JP3545901B2 - A device to prevent forgetting to turn off a car's lighting - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a lighting device for an automobile that can urge a driver to turn off a lighting device such as a headlight, a vehicle width light, or an illumination that is turned on when a vehicle or the like enters a tunnel, after passing through the tunnel. The present invention relates to a device for preventing forgetting to erase.
[0002]
[Prior art]
It is recommended that lights, such as headlamps, be turned on even during the daytime when a car travels in a tunnel. In automobiles and motorcycles, the driver must manually turn on and off the lights.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
When a driver of a car turns on / off the light manually, the driver sometimes forgets to turn off the light after passing through the tunnel. If the user forgets to turn off the light, the pedestrian, the vehicle running ahead, and the vehicle in the oncoming lane will be troubled. In addition, if the vehicle is stopped in a parking lot or the like and the engine is stopped, the battery of the automobile may be consumed, which may cause a so-called dead battery.
[0004]
An object of the present invention is to detect a forgetting to turn off a lighting lamp after passing through a tunnel and to provide guidance to a driver of the car to forget to turn off the lighting lamp, to prevent forgetting to turn off the lighting lamp, and to prevent inconvenience to others and prevent the battery from running out. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for preventing forgetting to turn off an automobile lighting.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention is a position detecting means for detecting the current position of the car,
Map storage means for storing map data in advance;
Based on the current position of the vehicle detected by the position detection means and the map data stored in the map storage means, the state of the lighting lamps turned off during traveling to a predetermined position before the tunnel entrance is confirmed, and the current position of the vehicle is determined. A guide means for guiding the user to forget to turn off the illumination light when the illumination light is on at a position before the exit of the tunnel.
According to the present invention, the current position of the car is detected by the position detecting means, and the current position is referred to the map data stored in the map storage means, and the illuminating lamp is turned off at a predetermined position in front of the tunnel entrance. Confirm that it is in the state. Thus, it is confirmed that the light is turned off during normal driving in the daytime. If the lighting state of the lamp is detected when the current position of the car is located ahead of the exit of the tunnel, the driver is notified that the lamp has been forgotten to be turned off. The lighting state of the illumination lamp can be detected, for example, by detecting whether the illumination of an instrument panel that is turned on / off in conjunction with the illumination lamp is turned on / off in an automobile. At the specified position near the entrance of the tunnel, make sure that it is not necessary to turn on the lighting before entering the tunnel, and forget to turn it off when the lighting is on at the end of the tunnel Since the guidance is performed, the driver of the car is warned to be careful, and it is possible to prevent forgetting to turn off the illuminated lights in the tunnel.
[0006]
Also, the present invention is characterized in that the lighting lamp is manually turned on / off.
According to the present invention, it is determined whether the manual operation of turning on / off the lighting is for normal driving or for tunnel passage based on the current position of the tunnel with respect to the population, and It is possible to prevent forgetting to turn off at the exit.
[0007]
Further, in the present invention, the guidance means performs the forgetting to erase information by voice output or display.
According to the present invention, since the guidance for forgetting to turn off is performed by voice output, the driver of the vehicle can intuitively recognize the forgetting to turn off the illumination lamp by hearing. The driver does not need to look away, and can drive safely. In addition, since guidance for forgetting to turn off the light is displayed, for example, by displaying a lamp on or by displaying characters or icons on the screen, the driver of the vehicle can visually and intuitively recognize that the user has forgotten to turn off the lighting.
[0008]
Further, in the present invention, the guide unit confirms the light-off state at a position where a distance to a tunnel entrance is a predetermined distance.
According to the present invention, the light-off state of the lighting is confirmed at a position where the current position of the vehicle detected by the position detecting means is a predetermined distance from the tunnel entrance based on the map data stored in the map storing means. The predetermined distance is usually a position on the near side of the position where the driver of the car should turn on the lighting in front of the tunnel entrance, so if the driver of the car turns off the lighting, traveling outside the tunnel It is possible to confirm a state in which it is not necessary to turn on the illumination lamp.
[0009]
Further, in the present invention, the guide unit confirms the light-off state at a position where an estimated arrival time to the tunnel entrance is a predetermined time.
