioner control device".

[0014] The CPU 21 is also called a microprocessor unit (MPU) or processor. The CPU 21 is not limited to a single processor and may be in a multiprocessor configuration. Furthermore, a single CPU 21 connected via a single socket may have a multicore configuration. At least a portion of the processing performed by the CPU 21 may be performed by other processors, such as a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), numerical processor, vector processor, or image processing processor. Also, at least a portion of the processing performed by the CPU 21 may be performed by an integrated circuit (IC) or other digital circuit. Furthermore, at least a portion of the CPU 21 may include analog circuitry. The integrated circuit may be a Large Scale Integra. This includes TED circuits (LSIs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), and Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs). PLDs include, for example, Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). The CPU 21 may be a combination of a processor and an integrated circuit. Such combinations are called, for example, a microcontroller unit (MCU), a system-on-a-chip (SoC), a system LSI, or a chipset. In the control device 200, the CPU 21 deploys the program stored in the auxiliary storage unit 23 to the work area of ​​the main storage unit 22 and controls peripheral devices through program execution. This allows the control device 200 to perform processing that matches a predetermined purpose. The main storage unit 22 and the auxiliary storage unit 23 are recording media readable by the CPU 21. The CPU 21 is an example of a "control unit".

[0015] The main memory unit 22 is exemplified as a memory unit that is directly accessed by the CPU 21. The main memory unit 22 includes Random Access Memory (RAM) and Read Only Memory (ROM).

[0016] The auxiliary storage unit 23 reads and writes various programs and various data to and from a recording medium. The auxiliary storage unit 23 is also called an external storage device. The auxiliary storage unit 23 stores an operating system (OS), various programs, various tables, etc.

[0017] The auxiliary storage unit 23 is, for example, an Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), a Solid State Drive (SSD), a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), etc.

[0018] The drive unit 24 drives the louver 650 of the air outlet 60 via the wiring L1, thereby changing the blowing direction of the cold air or warm air supplied by the supply unit 26 of the air conditioner 220.

[0019] The connection unit 25 is a connection interface to which the display 30 and the camera 40 are connected. The connection unit 25 is, for example, a connection interface conforming to a standard such as Universal Serial Bus (USB). The CPU 21 receives, for example, a video of the occupants of the vehicle 100 taken by the camera 40 via the connection unit 25. Also, the CPU 21 outputs, for example, data processed by the CPU 21 and data stored in the main storage unit 22 to the display 30 via the connection unit 25.

[0020] The air conditioner 220 includes a supply unit 26. The supply unit 26 is connected to the air outlet 60 by a pipe K1. The supply unit 26 generates cold air or warm air, and supplies the generated cold air or warm air to the air outlet 60 via the pipe K1, thereby causing the cold air or warm air to be blown out from the air outlet 60 in the blowing direction controlled by the drive unit 24. Hereinafter, when cold air and warm air are not distinguished, they are simply referred to as "air".

[0021] <Processing Blocks of the Control Device 200> Figure 3 shows an example of a processing block of the control device 200. The control device 200 includes a specific unit 201, a wind direction control unit 202, and an output unit 203. The control device 200 performs processing as each part of the control device 200, such as the specific unit 201, the wind direction control unit 202, and the output unit 203, by having the CPU 21 execute a computer program that has been loaded into the main memory unit 22 in an executable format.

[0022] The specific unit 201 directs the airflow from the supply unit 26 based on the image captured by the camera 40. The identifying unit 201 identifies the parts of the body of the occupant seated in the driver's seat 1 and the occupant seated in the passenger seat 2 that are to which the air from the air conditioner 220 should be directed. The identifying unit 201 may also identify the parts of the body to which the air from the air conditioner 220 should be directed for at least one of the occupants seated in the driver's seat 1 and the passenger seat 2.

[0023] In this embodiment, camera 40 is a thermographic camera. Therefore, the identification unit 201 can acquire the heat distribution inside the vehicle 100 from the thermal image captured by camera 40. Based on the acquired heat distribution, the identification unit 201 identifies the parts of the occupants' bodies in the vehicle 100 to which the air from the air conditioner 220 should be directed. For example, when the air conditioner 220 is operating in cooling mode, the identification unit 201 identifies parts of the occupants' bodies in the vehicle 100 that are hotter than other parts, based on the acquired heat distribution. Also, when the air conditioner 220 is operating in heating mode, the identification unit 201 identifies parts of the occupants' bodies in the vehicle 100 that are colder than other parts, based on the acquired heat distribution. The identification of the parts to which the air should be directed by the identification unit 201 is performed, for example, in real time. That is, even after identifying the parts, the identification unit 201 tracks those parts based on the image from camera 40. Therefore, even if the occupant's body moves, the identification unit 201 can continue to identify the body part by following that movement.

