JP5263575B2 - Operating history determination system with operating history storage system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an operation history storage system capable of specifying whether action is carried out due to the possibility of collision of a vehicle, even when a seat position is changed without the collision of the vehicle. <P>SOLUTION: The operation history storage system 1 storing an operation history of seat back control to a seat equipped in a vehicle, comprises an instruction transmitting information storing portion 13 storing instruction transmitting information indicating that a start signal for carrying out the seat back control exists, an operation state information storing portion 17 storing operation state information indicating the operation state of the seat, and a correlation determining portion 19 determining whether the operation state is caused by the seat back control corresponding to the operation instruction or not. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an operation history storage system that stores an operation history of seat back control for a seat provided in a vehicle, and an operation history determination system including such an operation history storage system.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, vehicles are provided with various occupant protection devices that ensure occupant safety. Among this type of occupant protection device, there is a device that predicts a vehicle collision and raises a seat back of a seat provided in the vehicle (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  The occupant protection system described in Patent Document 1 detects a dangerous state of a vehicle at an early stage by various sensors provided in the vehicle, and controls an actuator that adjusts the position of the seat based on the detection result.

  Further, the vehicle occupant restraint device described in Patent Document 2 detects a rear collision of the vehicle in advance, and controls to restrain the head of the occupant seated on the seat to the headrest side based on the detection result. Also, the seatback tilt is changed and the occupant's spine is stretched.

Special table 2007-500650 gazette JP 2001-322532 A

  In the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, if a collision actually occurs in the vehicle after the change of the seat position or the change of the inclination of the seat back performed based on the collision prediction, the occupant determines the position of the seat. The reason why the inclination of the seat back is changed can be understood. However, when the collision is predicted but the collision does not occur, the seat and the seat back are changed from the position preferred by the occupant, which may be uncomfortable. In particular, in the case of a collision predicted according to the approach of another vehicle from the rear, the passenger will not know why the seat position has changed unless there is a subsequent collision. There was a possibility of misunderstanding that the vehicle occupant restraint device was out of order.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the purpose of the present invention is that even if a collision does not occur after the change of the seat position, the change of the seat position may cause the vehicle to collide. It is an object of the present invention to provide an operation history storage system capable of specifying whether or not the operation has been performed because of the operation, and an operation history determination system including such an operation history storage system.

  The characteristic configuration of the operation history storage system according to the present invention for achieving the above object includes an instruction transmission information storage unit that stores instruction transmission information indicating that there is an activation signal for performing the seat back control, and And an operating state information storage unit that stores operating state information indicating the operating state of the seat.

  With such a characteristic configuration, the instruction transmission information indicating that there is an activation signal for performing the seat back control and the operation state information indicating the operation state of the seat are stored. Based on these information Thus, even if no collision occurs after the seat position is changed, it is possible to easily identify whether or not the change in the seat position is an operation performed because there is a possibility that the vehicle may collide. It becomes possible.

  Further, it is preferable that the operation state information is stored when the seat is operated in response to the activation signal.

  Further, it is preferable that the operation state information is stored when the seat does not operate in response to the activation signal.

  In addition, it is preferable that a temporal information acquisition unit that acquires temporal information indicating temporal information in the vehicle is provided, and the temporal information is stored in the instruction transmission information storage unit and the operating state information storage unit.

  With such a configuration, it is possible to specify the time point when the instruction transmission information is saved and the time point when the operating state information is saved based on the time-lapse information.

  A preferred embodiment of the time information is the number of engine starts provided in the vehicle.

  Further, the feature configuration of the operation history determination system according to the present invention includes an operation history storage system, a correlation determination unit that determines whether or not the operation state is a result of seat back control corresponding to the activation signal, and In the point provided with.

  With such a characteristic configuration, whether or not the change in the seat position is an operation performed because there is a possibility that the vehicle may collide even when the collision does not occur after the change in the seat position. Can be easily identified. Therefore, the reason for changing the position of the seat can be specified, so that it is not necessary to perform an unnecessary failure analysis of the seat back control.