According to the present invention, the distance from the current position of the vehicle detected by the position detecting means to the entrance of the tunnel from the map data stored in the map storing means is estimated to be the arrival required for traveling at the current traveling speed. When the time reaches a predetermined time, the state of turning off the illumination lamp is confirmed. This confirmation position is usually on the near side of the position where the driver of the car turns on the lighting at the entrance of the tunnel, so there is no need to turn on the lighting before turning on when entering the tunnel. Can be surely confirmed.
[0010]
In the present invention, the guide unit detects the lighting state at a position at a predetermined distance from a tunnel exit.
According to the present invention, the lighting state of the illumination lamp is detected at a point at a predetermined distance from the exit after passing through the tunnel. Since the predetermined distance from the exit of the tunnel is usually set before the position where the driver of the car turns off the lighting, if the lighting is forgotten to be turned off, the forgotten turn off is reliably detected. be able to.
[0011]
Further, in the present invention, the guide unit detects the lighting state at a position where the vehicle has traveled for a predetermined time from a tunnel exit.
According to the present invention, the lighting state of the illuminating lamp is detected at a point after a lapse of a predetermined time from the exit after passing through the tunnel. Is a position ahead of the position where the light is turned off, so that if it is in the lighting state, it can be reliably detected that the lighting lamp has been forgotten to be turned off.
[0012]
Further, in the present invention, the guiding means performs the forgetting to erase information at a position at a predetermined distance from an exit of the tunnel.
According to the present invention, when it is detected that the lighting lamp has been forgotten to be turned off, guidance is provided at a predetermined distance from the tunnel exit to prevent forgetting to turn off the lighting lamp. The guidance for forgetting to turn off can be reliably provided so as to prevent a situation in which the vehicle continues to travel over a long distance.
[0013]
Further, in the present invention, the guide means performs the forgotten-off guidance at a position at a predetermined time from the exit of the tunnel.
According to the present invention, since forgetting to erase is performed at a point where a predetermined time has elapsed from the exit after passing through the tunnel, it is possible to prevent a driver of the automobile from continuing to run in a state where the driver has forgotten to erase for a long time.
[0014]
Further, in the present invention, the position of the confirmation of the lighting state on the tunnel entrance side performed by the guidance means, the position of the detection of the lighting state on the tunnel exit side, the position of forgetting to turn off, the method of forgetting to turn off, It is characterized by comprising setting means that can be set in advance.
According to the present invention, it is possible to set, in the setting means, a confirmation point of the lighting state of the illumination lamp on the tunnel entrance side, a detection point of the lighting state on the tunnel exit side, a guide point and a method at the time of detecting forgetting to turn off, and the like. Therefore, it is possible to perform a combination or selection as needed by the driver, and to provide guidance for preventing forgetting to erase in a mode according to the driver's request.
[0015]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 shows a schematic electrical configuration of hardware of a device for preventing a lamp of a vehicle from being turned off as one embodiment of the present invention. The device for preventing forgetting to turn off the lighting of an automobile basically includes a navigation device including a processing unit 1, a display output unit 2, a map storage unit 3, and a vehicle position detection unit 4. The detection circuit 5 detects whether power is supplied from a battery power supply to an illumination such as an instrument panel provided as an instrument panel in the front part of the vehicle compartment, and whether the illumination is on. As a device for preventing the user from forgetting to erase, guidance output to forget to erase is performed via the audio output device 6 and the alarm lamp 7. The condition for forgetting to erase and the position and method of performing the forgetting to erase can be set from the input device 8 such as a remote controller and a keyboard. The headlamp 9 to be prevented from being forgotten to be turned on and off is switched on and off along with illumination such as an instrument panel and a vehicle side light by turning on / off a light switch 10. A power supply voltage is applied from a battery power supply to a regulator 12 via a power supply switch 11, and is stabilized and supplied to each unit.
[0016]
The map storage means 3 optically reads out map data stored in advance on a CD-ROM disc 13 which is an exchangeable storage medium by a CD-ROM driver 14 and extracts it as road network information by a CD-ROM decoder 15. be able to. The road network information represents a road as a set of nodes and links. A node is a point on a road and has position coordinates as data. The link has a distance between nodes and various attributes as data. The presence or absence of a tunnel is also included in the link attribute.
