control device

Abstract

Improve the technology related to DCM. [Solution] A control device 10 for a vehicle 1 equipped with a DCM20 receives an emergency call request from the DCM20 to send an emergency call to the DCM20 when an abnormality occurs in the vehicle 1, determines whether there are occupants in the vehicle based on information from sensors, sends a permission notice to the DCM20 indicating that an emergency call is permitted if there are occupants in the vehicle, and sends a disapproval notice to the DCM20 indicating that an emergency call is not permitted if there are no occupants in the vehicle.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a control device.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, technologies related to a DCM (Data Communication Module), which is a communication device mounted on a vehicle, are known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicle equipped with a DCM.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] The DCM has a function of making an emergency report when an abnormality occurs in the vehicle. Conventional DCMs may erroneously send an emergency report when there is no occupant in the vehicle, resulting in unnecessary dispatch of emergency service providers (e.g., police or ambulance). In view of such circumstances, an object of the present disclosure is to improve the technology related to the DCM.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] A control device for a vehicle equipped with a DCM according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, receives an emergency report request for causing the DCM to send an emergency report when an abnormality occurs in the vehicle from the DCM, determines the presence or absence of an occupant in the vehicle based on information from a sensor, when there is an occupant in the vehicle, transmits a permission notice indicating permission of the emergency report to the DCM, when there is no occupant in the vehicle, transmits a non-permission notice indicating non-permission of the emergency report to the DCM. [Effects of the Invention]

[0006] According to one embodiment of this disclosure, the technology relating to DCM is improved. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0007] [Figure 1] This block diagram shows a schematic configuration of a system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart showing the operation of the control device. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0008] (Summary of this embodiment) Referring to Figure 1, an overview of a vehicle 1 according to one embodiment of this disclosure will be described. The vehicle 1 comprises a control device 10, a DCM (Digital Communication Module) 20, and a sensor 30. The control device 10, DCM 20, and sensor 30 are communicated together via an in-vehicle network such as a CAN (Controller Area Network).

[0009] Vehicle 1 includes any vehicle such as an automobile or motorcycle. An automobile may include gasoline automobiles, electric vehicles (BEV; Battery Electric Vehicle), hybrid automobiles (HEV; Hybrid Electric Vehicle), plug-in hybrid automobiles (PHEV; Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle), or fuel cell automobiles (FCEV; Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle). Vehicle 1 may be an autonomous driving vehicle capable of autonomous driving with a level of 1 to 5 as defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), or it may be a manually driven vehicle with a level of 0.

[0010] The control device 10 is a computer that controls the operation of vehicle 1. The control device 10 may also include an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) that controls the operation of equipment within the vehicle.

[0011] DCM20 is a communication device installed in vehicle 1. DCM20 communicates with an external network and an in-vehicle network. DCM20 mediates communication between the external network and vehicle 1. In this embodiment, DCM20 is configured to send an emergency call to an emergency service provider (e.g., police or ambulance) via an emergency call service provider (e.g., a call center) when an abnormality occurs in vehicle 1.

[0012] Sensor 30 includes an occupant detection sensor for detecting occupants inside the vehicle, and an in-vehicle camera for imaging the interior of the vehicle. Examples of occupant detection sensors include a weight sensor, a millimeter-wave radar, and an infrared camera.

[0013] First, an overview of this embodiment will be described, and details will be described later. The control device 10 according to this embodiment controls a vehicle 1 equipped with a DCM 20. The control device 10 receives an emergency call request from the DCM 20 to send an emergency call to the DCM 20 in the event of an abnormality in the vehicle 1. Based on information from the sensor 30, the control device 10 determines whether or not there are occupants in the vehicle. If there are occupants in the vehicle, the control device 10 sends a permission notification to the DCM 20 indicating that an emergency call is permitted. If there are no occupants in the vehicle, the control device 10 sends a disapproval notification to the DCM 20 indicating that an emergency call is not permitted.