  Further, for example, if the operation state information is information indicating that the seat has been operated in response to the activation signal, it is possible to prove that the seat back control has been normally performed. Alternatively, if the operation state information is information indicating that the seat is not operated in response to the activation signal, it is possible to prove that it is not necessary to perform the seat back control. Therefore, according to this characteristic configuration, it is possible to prove that the seat back control has been normally performed.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 schematically shows a seat 2 including an operation history storage system 1 (not shown) according to the present invention and an operation history determination system 8 (not shown) provided with the operation history storage system. It is a figure. The seat 2 includes a headrest 3, a seat back 4, and a seat cushion 5. The seat back 4 can be reclined manually or automatically.

  The manual reclining operation is performed by the occupant operating a lever (not shown). Further, the automatic reclining operation is performed by the occupant operating a switch (not shown). A reclining operation is performed by energizing the motor 6 in accordance with the operation of the switch. The seat 2 is provided with an electronic control unit (ECU) 7 and controls the reclining operation.

  The ECU 7 also performs control to move the seat back 4 to a preset position for the purpose of protecting the vehicle occupant when there is a possibility of a collision in the vehicle. Although details will be described later, the collision is predicted based on approach information from the front, rear, and sides of the vehicle calculated according to the detection result of the radar provided in the vehicle. Based on this prediction, when it is determined that there is a possibility of a collision in the vehicle, the ECU 7 controls the motor 6 to move the seat back 4 at a high speed so that the occupant's posture becomes an appropriate position. Control to do. Specifically, control is performed to adjust the inclination of the seat back 4 in order to reduce the impact of the collision. This inclination is determined according to the configuration of the vehicle, the speed of the vehicle when the collision is likely to occur, and the like. Such control is called seat back control.

  However, this seat back control may not perform the seat back control depending on the state of the seat back 4 at that time even if there is approach information. In such a case, the occupant may think that the seat back control is abnormal because the seat back 4 has not been moved despite the collision of the vehicle. On the other hand, even when the seat back control is performed, there is a case where a collision does not actually occur. In such a case, the occupant may think that the seat back control is abnormal because no collision occurs even though the seat back 4 is moved.

  The operation history storage system 1 according to the present invention has a function of storing an operation history of seat back control for a seat 2 provided in a vehicle. Further, the operation history determination system 8 according to the present invention is an operation performed because the vehicle may collide even when the position of the seat back 4 is changed without the vehicle colliding. It has the function which can specify whether it was. FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a schematic configuration of the operation history determination system 8 including the operation history storage system 1 according to the present invention. The operation history determination system 8 may be configured in the ECU 7 in FIG. 1 or may be configured separately from the ECU 7.

  The operation history determination system 8 according to the present invention includes an operation history storage system 1, a seat back control unit 9, a correlation determination unit 19, and a determination result storage unit 20. The seat back control unit 9 is composed of an approach information acquisition unit 10, an activation signal transmission unit 11, an operation instruction unit 12, a seat information acquisition unit 14, an operation condition determination unit 15, and an operation control unit 16, which are described above. Perform seat back control. In addition, the operation history storage system 1 includes functional units such as an instruction transmission information storage unit 13, an operation state information storage unit 17, and a temporal information acquisition unit 18, and stores an operation history of seat back control. Here, in the operation history determination system 8, the functional unit for performing various processes related to operation history determination using the CPU as a core member is constructed by hardware and / or software. Hereinafter, the configuration of each part of the operation history determination system 8 will be described.

  The approach information acquisition unit 10 acquires approach information indicating that there is an object approaching the vehicle. An object approaching the vehicle is an object that is likely to collide with the vehicle or an object that is likely to collide with the vehicle. The object includes vehicles other than the vehicle, people, buildings, and the like. Accordingly, the approach information is information indicating other vehicles, people, buildings, or the like that are likely to collide with the vehicle or are likely to collide with the vehicle. Further, the approach of these objects to the vehicle is detected based on various radars provided around the vehicle. Therefore, the approach information acquisition unit 10 can predict in advance the occurrence of a collision from the front of the vehicle, a collision from the rear, a collision from the side, and the like based on the above-described approach information. The approach information acquisition unit 10 transmits such approach information to the activation signal transmission unit 11 described later.

  The activation signal transmission unit 11 transmits an activation signal for performing seat back control on the seat 2 provided in the vehicle, in accordance with the approach information transmitted from the approach information acquisition unit 10. The approach information is transmitted from the approach information acquisition unit 10 as described above. Therefore, when the activation signal transmission unit 11 acquires the approach information from the approach information acquisition unit 10, the activation signal transmission unit 11 transmits the activation signal to the operation instruction unit 12 described later.