[0024] Furthermore, the specific unit 201 may exclude areas that it determines, based on the thermal image, are below a first threshold temperature from being targeted for directing cool air. Also, the specific unit 201 may exclude areas that it determines, based on the thermal image, are above the first threshold temperature from being targeted for directing warm air. The first threshold is determined appropriately, for example, so that the occupants feel comfortable with the air conditioning. The second threshold is determined appropriately, for example, so that the occupants feel comfortable with the heating.

[0025] Furthermore, if the specific unit 201 determines that any part of the occupant is below the first threshold temperature during cooling operation, it may direct the cool air to the entire interior of the vehicle 100. Also, if the specific unit 201 determines that any part of the occupant is above the second threshold temperature during heating operation, it may direct the warm air to the entire interior of the vehicle 100.

[0026] The airflow direction control unit 202 controls the direction of the louvers 650 by controlling the drive unit 24 so that the air from the supply unit 26 is directed to the area specified by the identification unit 201. For example, the airflow direction control unit 202 controls the airflow direction of the right outlet 61 and the central right outlet 62 so that it is directed towards the area of ​​the occupant seated in the driver's seat 1 that is specified by the identification unit 201. Also, the airflow direction control unit 202 controls the airflow direction of the central left outlet 63 and the left outlet 64 so that it is directed towards the area of ​​the occupant seated in the passenger seat 2 that is specified by the identification unit 201. If the area to which the airflow is directed by the identification unit 201 is the entire interior of the vehicle 100, the airflow direction control unit 202 may, for example, control the direction of the louvers 650 to oscillate left and right so that the air from the supply unit 26 is blown out to the entire interior of the vehicle 100.

[0027] The output unit 203 outputs a screen to the display 30 that guides the user to the part identified by the identification unit 201. Figure 4 is a diagram showing an example of a guidance screen 2031 output by the output unit 203 in this embodiment. The guidance screen 2031 includes a driver's seat display area 2032 and a passenger seat display area 2033. The driver's seat display area 2032 displays an occupant image P1 that simulates an occupant seated in the driver's seat 1. The passenger seat display area 2033 displays an occupant image P2 that simulates an occupant seated in the passenger seat 2. Occupant images P1 and P2 are examples of "the images of the occupants in the vehicle interior". Note that the guidance screen 2031 does not use substitute images for the images of occupants. Furthermore, images of the occupants inside the vehicle, captured by camera 40, may be displayed.

[0028] The output unit 203 displays markers M1 and M2, which indicate the parts identified by the identification unit 201, on the guidance screen 2031. In the example in Figure 4, marker M1 is placed on the upper right arm of the occupant image P1, indicating that the airflow is directed towards the upper right arm of the occupant seated in the driver's seat 1. Similarly, marker M2 is placed on the chest of the occupant image P2, indicating that the airflow is directed towards the chest of the occupant seated in the passenger seat 2.

[0029] <Processing Flow> Figure 5 shows an example of the processing flow of the control device 200 according to this embodiment. The following description of the example of the processing flow of the control device 200 will refer to Figure 5.

[0030] In step S1, air conditioning of the vehicle interior of the vehicle 100 is started by the air conditioner 220 controlled by the control device 200.

[0031] In step S2, the identification unit 201 acquires a thermal image captured by the camera 40. In step S3, the identification unit 201 acquires the heat distribution inside the vehicle 100 based on the thermal image acquired in step S2. Based on the acquired heat distribution, the identification unit 201 identifies the part of the occupant's body in the vehicle 100 to which the air from the air conditioner 220 should be directed.

[0032] In step S4, the airflow control unit 202 controls the direction of the louvers 650 by controlling the drive unit 24 so that the airflow direction is directed towards the area identified in step S3. As a result, the air supplied by the supply unit 26 is blown out towards the area identified in step S3.

[0033] In step S5, the output unit 203 outputs a guidance screen 2031 to the display 30 that guides the user to the part identified in step S3. If the air conditioner 220 is stopped (YES in step S6), the process ends. If the air conditioner 220 is not stopped (NO in step S6), the process proceeds to step S2.