[0014] In this embodiment, the control device 10 determines whether or not to send an emergency call to the DCM 20 based on whether or not there are occupants inside the vehicle. This prevents false alarms and reduces unnecessary dispatches of emergency service providers.

[0015] (Configuration of the control device 10) As shown in Figure 1, the control device 10 comprises a control unit 11, a communication unit 12, and a storage unit 13.

[0016] The control unit 11 includes one or more processors, one or more programmable circuits, one or more dedicated circuits, or a combination thereof. The processor is, for example, a general-purpose processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), or a dedicated processor specialized for specific processing, but is not limited thereto. The programmable circuit is, for example, an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), but is not limited thereto. The dedicated circuit is, for example, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), but is not limited thereto. While controlling each part of the information processing device, the control unit 11 executes processing related to the operation of the information processing device.

[0017] The communication unit 12 includes at least one communication interface connected to the in-vehicle network. The communication interface corresponds to, for example, the CAN communication standard.

[0018] The storage unit 13 includes one or more memories. Each memory included in the storage unit 13 may function as, for example, a main storage device, an auxiliary storage device, or a cache memory. The storage unit 13 stores any information used for the operation of the information processing device. For example, the storage unit 13 may store, for example, a system program, an application program, and embedded software. The information stored in the storage unit 13 may be updated based on information acquired from an external network or an in-vehicle network via the communication unit 12.

[0019] (Configuration of DCM20) As shown in FIG. 1, the DCM 20 includes a control unit 21 and a communication unit 22.

[0020] The control unit 21 includes one or more processors, one or more programmable circuits, one or more dedicated circuits, or a combination thereof. The processor is, for example, a general-purpose processor such as a CPU or GPU, or a dedicated processor specialized for specific processing, but is not limited thereto. The programmable circuit is, for example, but not limited to, an FPGA. The dedicated circuit is, for example, but not limited to, an ASIC. The control unit 21 executes processing related to the operation of the DCM 20 while controlling each part of the DCM 20.

[0021] The communication unit 22 includes at least one communication interface for connecting to an in-vehicle network or an external network. The communication interface for connecting to the in-vehicle network conforms to, for example, the CAN communication standard. The communication interface for connecting to the external network conforms to, for example, a mobile communication standard such as 5G (5th Generation), or a wired LAN (Local Area Network) communication standard or a wireless LAN communication standard.

[0022] (Operation flow of the control device 10) Referring to FIG. 2, the operation of the control device 10 according to the present embodiment will be described. Hereinafter, the communication between the control device 10, the DCM 20, and the sensor 30 is performed via the communication units 12 and 22 and the in-vehicle network.

[0023] S1: The control unit 11 of the control device 10 receives an emergency notification request for causing the DCM 20 to issue an emergency notification when an abnormality occurs in the vehicle 1. Examples of the abnormality include, for example, a collision accident of the vehicle 1 or a malfunction of the DCM 20.

[0024] S2: The control unit 11 determines the presence or absence of an occupant in the vehicle based on the information from the sensor 30. If there is an occupant (S2 - YES), the process proceeds to S3. If there is no occupant (S2 - NO), the process proceeds to S4.

[0025] In this embodiment, the presence or absence of occupants is determined using an occupant detection sensor and an in-vehicle camera. By using both the occupant detection sensor and the in-vehicle camera, the presence or absence of occupants can be determined even if either one malfunctions, and false alarms for emergency calls can be prevented. If the occupant detection sensor is activated, or if occupants are detected from the in-vehicle camera image, the control unit 11 may determine that there are occupants. Any object detection technology may be used for occupant detection by the in-vehicle camera. If the occupant detection sensor is not activated and no occupants are detected from the image, the control unit 11 may determine that there are no occupants. If the occupant detection sensor malfunctions, the control unit 11 may determine the presence or absence of occupants using only the in-vehicle camera. If the in-vehicle camera malfunctions, the control unit 11 may determine the presence or absence of occupants using only the occupant detection sensor. If both the occupant detection sensor and the in-vehicle camera fail, the control unit 11 may, as a fail-safe measure, determine that there is an occupant present, or send information indicating that an error has occurred in the sensor 30 to an external server (e.g., a call center server) via the DCM 20. The determination of failure of the occupant detection sensor and the in-vehicle camera may be performed, for example, based on whether or not information indicating that each device has failed has been received from the occupant detection sensor and the in-vehicle camera.

