Vehicle control device, vehicle control method, and vehicle control program

Abstract

To provide a vehicle control device, a vehicle control method and a vehicle control program which can control a vehicle so that even an occupant sitting on a seat other than a driver's seat in a vehicle and a person outside the vehicle can avoid danger immediately when feeling the danger.SOLUTION: In performing control of a vehicle on the basis of input voice, a sensor part 1 obtains sound of striking an inner wall of the vehicle or an outer wall thereof, and a determining part 2 determines that the sound indicates a request signal that requests control of the vehicle. A control signal generating part 3 generates a control signal for performing the control of the vehicle, on the basis of the determined result. The sound of striking the inner wall and the outer wall of the vehicle is lower in false recognition rate in comparison with recognition of human voice or the like, which enables the control signal for controlling the vehicle to be surely generated.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a voice-activated vehicle control device, a vehicle control method, and a vehicle control program. [Background technology]

[0002] For devices with few safety issues, such as car navigation systems installed in vehicles, operation by voice recognition has been put to practical use (Patent Document 1).On the other hand, for vehicle operations that must be sufficiently safe, in order to prevent malfunctions, configurations are made to recognize and control only the driver's voice (Patent Document 2), and an emergency stop button is provided in the driver's seat on the assumption that the driver will operate it. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 63-074744 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 60-045448 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, it is not only those in the vicinity of the driver's seat who feel danger from the operation of the vehicle. For example, a person outside the vehicle or in the back seat of the vehicle may notice that the automatically opening back door is about to hit a nearby obstacle, or may notice that a child is approaching from a position that is a blind spot of various sensors while backing up and parking in fully automated driving. In such cases, it was difficult to avoid danger by stopping the operation of the vehicle from outside the driver's seat or from outside the vehicle using conventional methods. Therefore, the present invention aims to provide a vehicle control device, method, and program that can control the vehicle to immediately avoid danger when a person other than the driver's seat or outside the vehicle feels danger. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In order to achieve the above object, the vehicle control device according to the present invention comprises the following: and [ 2 〕 is one of its features. [ 1 〕 In a vehicle control device that controls a vehicle based on a voice input, a sensor unit that acquires a sound of a person tapping on an interior wall or an exterior wall of the vehicle, a determination unit that determines whether the sound acquired by the sensor unit is a preset request signal for requesting control of the vehicle, and when the determination unit determines that the sound is the request signal, A control signal for changing the operation being performed by the vehicle to a preset operation. and a control signal generating unit that generates thing. [ 2 〕 In a vehicle control device that controls a vehicle based on a voice input, a sensor unit that acquires a sound of a person tapping on an interior wall or an exterior wall of the vehicle, a determination unit that determines whether the sound acquired by the sensor unit is a preset request signal for requesting control of the vehicle, and when the determination unit determines that the sound is the request signal, To select an operation to be controlled with priority from among a plurality of operations being executed by the vehicle, and to change the selected operation to a preset operation The regulation Generates a control signal A control signal generating unit is provided. thing.

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, a vehicle control method according to the present invention includes the following steps: 3 〕 and [ 4 〕 is one of its features. [ 3 〕 A vehicle control method for controlling a vehicle based on a voice input, comprising the steps of: acquiring a sound of a knock on an interior wall or an exterior wall of the vehicle; determining whether the acquired sound is a preset request signal requesting control of the vehicle; and, when it is determined that the acquired sound is the request signal, generating a control signal for changing the operation being performed by the vehicle to a preset operation; and thing. [ 4 〕 A vehicle control method for controlling a vehicle based on a voice input, comprising the steps of: acquiring a sound of a knock on an interior wall or an exterior wall of the vehicle; determining whether the acquired sound is a preset request signal requesting control of the vehicle; and, when it is determined that the acquired sound is the request signal, To select an operation to be controlled with priority from among a plurality of operations being executed by the vehicle, and to change the selected operation to a preset operation The regulation generating a control signal and thing.