[0034] <Effects of the Embodiment> According to this embodiment, the area from which the airflow from the supply unit 26 is blown is identified based on the image captured by the camera 40. Therefore, the occupants of the vehicle 100 do not need to change their posture when specifying the area from which the airflow from the supply unit 26 is blown. As a result, the change in the occupants' posture between specifying the area from which the airflow from the supply unit 26 is blown and when the airflow is actually blown is reduced, making it possible to direct the airflow to the desired area.

[0035] According to this embodiment, air from the supply unit 26 can be blown out from the outlet 60 towards a specified area. In this embodiment, a thermal distribution is acquired based on a thermal image captured by a thermographic camera, and the area from which air should be blown from the supply unit 26 is identified based on the acquired thermal distribution. Therefore, according to this embodiment, cool air can be blown towards areas of the occupant that are hotter than other areas, or warm air can be blown towards areas of the occupant that are hotter than other areas. Furthermore, in this embodiment, if the position of the area identified by the identification unit 201 moves due to the movement of the occupant's body, the identification of the area continues to follow that movement. Therefore, according to this embodiment, even if the occupant moves their body, air can be continuously blown towards the identified area. Consequently, according to this embodiment, the effectiveness of cooling and heating can be enhanced.

[0036] Then, as explained with reference to Figure 5, the area is identified based on the acquired thermal image (from step S1 to step S2 in Figure 5), and air is blown from the supply unit 26 toward the identified area. The process of releasing the air (step S4) is repeated until the air conditioner 220 is stopped. In other words, according to this embodiment, even if the occupants of the vehicle 100 move or the temperature distribution on the occupants' bodies fluctuates, the area to which the air from the supply unit 26 is directed can be changed in accordance with the occupant's movement and the fluctuations in temperature distribution.

[0037] Furthermore, in this embodiment, a guidance screen 2031 that guides the user to the area identified by the identification unit 201 is output to the display 30. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the area to which the wind from the supply unit 26 is directed can be visually presented to the occupants of the vehicle 100 in an easy-to-understand manner.

[0038] <Variation> In the embodiments described above, a thermographic camera was used as the camera 40. However, the camera 40 is not limited to a thermographic camera. The camera 40 may be, for example, a color camera. The identification unit 201 may then identify a body part based on the color image captured by the camera 40. For example, the identification unit 201 may identify an exposed area where skin is exposed from clothing based on the color image. For example, the skin color of a person may be stored in advance in the auxiliary storage unit 23, and the identification unit 201 may identify the exposed area as the location where the skin color stored in the auxiliary storage unit 23 is detected in the color image. By identifying the exposed area, the occupants can better feel the effect of the air conditioning or heating.

[0039] Furthermore, in dark places such as at night or inside tunnels, it is also effective to use an infrared camera as camera 40. By using an infrared camera, infrared images of the interior of the vehicle can be obtained even in dark places. The identification unit 201 may identify the part to which the air from the supply unit 26 should be directed based on the infrared image.

[0040] When the interior of vehicle 100 is hot, it becomes difficult to distinguish between the hot areas inside the vehicle and the hot areas of the occupants in the thermal image, making it difficult to identify the areas to which cool air should be directed. In such cases, region information indicating the areas where occupants seated in the driver's seat 1 and passenger seat 2 are located can be pre-stored in the auxiliary storage unit 23. The identification unit 201 can then exclude areas other than those stored in the auxiliary storage unit 23 from identifying the areas. By using such region information, the identification unit 201 can identify the hot areas of the occupants even when it is difficult to distinguish between the hot areas inside the vehicle and the hot areas of the occupants. The same method can be applied when identifying the areas to which warm air should be directed.

[0041] Here, the display 30 may be a touchscreen. The identification unit 201 may then identify a part specified by a touch operation on the guidance screen 2031 displayed on the display 30 as the part to which the airflow from the supply unit 26 should be directed. In such a case, the identification unit 201 can, for example, extract an area of ​​the same color as the touched area and identify the extracted area as the part to which the airflow should be directed. An area of ​​the same color could be an area that is continuous with the touched area and whose color difference (color distance) from the touched area is within a predetermined distance. The color difference can be calculated, for example, by the Euclidean distance using the RGB values ​​that represent the color. Furthermore, even after the area is specified by the touch operation, the identification unit 201 may analyze the image from the camera 40 in real time and adjust the identification of the area according to the movement of the occupant's body. Through such identification, the airflow from the supply unit 26 can be directed to the occupant's preferred area. Furthermore, the wind direction control unit 202 can control the louvers 650 of the outlet 60 in accordance with changes in the occupant's posture, based on the image captured by the camera 40, so that the wind from the supply unit 26 blows out to a designated area. By controlling the louvers 650 in this way, even if the occupant's posture changes, the wind from the supply unit 26 can be blown out to the desired area of ​​the occupant.