[0017]
The processing means 1 includes a CPU 16, a ROM 17, and a RAM 18. The CPU 16 performs an operation as a navigation device and a device for preventing lighting lamps from being turned off in accordance with a program stored in the ROM 17 in advance. The RAM 18 stores data that need to be temporarily stored according to a program operation. When the processing means searches for a route from the departure place where the vehicle travels to the destination as a route search means, the searched guide route is stored in the RAM. The CPU 16 is connected to each unit via a system bus 19, and is also connected to an interface 20 in the vehicle position detecting means 4.
[0018]
The direction sensor 21, the angular velocity sensor 22, the distance sensor 23, and the GPS device 24 are connected to the interface 20. The direction sensor 21 detects the traveling direction of the vehicle as an absolute direction with reference to, for example, geomagnetism. The angular velocity sensor 22 detects a force acting according to a change speed in the traveling direction of the vehicle, for example, by a vibration gyro. The distance sensor 23 detects a traveling distance of the vehicle. The GPS device 24 receives radio waves from a plurality of GPS artificial satellites and absolutely detects the current position and time. By combining the change in the traveling direction detected by the azimuth sensor 21 or the angular velocity sensor 22 with the traveling distance detected by the distance sensor 23, the current position is relatively calculated based on the position of the vehicle before traveling. You can also.
[0019]
The detection of the vehicle position can be relatively performed by combining one of the azimuth sensor 21 and the angular velocity sensor 22 with the distance sensor 23. If there is either a relative detected vehicle position or an absolute vehicle position detected by the GPS device 24, map matching with the map data from the map storage unit 3 is performed. , The detection accuracy can be improved.
[0020]
As the navigation device, a road map is displayed on a screen of a display device 25 such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT) included in the display output means 2, and the position of the vehicle is displayed in real time. Has functions. The display device 25 is controlled by a display controller 26, and the graphic data of roads and the like is displayed in a graphic memory 28 by a graphic controller 27.
[0021]
FIG. 2 shows an equivalent system configuration of the embodiment of FIG. Since the detection circuit 5 of FIG. 1 detects whether the headlight 9 or the like is turned on or off, it operates as a light state detection unit. The sound output device 6 and the alarm lamp 7 operate as sound output means and lamp output means, respectively. The processing unit 1 operates as the post-passage light state detection unit 30 and the guidance output determination unit 31 according to the program.
[0022]
FIG. 3 shows an operation performed by the processing means 1 of FIG. 1 according to a program. When the power switch 11 is turned on, the operation starts from step a1. In step a2, data indicating the vehicle position is acquired from the vehicle position detection means 4 via the system bus 19. In step a3, it is determined whether or not the own vehicle position is a predetermined position before entering the tunnel, that is, before the tunnel entrance, by comparing the own vehicle position with the tunnel position of the map data in the map storage means 3. If the condition that is the predetermined position before entering the tunnel is satisfied, in step a4, the state of the light such as the headlight 9 in FIG. 1 is detected by the detection circuit 5 as the light state detecting means. The detection result is stored in a specific storage area of the RAM 18, for example. In step a5, it is determined whether or not the vehicle position has reached a predetermined position after passing through the tunnel. If the reaching condition is satisfied, at step a6, the state of the light such as the headlight 9 is detected by the detection circuit 5 as the light state detecting means. The operations in steps a4 and a6 correspond to the operations as the post-passage light state detection means 30 in FIG.
[0023]
In step a7, the guidance output determination means 31 of FIG. 2 determines whether or not to output a guidance to forget to turn off the light based on the light states detected in steps a4 and a6. When the condition that the light state before entering the tunnel detected in step a4 is off (OFF) and the light state after passing through the tunnel detected in step a6 is on (ON), it is determined that the light is forgotten to be turned off. In step a8, a guidance output indicating that the user has forgotten to turn off the illumination lamp is output. When step a8 ends, or when the conditions are not satisfied in steps a3, a5, and a7, the process returns to step a2, and the operation up to step a9 is repeated thereafter.
[0024]
FIG. 4 shows the concept of the position where the state of the light is detected. When the tunnel 42 exists in the traveling direction ahead of the road 41 on which the vehicle 40 travels, the condition of step a3 in FIG. 3 is satisfied at a point P1 at a predetermined distance L1 from the entrance of the tunnel 42 to the near side. This point P1 is on the near side of the point at the distance Lon. The distance Lon is within a range of Ron from here to the inside of the tunnel 42, and is a distance at which the driver of the vehicle 41 normally turns on the headlights 9 and the like even during daytime driving. If it is on the front side of the range Ron, the headlight 9 is not turned on during normal traveling in the daytime. Therefore, after confirming the extinguished state of the headlamp 9 and the like at the point P1, if the lighting state of the headlamp 9 and the like is detected at the exit side of the tunnel 42, the headlamp 9 is turned on during that period. This means that the operation of the light switch 10 has been performed. Further, when the headlights 9 and the like are always turned on, such as at night, the lighting state is also detected at the point P1.