[0007] In order to achieve the above object, a vehicle control program according to the present invention is 5 〕 and [ 6 〕 is one of its features. [ 5 〕 In a vehicle control program for controlling a vehicle based on a voice input, the program includes a step of acquiring a sound of a knock on an interior wall or an exterior wall of the vehicle, a step of determining whether the acquired sound is a preset request signal for requesting control of the vehicle, and a step of determining whether the acquired sound is the request signal. generating a control signal for changing the operation being performed by the vehicle to a preset operation; and the calculation processing unit executes the above in sequence. thing. [6 〕 In a vehicle control program for controlling a vehicle based on a voice input, the program includes a step of acquiring a sound of a knock on an interior wall or an exterior wall of the vehicle, a step of determining whether the acquired sound is a preset request signal for requesting control of the vehicle, and a step of determining whether the acquired sound is the request signal. The vehicle is running Multiple To select an action to be controlled with priority among actions, and to change the selected action to a preset action The regulation generating a control signal and the calculation processing unit executes the above in sequence. thing. Effect of the Invention

[0008] The present invention is configured to acquire the sound of knocking on the interior or exterior walls of a vehicle and generate a control signal for controlling the vehicle, thereby achieving a lower rate of false recognition compared to conventional methods for identifying the driver's voice and enabling the generation of a control signal reliably. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a vehicle control device according to the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a vehicle control device according to the present invention. [Diagram 3] 1 is an explanatory diagram of a vehicle control method and a vehicle control program according to the present invention; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] The present invention is configured to generate a control signal for controlling the vehicle by recognizing the sound of a person tapping on an interior or exterior wall of the vehicle as a request signal for requesting control of the vehicle when controlling the vehicle based on a voice input. The sound of a person tapping on an interior wall of the vehicle has a lower error recognition rate than recognition of a human voice, and a control signal for controlling the vehicle can be reliably generated. Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0011] First, an embodiment of a vehicle control device of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG.

[0012] The sensor unit 1 is made up of a microphone, a vibration sensor, etc. that picks up the sound of a knock on the interior or exterior wall of the vehicle, and is made up of one or more microphones, etc. The microphone, etc. may be placed inside or outside the vehicle, or even inside the frame that constitutes the vehicle body, so long as it is placed in a position where it can pick up the sound of a knock on the interior or exterior of the vehicle.

[0013] The judgment unit 2 inputs the sound acquired by the sensor unit 1, judges whether the sound is a sound of knocking on an interior or exterior wall and is a request signal requesting a preset vehicle control, and outputs the judgment result.

[0014] Based on the determination result output from the determination unit 2, the control signal generation unit 3 generates a control signal for controlling the vehicle when the sound input to the sensor unit 1 is a request signal requesting control of the vehicle, and outputs the generated signal to the output unit 4. Typically, a vehicle is equipped with a control device to control the vehicle, such as running and stopping. Therefore, when the control signal generation unit 3 of this embodiment is configured separately from the vehicle control device, it outputs a control signal for requesting control of the vehicle to the vehicle control device. Also, when the control signal generation unit 3 of this embodiment is configured as part of the vehicle control device, it outputs a control signal that directly controls the operation of the vehicle.

[0015] Next, an embodiment of the vehicle control method performed by the vehicle control device will be described in detail with reference to Fig. 2 and Fig. 3. As described above, when the vehicle control device starts operating, the present invention acquires the sound of tapping on the interior or exterior wall of the vehicle (Fig. 3, F1). In an environment where vehicle control is required, environmental noise is large. Therefore, the sound sensed by the sensor unit 1 is the sound generated when a hard material constituting the interior or exterior wall of the vehicle is tapped by hand, in order to make it easier to distinguish the sound from environmental noise. For example, when the sensor unit 1 is configured with a microphone and the interior wall (body) of the vehicle is tapped, regular signals (S1 to S4) as shown in Fig. 2 are acquired.

[0016] The determination unit 2 determines whether the acquired sound is a request signal requesting vehicle control (FIG. 3, F2). The signal (voltage) output from the microphone exceeds a predetermined level (voltage Vth) in a short time, as shown in FIG. 2, and drops below the predetermined level (voltage Vth) within a predetermined time (Twt). By detecting the increase or decrease in the voltage level within a predetermined time in this way, it can be distinguished from environmental noise.

[0017] In addition, since there is a possibility that an unintended sound may have been generated when a signal is detected only once, it is preferable to require multiple signal detections. For example, the time between the first and second signal detections is set to a predetermined time, and the number of signals detected during a separately set predetermined time is set to a predetermined number, and a judgment is made based on whether these conditions are satisfied.