[0042] Note that people perceive air conditioning and heating differently. Therefore, based on images from camera 40... Even after the airflow is directed towards a body part identified by the identification unit 201, the occupant may feel that the airflow to that part is sufficient. In such a case, the occupant may want to direct the airflow to a different body part than the identified one. Therefore, the identification unit 201 may, for example, receive instructions from the occupant by displaying a list of names indicating body parts on the display 30 after directing the airflow towards the identified body part. The identification unit 201 may then change the direction of the airflow by identifying the body part selected from the displayed list as the body part to which the airflow from the supply unit 26 should be directed. Furthermore, if a microphone is installed in the vehicle 100, the identification unit 201 may accept voice input of the body part name after directing the airflow towards the identified body part, and identify the body part received via voice input as the body part to which the airflow from the supply unit 26 should be directed. With these features, for example, after the airflow has been directed towards a body part identified by the identification unit 201, the direction of the airflow can be changed to a body part desired by the occupant.

[0043] In the embodiments described above, the guidance screen 2031 included crew images P1 and P2 that mimicked crew members, but the guidance screen 2031 may also include images captured by the camera 40. The output unit 203 may then superimpose markers M1 and M2 onto the images captured by the camera 40 to indicate the area to which the wind from the supply unit 26 is directed.

[0044] The embodiments and variations disclosed above can be combined in any way. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0045] 1. Driver's seat 2...Passenger seat 3. Right rear seat 4. Center rear seat 5. Left rear seat 10. Dashboard 20. Steering Wheel 21. CPU 22...Main memory 23...Auxiliary storage section 24. Drive Unit 25. Connection part 26··Supply section 30-inch display 40 Camera 50 doors 51. Right front door 52. Left front door 53. Right rear door 54. Left rear door 60 ··Air outlet 61. Right air vent 62. Center right air vent 63. Center left air vent 64. Left air vent 80 tires 100 vehicles 200...Control device 22. Air conditioner 201...Specific section 202. Wind Direction Control Unit 203 Output Section 650 Louver 651 Louver 652 ·· Louver 653 Louver 654 Louver 2031...Information Screen 2032 ··Driver's seat display area 2033...Passenger seat display area B1 connecting bus M1 Marker M2 Marker P1 Crew Image P2 Crew Image

Claims

1. Based on images of occupants inside the vehicle taken by a camera, a process is performed to identify the part of the occupant's body that should be targeted for ventilation. The system includes a control unit that performs a wind direction control process to control the wind direction so as to blow air toward a specified part in accordance with the movement of the occupant's body in the aforementioned image. Vehicle air conditioner control device.

2. The aforementioned camera includes a thermal imaging camera. The aforementioned identification process includes a process of identifying a part of the occupant's body that falls within a predetermined temperature range, based on a thermal image of the occupant taken by the thermographic camera, as the part to be targeted for airflow. The vehicle air conditioner control device according to claim 1.

3. The camera includes a color camera, The aforementioned identification process includes a process of identifying the parts of the occupant's body that are exposed from their clothing, based on the color image of the occupant captured by the color camera, as the parts to be blown air onto. The vehicle air conditioner control device according to claim 1.

4. The aforementioned identification process includes displaying the image of the occupant inside the vehicle interior, captured by the camera, on a display, and identifying the part of the image specified by the occupant as the part to be blown air onto. The vehicle air conditioner control device according to claim 1.

5. The aforementioned identification process further includes, after blowing air onto the part identified based on the image captured by the camera, outputting a list of names of the parts of the occupant, and designating the part selected from the list as the target of the air blowing process. The vehicle air conditioner control device according to claim 1.

6. The aforementioned identification process further includes, after blowing air onto the part identified based on the image captured by the camera, receiving a voice input specifying the part of the occupant, and making the part specified by the received voice input the target of the airflow. The vehicle air conditioner control device according to claim 1.

7. The control unit further performs an output process that outputs an image showing the part identified by the specific process to a display. Vehicle air conditioner control device according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

Images