Vehicle-mounted devices

Abstract

To more reliably guarantee the quality of services provided through mobile communications. [Solution] The in-vehicle device has a communication unit that can connect to either the main line or the secondary line of mobile communication, and a control unit that sends and receives information for providing services to the user via the main line or the secondary line. When the control unit receives information indicating that the provision of the service is being hindered while the communication unit is connected to the main line, it causes the communication unit to switch its connection from the main line to the secondary line.

Description

Technical Field

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[0001] The present disclosure relates to an in-vehicle device.

Background Art

[0002] In a communication device connected to a network, a redundant configuration is adopted, such as switching to a backup secondary line when a failure occurs in the main line normally used. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a communication system provided with a module for checking the communication status of the main line and the secondary line.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] In an in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle and communicating by mobile communication, when the communication status of the main line is unstable and the vehicle moves to a location where the communication status of the main line is unstable, if the switching between the main line and the secondary line occurs frequently, the service quality by communication may deteriorate. On the other hand, when a failure occurs in the main line, it is necessary to surely switch to the secondary line to ensure the service quality by communication.

[0005] Hereinafter, an in-vehicle device and the like capable of more surely ensuring the service quality by mobile communication will be disclosed.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The in-vehicle device in this disclosure includes a communication unit that can connect to either a main line or a secondary line of mobile communication, and a control unit that sends and receives information for providing services to a user via the main line or secondary line, wherein when the control unit receives information indicating that the provision of the service is being hindered while the communication unit is connected to the main line, it causes the communication unit to switch its connection from the main line to the secondary line. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] The in-vehicle devices described in this disclosure make it possible to more reliably guarantee the quality of services provided through mobile communications. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1] This is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an in-vehicle device. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of an in-vehicle device. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] The embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0010] Figure 1 shows an example of the configuration of an in-vehicle device in one embodiment. The in-vehicle device 10 is mounted on a vehicle 19 and has a communication unit 11, a storage unit 12, a control unit 13, a positioning unit 14, an input unit 15, and an output unit 16. The in-vehicle device 10 is a computer having communication and information processing functions, and controls the operation of the vehicle 19. The vehicle 19 is a passenger car, commercial vehicle, etc., in which some or all of the driving operations are performed manually, and is an internal combustion engine vehicle, a hybrid vehicle (HEV; Hybrid Electric Vehicle), a plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV; Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle), etc. The in-vehicle device 10 is configured to be able to connect wirelessly to a mobile communication base station 17 or 18 via the communication unit 11. The base stations 17 and 18 are base stations of mobile communication lines operated by different mobile communication carriers. The in-vehicle device 10 is connected to a network 100 via the base station 17 or 18. Network 100 includes, for example, the Internet, an ad-hoc network, a LAN (Local Area Network), a MAN (Metropolitan Area Network), or other networks, or any combination thereof.

[0011] The in-vehicle device 10, for example, uses a mobile communication line connected by a base station 17 as the primary line and a mobile communication line connected by a base station 18 as the secondary line, to communicate various information via the network 100, normally using the primary line, and when the primary line fails, using the secondary line, to provide information services to the user of the vehicle 19. The information services include traffic information provision, emergency call notification, remote control, theft tracking, etc. The primary and secondary lines are arbitrarily set, for example, based on pricing according to the contract type. For example, the primary line is intended to be constantly connected and used for relatively large amounts of data communication, and is compatible with contract types such as relatively inexpensive flat-rate plans per unit amount of data. The secondary line is intended to be temporarily connected when the primary line fails and used for relatively small amounts of data communication, and is compatible with contract types such as relatively expensive pay-as-you-go plans per unit amount of data.

[0012] In this embodiment, the in-vehicle device 10 includes a communication unit 11 that can be connected to either the main line or the sub-line of mobile communication, and a control unit 13 that sends and receives information for providing services, i.e., information services, to the user via the main line or the sub-line. When the control unit 13 receives information (hereinafter referred to as warning information) indicating that the provision of information services will be hindered while the communication unit 11 is connected to the main line, it causes the communication unit 11 to switch its connection from the main line to the sub-line. Here, the warning information is information indicating that the provision of information services will be hindered when, even if the base station 17 of the main line is operating normally, information communication for the provision of information services cannot be performed due to a failure in the transmission path in the network above the base station 17, and is sent via various routes. Various routes include, for example, a route from the base station 17 to the in-vehicle device 10, FM waves transmitted from an FM base station connected to the network 100, and a route transmitted by short-range radio from a short-range radio access point connected to the network 100. The in-vehicle device 10, upon receiving the above-mentioned warning information from the communication unit 11, will switch from the main line to the secondary line even if the connection with the main line base station 17 is normal. This makes it possible to more reliably guarantee the quality of service provided by mobile communications.

[0013] The communication unit 11, storage unit 12, control unit 13, positioning unit 14, input unit 15, and output unit 16 of the in-vehicle device 10 may be configured as a single control unit, or as two or more control units, or as a control unit and other devices such as a communication device. The control unit includes, for example, an ECU (Electronic Control Unit). The communication device includes, for example, a DCM (Data Communication Module). Each unit is connected to each other or to other equipment of the vehicle 19 via an in-vehicle network compliant with standards such as CAN (Controller Area Network) to enable information communication.