[0025]
On the exit side of the tunnel 42, the driver of the vehicle 40 normally turns off the headlights 9 and the like within a range Roff from the inside of the tunnel 42 to the outside by a distance Loff. Therefore, when it is detected that the headlight 9 or the like is lit at a point P2 at a predetermined distance L2 which is greater than Loff from the exit of the tunnel 42, if the point P1 on the entrance side is turned off, , Can be determined to be forgotten. The judgment result of forgetting to erase is guided at a point P3 at a predetermined distance L3 from the exit of the tunnel 42. Since the point P3 is farther from the exit of the tunnel 42 than the point P2, L2 <L3.
[0026]
The program stored in the ROM 17 of FIG. 1 includes a function of enabling the above-described predetermined distances L1, L2, and L3 to be arbitrarily set from the input device 8 according to the display screen of the display device 25. It is. Each of the predetermined distances L1, L2, L3 can be set to, for example, about 20 m, 20 m, 25 m. Instead of directly setting the distance, it is also possible to change the function so that the time is set. For the point P1, a predetermined expected arrival time, which is an expected time required to travel the predetermined distance L1 and reach the entrance of the tunnel 42 at the normal traveling speed of the vehicle 40, is set. As for the points P2 and P3, the time required to pass the predetermined distances L2 and L3 after passing through the exit of the tunnel 42 is set as the required time, respectively. For example, 5 seconds are set for each of the points P1 and P2, and 6 seconds are set for the point P3, for example. Immediately after detecting that the driver has forgotten to erase at point P2, it is preferable to provide a guide to call attention to the driver, because it is possible to prevent the driver from continuing to run for a long distance or for a long time in the state of forgetting to erase.
[0027]
In the guidance output of step a8 in FIG. 3, it is preferable to perform the guidance output by voice from the voice output device 6 in FIG. 1 because the driver of the vehicle can intuitively recognize that he / she has forgotten to erase the sound and does not need to change his / her eyes. . When the audio output device 6 is not provided, or even when the audio output device 6 is provided, audio is being reproduced, or when it is difficult to hear due to ambient noise, the display by lighting the alarm lamp 7 in FIG. 1 appeals to the driver's vision. This is preferable because it is possible to intuitively recognize that the user has forgotten to erase the image.
[0028]
FIG. 5 shows a state in which the icon 51 is displayed on the display screen 50 of the display device 25 in FIG. Instead of the icon 51, a character string may be used to guide the user to forget to turn off the light. These forgotten guidances are displayed on a part of an image display such as a route guidance as a navigation device, and if the detection circuit 5 detects that the light switch 10 is turned off, the driver can stop the guidance. When viewing the guidance image display, it is also possible to recognize that the user has forgotten to turn off the display and to prompt the user to perform a turn-off operation.
[0029]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is determined that the vehicle has passed through the tunnel based on the current position of the car and the map data, and that the illumination lamp is off before the tunnel and is on after the tunnel. When it is detected that the user has forgotten to turn off the vehicle, the driver can be surely notified of the driver who forgets to turn off the vehicle. As a result, it is possible to prevent inconvenience to the pedestrian, the driver of the preceding vehicle, or the driver of the oncoming vehicle, and to prevent the battery from running down due to forgetting to turn off the lighting.
[0030]
Further, according to the present invention, if the driver of the automobile manually turns on / off the lighting and turns on the lighting when passing through the tunnel, it is possible to prevent forgetting to turn off the light after passing through the tunnel.
[0031]
Further, according to the present invention, since the guidance for forgetting to turn off the lamp is performed by voice output or display, the driver of the vehicle recognizes the forgetting to turn off the lamp by hearing or vision and intuitively turns off the lamp once recognized. Operations can be performed.
[0032]
Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to reliably confirm the state of turning off the illumination light at the entrance side of the tunnel at a point at a predetermined distance from the entrance.