[0018] For example, if the time between the first and second signal detections is set to within 0.5 seconds, and if three signals are detected within 1 second, it is determined to be a request signal, the following will occur.

[0019] As shown in FIG. 2, assume that signals (S1 to S4) are detected four times in which the signal (voltage) output from the microphone exceeds a predetermined voltage (Vth) and the time it takes for the signal to fall below the predetermined voltage (Vth) is less than a predetermined time (Twt). When the signal S1 is detected, counting of the number of signals is started. If the time (Tcnt) until the next signal S2 is input is set to 0.5 s, the next signal is not detected until 0.5 s has elapsed since the signal S1 was counted, so the count is reset. After that, the signal S2 is detected and counting is started again. A signal S3 is detected 0.5 s before the signal S2 is detected, and the count number becomes 2. Similarly, a signal S4 is detected 0.5 s before the signal S3 is detected, and the count number becomes 3. As a result, the signal output from the microphone is determined to be the desired request signal.

[0020] The sound picked up by the microphone may differ depending on whether it is a sound inside the vehicle, a sound hitting the body or a sound hitting the window glass, or a sound outside the vehicle, and also on the relative position of the microphone to the place where the sound is generated, etc. In such a case, it is sufficient to determine whether the sound is a request signal by carrying out a desired process as appropriate according to the sound expected in advance.

[0021] When it is determined that a request signal has been input, a check is made to see if the vehicle is in motion in order to control the vehicle's operation (Fig. 3, F3). The operations that require control here are operations that must avoid danger. For example, if a request signal is input while the vehicle is backing up, the vehicle is stopped. Or, if a request signal is input while the back door is being opened, the operation of opening the back door is stopped. In this way, operations that avoid danger can be preset. A control signal is output to control the specified vehicle operation (Fig. 3, F4).

[0022] When multiple actions are being performed, if you set in advance which of the anticipated risks in those actions should be given priority, the action with priority will be performed. Alternatively, multiple actions can be performed simultaneously.

[0023] The above-described control method can be realized by causing a processing device to execute a vehicle control program. The processing device that executes the vehicle control program of the present embodiment may be either an independent processing device for controlling the vehicle control device of the present invention, or a processing device that constitutes the control device that controls the operation of the vehicle.

[0024] As in the vehicle control method described above, the step of acquiring the sound of knocking on the interior or exterior wall of the vehicle (FIG. 3, F1) involves putting a microphone or the like placed in the vehicle into a state capable of collecting sound, and acquiring the sound of knocking on the interior or exterior wall of the vehicle.

[0025] The step of determining whether or not it is a request signal (FIG. 3, F2) determines whether or not the signal output from a microphone or the like satisfies predetermined conditions that have been set in advance. If it is determined that it is a request signal, the process proceeds to the next step. If it is determined that it is not a request signal, the process repeats the step of acquiring the sound of knocking on the interior or exterior wall of the vehicle.

[0026] The step of generating a control signal (FIG. 3, F4) generates a control signal for controlling the vehicle when it is determined that the signal output from the microphone or the like is a request signal. In this case, it is preferable to determine whether the vehicle is operating and, if so, what operation is being performed, and to determine which operation to control. After the control signal is generated and output, the step of acquiring the sound of knocking on the interior or exterior wall of the vehicle is repeated. If the vehicle is not operating, there is no need to output a control signal for the vehicle, so the step of acquiring the sound of knocking on the interior or exterior wall of the vehicle is repeated.

[0027] The vehicle control device described above operates based on such a program, whereby the vehicle control device of the present invention can be realized and the vehicle control method described above can be executed.

[0028] The vehicle control program according to the embodiment of the present invention can be stored in advance in a storage medium installed in the vehicle. Alternatively, it can be stored in a storage medium that is removable from the vehicle. This removable storage medium can be provided as a so-called package software. Furthermore, it can be provided via a network such as the Internet.

[0029] Although the embodiments of the vehicle control device, the vehicle control method, and the vehicle control program of the present invention have been described above, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. For example, the method of determining whether or not a sound output from a microphone or the like is a desired request signal is not limited to the above-described method. EXAMPLES

[0030] Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described by taking as an example a case where the opening and closing of a sunroof, which is one of the vehicle operations, is controlled. Specifically, the case where the operation of the sunroof is stopped when the sunroof is opened and the operation of closing the sunroof is started will be described.