  When the activation signal is transmitted from the activation signal transmission unit 11, the operation instruction unit 12 instructs the operation to perform the seat back control. The operation instruction is an operation instruction of the seat back 4 in the present embodiment. This operation instruction is transmitted to an instruction transmission information storage unit 13 and an operation condition determination unit 15 which will be described later.

  The instruction transmission information storage unit 13 stores instruction transmission information indicating that there has been an activation signal for performing seatback control. The instruction transmission information is stored only when there is an activation signal for performing seat back control. Therefore, it is possible to specify whether or not there is an activation signal for performing the seat back control based on the content stored in the instruction transmission information storage unit 13. That is, when the instruction transmission information is stored, it indicates that there is an activation signal for performing the seat back control. When the instruction transmission information is not stored, the activation signal for performing the seat back control is displayed. Indicates no. In addition, the instruction transmission information storage unit 13 also stores the time-lapse information acquired by the time-lapse information acquisition unit 18 to be described later so that it can be specified when the instruction transmission information to be stored is at the time. Linked to information and saved.

  The time information acquisition unit 18 acquires information about the number of engine starts provided in the vehicle as time information. The information related to the number of engine starts is information indicating the number of engine starts from a predetermined time point set in advance. The predetermined time point set in advance can be, for example, a time point when the engine is incorporated in the vehicle, or a time point when the vehicle becomes the property of the user. Of course, if the number of engine starts can be specified, the number of engine starts from other points in time can be used. In the following description, it is assumed that the time-lapse information is information indicating the number of engine starts. The time information acquisition unit 18 transmits the acquired information related to the number of engine starts to the instruction transmission information storage unit 13 described above. Therefore, the instruction transmission information storage unit 13 also stores information related to the number of engine starts linked to the instruction transmission information. The time information acquisition unit 18 also transmits information related to the number of engine starts to an operation state information storage unit 17 described later.

  The sheet information acquisition unit 14 acquires sheet information. The sheet information is information indicating the state of the sheet 2. The information indicating the state of the seat 2 is information indicating the inclination (degree of reclining) of the seat back 4 and information indicating whether the inclination of the seat back 4 is being changed by an occupant's operation. is there. Such sheet information is transmitted from the sheet information acquisition unit 14 to an operation condition determination unit 15 described later.

  The operating condition determination unit 15 determines whether or not the seat back control can be performed. As described above, the seat back control may not be performed due to the inclination of the seat back 4 or the like. The operation condition determination unit 15 includes an operation condition that is a condition for performing or not performing such seat back control. Specifically, the operation condition for performing the seat back control is that the user does not perform an operation of moving the seat 2 and that the seat back 4 is sufficiently raised. . Specifically, the state that has occurred sufficiently is set in advance as the inclination of the seat back 4 is α degrees or more. As described above, when the operation instruction is transmitted from the operation instruction unit 12 so as to perform the seat back control, the operation condition determination unit 15 is based on the sheet information and the operation condition transmitted from the seat information acquisition unit 14. It is determined whether or not the seat back control can be performed.

  This determination result is transmitted to the operating state control unit 16 or the operating state information storage unit 17. That is, when it is determined that the current seat state has an operation condition based on the sheet information, the operation condition determination unit 15 transmits a determination result to the operation control unit 16 described later. On the other hand, when it is determined that the current seat state does not have an operation condition, the operation condition determination unit 15 is transmitted to an operation state information storage unit 17 described later.

  The operation control unit 16 performs the seat back control when the operation condition determination unit 15 determines that the current seat state includes the operation condition of the seat back control. In the seat back control, the seat back 4 is controlled to move to an inclination suitable for protecting a vehicle occupant from an impact such as a collision. Therefore, even if a collision occurs in the vehicle as it is, it is possible to minimize the impact on the passenger. The operation control unit 16 transmits operation state information indicating the operation state of the seat 4 to the operation state storage unit 17.

