Vehicle-mounted device

Abstract

The present invention reduces power consumption of an external battery in an external relay or the like. A vehicle-mounted device 10 according to one embodiment comprises: a detection unit 11 that detects illumination of a room lamp 2 of a vehicle 1; and a control unit 12 that, when the vehicle-mounted device 10 is in a sleep state and the detection unit 11 detects illumination of the room lamp 2, turns the vehicle-mounted device 10 to an on state, turns a normally closed external relay 20 of the vehicle 1 to an open state, and prevents an engine of the vehicle 1 from starting.

Description

Onboard equipment

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

[0002] In the traditional car sales and leasing industries, it was impossible to obtain a vehicle without passing a strict financial credit check. However, today, services are being proposed that provide vehicles without the credit check to those who have the ability to pay but would not pass the traditional credit check, and if the usage fee (for example, monthly fee) is not paid within a specified period, the vehicle will be remotely stopped and its location will be identified and collected.

[0003] As a system for realizing such a service, Patent Document 1 discloses a system in which an on-board device with a remote control function is installed in a vehicle, and the on-board device has a relay input / output unit that controls an external relay that switches the vehicle between a non-startable state and a startable state, and if the user does not pay the usage fee within a specified period or if the vehicle is detected as having been stolen, the system controls the external relay to remotely restrict the vehicle from starting.

[0004] Patent No. 6238038

[0005] In Patent Document 1, when the vehicle-mounted device receives a command to switch from a state in which the vehicle can be started to a state in which the vehicle cannot be started, the relay input / output unit switches the vehicle's external relay to a state in which the vehicle cannot be started.

[0006] When the external relay is closed, the vehicle is in a startable state, and when the external relay is open, the vehicle is in a startable state.

[0007] For example, if the external relay is a normally closed type, when power is not supplied to the excitation coil of the external relay, the vehicle will be in a startable state, and when power is supplied to the excitation coil of the external relay, the vehicle will be in a non-startable state.

[0008] However, when the vehicle is switched to a start-disabled state, power is always supplied to the excitation coil of the external relay, even when the engine is not running. This causes a problem in that the external relay is in a state of consuming power, and there is a risk that power from the external battery will be consumed by the current flowing through the excitation coil that controls the external relay, even when the engine is not running.

[0009] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and has an object to provide an in-vehicle device that can reduce the consumption of power from an external battery in an external relay or the like.

[0010] The gist of one embodiment of the vehicle-mounted device is that it is mounted on a vehicle and includes a detection unit that detects that a room lamp of the vehicle is on, and a control unit that, when the vehicle-mounted device is in a sleep state and the detection unit detects that the room lamp is on, turns the vehicle-mounted device on, turns a normally closed external relay of the vehicle into an open state, and prevents the engine of the vehicle from starting.

[0011] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an in-vehicle device that can reduce the power consumption of an external battery in an external relay or the like.

[0012] Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of functional blocks of an in-vehicle device 10 according to the first embodiment. Fig. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the in-vehicle device 10 according to the first embodiment.

[0013] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description of the drawings, identical or similar parts are designated by identical or similar reference numerals. However, it should be noted that the drawings are schematic, and the dimensional ratios and the like may differ from those of the actual parts. Therefore, specific dimensions and the like should be determined with reference to the following description. Furthermore, parts in the drawings may have different dimensional relationships and ratios. In this specification and the drawings, elements having substantially the same functions and configurations are designated by the same reference numerals to avoid redundant description, and elements not directly related to the present invention are not shown.

[0014] First Embodiment Hereinafter, an in-vehicle device 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0015] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of functional blocks of an in-vehicle device 10 according to this embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the in-vehicle device 10 according to this embodiment.

[0016] Here, one in-vehicle device 10 is installed in one vehicle 1. The in-vehicle device 10 may be installed anywhere in the vehicle 1. If the in-vehicle device 10 is installed later, it may be placed in a location where installation is easy, such as under the passenger seat. Furthermore, from the perspective of theft prevention, the in-vehicle device 10 may be placed in a location where it is difficult to remove, such as under the engine compartment or inside the instrument panel. Furthermore, the in-vehicle device 10 may be installed in advance when the vehicle 1 is manufactured.

[0017] As shown in FIG. 1 , an input line (for example, GPIO) of the vehicle-mounted device 10 is connected to a room lamp 2 of a vehicle 1 .

[0018] As shown in FIG. 1 , the vehicle-mounted device 10 is configured to be able to supply power to a normally closed external relay 20 of the vehicle 1 .

[0019] As shown in FIG. 1 , the vehicle-mounted device 10 includes a detection unit 11 and a control unit 12 .

[0020] The detection unit 11 detects, via the above-mentioned input line, the lighting of the room lamp 2 of the vehicle 1 due to any of the following: (1) the door of the vehicle 1 being opened, (2) the door of the vehicle 1 being unlocked, or (3) the smart key being recognized as being inside or nearby the vehicle 1.

[0021] When the vehicle-mounted device 10 is in a sleep state and the detection unit 11 detects that the room lamp 2 is on, the control unit 12 turns on the vehicle-mounted device 10, turns the external relay 20 to an open state, and prevents the engine of the vehicle 1 from starting.

[0022] In this embodiment, when the vehicle 1 is not in use, the vehicle-mounted device 10 is set to a sleep state to save energy, and the external relay 20 is not supplied with power from the vehicle-mounted device 10 and is in a closed state.

[0023] According to this configuration, when the engine of the vehicle 1 is not running, the vehicle-mounted device 10 goes into a sleep state, the external relay 20 goes into a closed state, and power consumption of the external battery can be reduced.