[0014] The communication unit 11 includes modules compatible with mobile communication standards such as LTE (Long Term Evolution), 4G (4th Generation), or 5G (5th Generation), short-range wireless communication modules such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (registered trademark), and modules compatible with in-vehicle LANs such as CAN. The in-vehicle device 10 is configured by the communication unit 11 to be selectively connectable to base stations 17 or 18, and connects to the network 100 using mobile communication lines corresponding to each base station. The in-vehicle device 10 also communicates information with various parts of the vehicle 19 via the in-vehicle LAN. Furthermore, if there is an access point nearby that can be connected via short-range wireless communication, the in-vehicle device 10 can connect to the network 100 by connecting to the access point.

[0015] The storage unit 12 includes one or more semiconductor memories, one or more magnetic memories, one or more optical memories, or a combination of at least two of these. Semiconductor memories are, for example, RAM (Random Access Memory) or ROM (Read Only Memory). RAM is, for example, SRAM (Static RAM) or DRAM (Dynamic RAM). ROM is, for example, EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM). The storage unit 12 functions, for example, as a main memory, auxiliary memory, or cache memory. The storage unit 12 stores information used in the operation of the control unit 13 and information obtained through the operation of the control unit 13.

[0016] The control unit 13 includes one or more processors, one or more dedicated circuits, or a combination thereof. The processors are general-purpose processors such as CPUs (Central Processing Units) or dedicated processors such as GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) specialized for specific processing. Dedicated circuits include, for example, FPGAs (Field-Programmable Gate Arrays) and ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits). The control unit 13 controls each part of the in-vehicle device 10 and performs information processing related to the operation of the in-vehicle device 10.

[0017] The functions of the control unit 13 are realized by executing a control / processing program on the processor included in the control unit 13. The control / processing program is a program that causes the computer to execute the processing steps included in the operation of the control unit 13, thereby realizing the functions corresponding to the processing of those steps. In other words, the control / processing program is a program that causes the computer to function as the control unit 13. Furthermore, some or all of the functions of the control unit 13 may be realized by dedicated circuits included in the control unit 13.

[0018] The positioning unit 14 includes one or more GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receivers. GNSS includes, for example, at least one of GPS (Global Positioning System), QZSS (Quasi-Zenith Satellite System), BeiDou, GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System), and Galileo. The positioning unit 14 sends the positioning result to the control unit 13, which then obtains the location information of the in-vehicle device 10.

[0019] The input unit 15 includes one or more input interfaces. The input interfaces are, for example, a microphone for receiving voice input, physical keys, capacitance keys, a pointing device, a touch screen provided integrally with a display, and the like. The input unit 15 receives an operation for inputting information used for the operation of the control unit 13, and sends the input information to the control unit 13.

[0020] The output unit 16 includes one or more output interfaces. The output interfaces are, for example, a speaker or a display. The display is, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or an organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) display. The output unit 16 outputs information obtained by the operation of the control unit 13. For example, the speaker of the output unit 16 outputs voice for a warning to the driver based on the information output by the control unit 13.

[0021] Figure 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation procedure of the in-vehicle device 10 in the present embodiment. Each step in Figure 2 is a step of information processing executed by the control unit 13. The procedure in Figure 2 is executed at an arbitrary cycle of, for example, several tens of milliseconds to several seconds when the in-vehicle device 10 communicates via the main line.

[0022] First, the control unit 13 determines the state of the main line through the communication unit 11 (step S20). The control unit 13 determines the presence or absence of a failure based on whether the signal strength, signal quality, etc. in the communication with the base station 17 by the communication unit 11 satisfy the criteria. Then, when there is no failure in the main line (Yes in step S21), the control unit 13 acquires warning information (step S22). The control unit 13 scans at least one of the signals of mobile communication from the base station 17, the signals by FM waves from the FM base station, and the signals by short-range wireless from the nearby access points through the communication unit 11 to acquire warning information. And when the acquisition of the warning information is successful (Yes in step S23), the control unit 13 causes the communication unit 11 to switch from the main line to the sub-line (step S24). When the acquisition of the warning information is not successful (No in step S23), that is, when the probability that the warning information is not issued is high, the procedure of FIG. 2 is terminated while maintaining the communication by the main line.

[0023] Thus, according to the present embodiment, even when communication with the base station 17 is possible and there is a high probability that a failure has occurred in the main line, by surely switching to the sub-line, it becomes possible to more surely ensure the service quality by mobile communication.

[0024] In the above, the embodiments have been described based on the drawings and examples, but it should be noted that those skilled in the art can easily make various modifications and corrections based on the present disclosure. Therefore, it should be noted that these modifications and corrections are included in the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the functions etc. included in each means, each step, etc. can be rearranged so as not to be logically contradictory, and a plurality of means, steps, etc. can be combined into one or divided.

Description of Reference Numerals

[0025] 10 Vehicle device, 11 Communication unit, 12 Storage unit, 13 Control unit, 14 Positioning unit, 15 Input unit, 16 Output unit, 19 Vehicle, 100 Network

Claims

[Claim 1] A communication unit that can connect to either the main or secondary line of a mobile communication system, It has a control unit that transmits and receives information for providing services to the user via the main line or sub-line, When the control unit receives information indicating that the provision of the service is being hindered while the communication unit is connected to the main line, it instructs the communication unit to switch its connection from the main line to the secondary line. In-vehicle device.

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