[0033]
Further, according to the present invention, since the turning-off state of the illuminating lamp at the entrance side of the illuminating lamp is checked at a point where the estimated arrival time is a predetermined time, it is ensured that the illuminating lamp is not turned on before entering the tunnel. Can be confirmed.
[0034]
Further, according to the present invention, since the lighting state of the lighting lamp is detected at a point at a predetermined distance from the exit after passing through the tunnel, if the lighting lamp is lit without forgetting to turn off, it can be reliably detected, and based on the detection result. The driver's attention can be surely urged by the guide to prevent the user from forgetting to turn it off.
[0035]
Further, according to the present invention, after passing through the tunnel, the lighting state of the illumination lamp is detected after a lapse of a predetermined time from the exit, and if it is detected, guidance for forgetting to turn off the light is performed. The driver can be alerted.
[0036]
Further, according to the present invention, the driver of the vehicle can immediately recognize the forgetting to turn off the lighting by guiding to forgetting to turn off the vehicle at a point at a predetermined distance from the exit after passing through the tunnel, so that the driver can leave the vehicle in a state of forgetting to turn off over a long distance. Running can be prevented.
[0037]
Further, according to the present invention, the driver of the automobile receives the guidance for forgetting to turn off the vehicle after passing the tunnel at a point after the elapse of a predetermined time, so that it is possible to prevent a situation in which the driver does not forget to turn off the lighting for a long time. .
[0038]
Further, according to the present invention, by the setting means, a position for confirming the lighting state at the tunnel entrance side for preventing forgetting to turn off, a position for detecting the lighting state at the exit side, or a point or method for providing guidance for forgetting to turn off. Can be set, so that the driver of the car can be guided to forget to turn off the vehicle as required, and the lighting lamp can be reliably turned off.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic hardware electrical configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating functions realized by a program operation of a processing unit of the embodiment of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a processing unit of the embodiment of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a relationship between traveling of an automobile and a tunnel.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of image display for preventing forgetting to erase;
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Processing means 2 Display means 3 Map storage means 4 Own vehicle position detecting means 5 Detection circuit 6 Voice output device 7 Alarm lamp 8 Input device 9 Headlight 10 Light switch 13 CD-ROM disk 16 CPU
17 ROM
18 RAM
21 Direction Sensor 22 Each Speed Sensor 23 Distance Sensor 24 GPS Device 25 Display Device 30 After Passing Before Entering Tunnel Light State Detecting Means 31 Guide Output Determining Means

Claims (10)

Position detecting means for detecting the current position of the vehicle,
Map storage means for storing map data in advance;
Based on the current position of the vehicle detected by the position detection means and the map data stored in the map storage means, the state of the lighting lamps turned off during traveling to a predetermined position before the tunnel entrance is confirmed, and the current position of the vehicle is determined. Guide means for guiding the user to forget to turn off the illumination light when the illumination light is turned on at a position ahead of the exit of the tunnel. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lighting is manually turned on / off. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guidance means performs the forgetting to turn off by voice output or display. 4. The device for preventing forgetting to turn off the lighting of an automobile according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the guide unit confirms the light-off state at a position where a distance to a tunnel entrance is a predetermined distance. . The vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the guide unit confirms the light-off state at a position where an estimated time to reach a tunnel entrance is a predetermined time. Prevention device. 6. The device for preventing forgetting to turn off the lighting of an automobile according to claim 1, wherein the guide means detects the lighting state at a position at a predetermined distance from a tunnel exit. The device for preventing forgetting to turn off the lighting of an automobile according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the guide unit detects the lighting state at a position where the vehicle has traveled for a predetermined time from a tunnel exit. 8. The device according to claim 1, wherein the guidance means performs the forgetting to turn off the vehicle at a position at a predetermined distance from an exit of the tunnel. The device for preventing forgetting to turn off the lighting of an automobile according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the guide means performs the forgetting to turn off the vehicle at a position at a predetermined time from the exit of the tunnel. It is possible to set in advance the position of the light-off state confirmation on the tunnel entrance side, the position of the light-on state detection on the tunnel exit side, the position of the forget-to-turn-off guidance, and the method of the forget-to-turn-off guidance performed by the guide means. 2. The apparatus for preventing forgetting to turn off an illumination light of a vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising setting means.

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