[0024] In addition, it takes a little time for the vehicle-mounted device 10 to switch from a sleep state to an on state and for the external relay 20 to switch from a closed state to an open state, and during this switching time, the start of the engine of the vehicle 1 is not prevented and the vehicle 1 is in a startable state.

[0025] Therefore, for example, if an engine start operation (e.g., stepping on the brake) is performed as a trigger to switch the vehicle-mounted device 10 from a sleep state to an on state and the external relay 20 from a closed state to an open state, it becomes possible for a malicious third party to start the engine and steal the vehicle during this switching time.

[0026] In contrast to this, according to the configuration of this embodiment, the opening of the door of the vehicle 1 (the lighting of the room lamp 2 of the vehicle 1) serves as a trigger to switch the vehicle-mounted device 10 from a sleep state to an on state and the external relay 20 from a closed state to an open state. In other words, the above-mentioned switching time starts after the door of the vehicle 1 is opened. Therefore, compared to a configuration in which the trigger is the execution of an engine start operation, the time allowed for a malicious third party to start the engine is shortened, thereby achieving the effect of preventing theft.

[0027] Furthermore, when the vehicle-mounted device 10 is in a sleep state and the detector 11 detects that the room lamp 2 is on, the controller 12 may prevent the engine of the vehicle 1 from starting for a predetermined time period after the vehicle-mounted device 10 is switched to the on state. Here, the predetermined time period may be changeable. Furthermore, the predetermined time period may be changeable by remote control using a smartphone application or the like. Furthermore, the predetermined time period may be set in minutes.

[0028] Since people tend to give up on stealing the vehicle 1 if it takes too long, setting this predetermined time longer improves the theft prevention effect. On the other hand, there is also a demand from owners of the vehicle 1 to shorten this predetermined time so that they can start the engine quickly when using the vehicle 1. Thus, there is a trade-off between the theft prevention effect (the time required to prevent theft) and being able to start the engine quickly (the time during which the owner of the vehicle 1 cannot start the engine).

[0029] Therefore, according to the above-described configuration, the owner of the vehicle 1 can arbitrarily set the predetermined time, and the needs of the owner of the vehicle 1 can be met.

[0030] In other words, when the security function is set to on, the control unit 12 may be configured so that when the detection unit 11 detects that the room lamp 2 is on, the vehicle-mounted device 10 transitions from a sleep state to an on state, switches the external relay 20 to an open state for a predetermined period of time, and prevents the engine of the vehicle 1 from starting.

[0031] On the other hand, when the security function is set to off, if the detection unit 11 detects that the room lamp is on, the control unit 12 may be configured to keep the external relay 20 in a closed state so that the engine of the vehicle 1 can be started even if the vehicle-mounted device 10 transitions from a sleep state to an on state.

[0032] The vehicle-mounted device 10 may also automatically switch to the sleep state after a predetermined time has elapsed since the device 10 switched from the sleep state to the on state.

[0033] The security function can be turned on and off remotely using a smartphone application or the like.

[0034] With this configuration, by controlling the on / off of the security function, the trade-off between the time spent on theft prevention and the time during which the owner of vehicle 1 cannot start the engine can be adjusted according to the needs of the owner of vehicle 1.

[0035] An example of the operation of the vehicle-mounted device 10 according to this embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG.

[0036] As shown in FIG. 2, in step S101, the control unit 12 determines whether the detection unit 11 has turned on the room lamp 2 of the vehicle 1.

[0037] If it is determined that the room lamp 2 of the vehicle 1 is turned on, the operation proceeds to step S102.

[0038] In step S102, the control unit 12 switches the vehicle-mounted device 10 from the sleep state to the on state.

[0039] In step S103, the control unit 12 determines whether the security function is on.

[0040] If the security function is on, the operation proceeds to step S104, and if the security function is off, the operation ends.

[0041] In step S104, the control unit 12 switches the external relay 20 to the open state for a predetermined time after the vehicle-mounted device 10 is turned on, thereby preventing the vehicle 1 from starting up.

[0042] According to this embodiment, the external relay 20 can reduce the power consumption of the external battery, and can provide better anti-theft effects than a configuration in which the start-up of the vehicle 1 is prevented by triggering the execution of an engine start operation.

[0043] Although the present invention has been described in detail using the above-described embodiments, it is clear to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described herein. The present invention can be implemented in modified and altered forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the claims. Therefore, the description in this specification is intended to be illustrative and explanatory and does not have any limiting meaning on the present invention.

[0044] REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 vehicle 2 room lamp 3 external relay 10 vehicle-mounted device 11 detection unit 12 control unit

Claims

1. An on-board device mounted on a vehicle, comprising: a detection unit that detects whether a room lamp of the vehicle is on; and a control unit that, when the on-board device is in a sleep state and the detection unit detects that the room lamp is on, turns on the on-board device, opens a normally closed external relay of the vehicle, and prevents the engine of the vehicle from starting.

2. The vehicle-mounted device according to claim 1, wherein when the vehicle-mounted device is in a sleep state and the detection unit detects that the room lamp is on, the control unit prevents the engine of the vehicle from starting for a predetermined period of time after the vehicle-mounted device is switched to an on state.

3. The vehicle-mounted device according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined time is changeable.

4. The vehicle-mounted device of claim 2, wherein the control unit prevents the vehicle's engine from starting for only the specified time when the security function is set to on, the vehicle-mounted device is in a sleep state, and the detection unit detects that the room lamp is on, and when the security function is set to off, the control unit does not prevent the vehicle's engine from starting even when the vehicle-mounted device is in a sleep state and the detection unit detects that the room lamp is on.

5. The vehicle-mounted device according to claim 4, wherein the security function can be turned on and off by remote control.

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