[0026] This section describes a conventional, exemplary operation between the DCM20 and the various components of Vehicle 1 when the DCM20 issues an emergency call. For example, in the event of a collision involving Vehicle 1, the DCM20 receives an airbag deployment signal from the airbag ECU or a Mayday switch signal from the Mayday switch. The airbag deployment signal indicates that the airbags have deployed. The Mayday switch is a switch used to manually issue an emergency call. The Mayday switch signal indicates that the Mayday switch has been pressed. Upon receiving this signal, the DCM20 automatically issues an emergency call. The DCM also sends an indicator signal to the Mayday switch indicator, causing a lamp to light up to indicate that an emergency call is being made. The auxiliary battery supplies power to the DCM20. The TEL antenna transmits or receives communication signals between the DCM and a server (e.g., a call center server) that provides emergency call services via an external network. The GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) antenna transmits the location information of Vehicle 1 to the server via the DCM20. The speaker receives a communication signal from the DCM20 and outputs the voice of the emergency call service operator. The microphone transmits the occupant's voice to the operator via the DCM20. The microphone and mayday switch are mounted, for example, on an overhead console installed on the ceiling of the vehicle. Furthermore, the DCM20 transmits an audio mute signal to the radio receiver and audio amplifier, forcibly muting these devices that would interfere with communication with the operator.

[0027] Conventionally, the DCM20 automatically issued an emergency call when an abnormality occurred in vehicle 1, regardless of whether there were occupants inside the vehicle. However, if an emergency call is issued when there are no occupants inside the vehicle, it can lead to unnecessary dispatch of emergency service providers (e.g., police or ambulances). As a result, there is a possibility that emergency service providers may not be able to respond when an emergency service is actually needed. In this embodiment, the control device 10 of vehicle 1 decides whether or not to issue an emergency call based on whether or not there are occupants inside the vehicle. This prevents false alarms and reduces unnecessary dispatch of emergency service providers.

[0028] S3: The control unit 11 sends an authorization notification to the DCM 20 indicating that it is authorized to make an emergency call. Upon receiving the authorization notification, the DCM 20 makes the emergency call.

[0029] S4: The control unit 11 sends a denial notice to the DCM 20 indicating that it does not authorize the emergency call. Upon receiving the denial notice, the DCM 20 does not make the emergency call.

[0030] While this disclosure has been described based on the drawings and embodiments, it should be noted that those skilled in the art may make various modifications and alterations based on this disclosure. Therefore, it should be noted that these modifications and alterations are within the scope of this disclosure. For example, the functions included in each component or step can be rearranged in a logically consistent manner, and multiple components or steps can be combined into one or separated. For example, in the embodiments described above, an embodiment is also possible in which the configuration and operation of the control device 10 are distributed among multiple computers that can communicate with each other. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0031] 1 Vehicle, 10 Control device, 11 Control unit, 12 Communication unit, 13 Memory unit, 20 DCM, 21 Control unit, 22 Communication unit, 30 Sensor

Claims

[Claim 1] A control device for a vehicle equipped with a DCM, When an abnormality occurs in the vehicle, an emergency notification request is received from the DCM to send an emergency notification to the DCM. Based on information from sensors, the system determines whether or not there are occupants inside the vehicle. If there are occupants inside the vehicle, a permission notification indicating that the emergency call is permitted is sent to the DCM. A control device that, if there are no occupants in the vehicle, transmits a disallowance notice to the DCM indicating that the emergency call is not permitted.

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