[0031] When the sunroof starts to close, some kind of danger will occur if the sunroof continues to close. A person sitting in the back seat of the vehicle who notices this danger will knock on the window three or more times instead of pressing the driver's seat stop button. When a vehicle equipped with the vehicle control device of the present invention detects a knocking sound of a predetermined sound pressure or higher three times per second, it will determine that this is a request signal for vehicle control.

[0032] In this case, if the only operation that must be controlled to avoid danger among the operations controlled by the vehicle control device while the vehicle is stopped is the operation of closing the sunroof, the control device generates a control signal to stop the operation of closing the sunroof and sends it to the vehicle control device. The vehicle control device receives the control signal to stop the operation of closing the sunroof and immediately stops the operation of the sunroof.

[0033] When such an emergency stop is performed, it is preferable for the vehicle's control device to sound a buzzer or flash an LED lamp, so that the person who requested the sunroof to be stopped can be informed that an emergency operation has begun.

[0034] In this case, instead of the vehicle control signal to close the sunroof, the sunroof may be configured to return to its original state (open state) after the operation to close the sunroof is stopped.

[0035] Also, if the request signal is determined to be a request for vehicle control when the operation to close the sunroof has started while the vehicle is backing up, a control signal may be output to simultaneously stop the movement of the vehicle (backing up) and the operation to close the sunroof. Alternatively, if a low-risk control (for example, the operation of an air conditioner) and the operation to close the sunroof are being performed simultaneously, a control signal may be output to control only the operation to close the sunroof. [Explanation of symbols]

[0036] 1: sensor section, 2: judgment section, 3: control signal generation section, 4: output section

Claims

1. A vehicle control device that controls a vehicle based on voice input, A sensor unit for acquiring a sound of a knock on an inner wall or an outer wall of the vehicle; a determination unit that determines whether the sound acquired by the sensor unit is a request signal that requests a preset control of the vehicle; and a control signal generating unit that generates a control signal for changing the operation being performed by the vehicle to a preset operation when the determination unit determines that the sound is the request signal.

2. A vehicle control device that controls a vehicle based on voice input, A sensor unit for acquiring a sound of a knock on an inner wall or an outer wall of the vehicle; a determination unit that determines whether the sound acquired by the sensor unit is a request signal that requests a preset control of the vehicle; a control signal generating unit that, when the determination unit determines that the sound is the request signal, selects an operation to be controlled preferentially from among a plurality of operations being performed by the vehicle, and generates a control signal to change the selected operation to a predetermined operation.

3. A vehicle control method for controlling a vehicle based on voice input, comprising: acquiring sounds of knocking on an interior or exterior wall of the vehicle; determining whether the acquired sound is a request signal requesting a preset control of the vehicle; and when it is determined that the signal is a request signal, generating a control signal for changing the operation being performed by the vehicle to a preset operation.

4. A vehicle control method for controlling a vehicle based on voice input, comprising: acquiring sounds of knocking on an interior or exterior wall of the vehicle; determining whether the acquired sound is a request signal requesting a preset control of the vehicle; and when it is determined that the signal is a request signal, selecting an operation to be controlled preferentially from among a plurality of operations being performed by the vehicle, and generating a control signal to change the selected operation to a predetermined operation.

5. A vehicle control program for controlling a vehicle based on voice input, comprising: acquiring sounds of knocking on an interior or exterior wall of the vehicle; determining whether the acquired sound is a request signal requesting a preset control of the vehicle; and when it is determined that the signal is the request signal, generating a control signal for changing the operation being performed by the vehicle to a preset operation.

6. A vehicle control program for controlling a vehicle based on voice input, comprising: acquiring sounds of knocking on an interior or exterior wall of the vehicle; determining whether the acquired sound is a request signal requesting a preset control of the vehicle; A vehicle control program for causing a calculation processing device to execute the following steps in sequence when it is determined that the signal is a request signal: selecting an operation to be controlled preferentially from among a plurality of operations being performed by the vehicle; and generating a control signal for changing the selected operation to a predetermined operation.

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