  The operating state information storage unit 17 stores operating state information indicating the operating state of the seat 2. As described above, the operation state information is transmitted from the operation control unit 16 when the seat back control is performed by the operation control unit 16. In addition, information relating to the number of engine starts acquired by the time information acquisition unit 18 is also stored in the operation state information storage unit 17 in linkage with the operation state information. Therefore, the operation history determination system 8 according to the present invention can identify how many times the engine has been started based on the operation state information.

  On the other hand, the operation state information storage unit 17 also transmits a determination result when the operation condition determination unit 15 determines that the current seat state does not have an operation condition. The operating state information storage unit 17 also stores this determination result as operating state information. In this case, the operation state information stored in the operation state information storage unit 17 is the operation condition of the seat back control even though the instruction to perform the seat back control is output by the operation instruction unit 12. This is information indicating that the seat back control has not been performed. That is, the information indicates that the seat back control has not been performed because the user is performing an operation of moving the seat 2 or the seat back 4 is not sufficiently raised. In this case as well, information related to the number of engine starts acquired by the time information acquisition unit 18 is stored in a link with the operating state information. Therefore, the operation history determination system 8 according to the present invention can identify how many times the engine has been started without performing the seat back control based on the operation state information. .

  The correlation determination unit 19 determines whether or not the operating state is a result of seat back control corresponding to the activation signal. As described above, the activation signal is a signal for performing seatback control, and the presence of the activation signal is stored in the instruction transmission information storage unit 13 as instruction transmission information. The operating state indicates the operating state of the seat 2 and is stored in the operating state information storage unit 17 as operating state information. The operation state information includes information indicating that the seat condition is determined not to have the operation condition by the operation condition determination unit 15 described above, or information indicating that the seat back control is performed by the operation control unit 15. Is included. When these pieces of information are stored in the respective storage units, information relating to the number of engine starts at that time is stored by linking to the respective information.

  The correlation determination unit 19 includes the number of engine starts included in the specific instruction transmission information stored in the instruction transmission information storage unit 13 and the engine included in the specific operation state information stored in the operation state information storage unit 17. Are determined in association with each other. That is, if each piece of information includes information related to the number of start times of the same engine, it is determined that there is a correlation because the operating state is a result of seat back control corresponding to the start signal. On the other hand, if there is only one of the information related to the number of times of starting the predetermined engine, it is determined that there is no correlation because it is not the result of the seat back control corresponding to the start signal.

  The instruction transmission information stored in the instruction transmission information storage unit 13 and the operation state information indicating that the seatback control stored in the operation state information storage unit 17 has been performed have the same information regarding the number of engine starts. If there is, it indicates that the seat back control is normally performed based on the operation instruction of the operation instruction unit 12. Further, it relates to the number of engine start times of the instruction transmission information stored in the instruction transmission information storage unit 13 and the operation state information indicating that the seat state stored in the operation state information storage unit 17 does not have the operation condition. If the information is the same, it indicates that there has been an operation instruction from the operation instruction unit 12, but it has been determined that the position of the seat state at that time does not need to be controlled. Therefore, also in this case, it indicates that the seat back control is normally performed.

  On the other hand, the operation state information indicating that the seat back control stored in the operation state information storage unit 17 corresponding to the information related to the number of engine starts in the instruction transmission information stored in the instruction transmission information storage unit 13 is performed. If there is no operation state information indicating that the seat state stored in the operation state information storage unit 17 does not have an operation condition, the seat back control may have to be performed. Regardless, this indicates that the seat back control was not performed, and that the seat back control was abnormal.

  Further, the information on the engine start frequency of the operation state information indicating that the seat back control stored in the operation state information storage unit 17 has been performed, and the seat state stored in the operation state information storage unit 17 determine the operation condition. When there is no instruction transmission information stored in the instruction transmission information storage unit 13 corresponding to information related to the number of engine start times of the operating state information indicating that it was not provided, it was not necessary to perform seat back control Nevertheless, it indicates that the seat back control has been performed, and that the seat back control is abnormal. In this way, it is possible to determine whether or not the seat back control has been performed normally. Such a determination result is stored in a determination result storage unit 20 described later.

  The determination result storage unit 20 stores the determination result of the correlation between the instruction transmission information determined by the correlation determination unit 19 and the operating state information. As described above, if there is a correlation between the instruction transmission information and the operation state information, it indicates that the seat back control has been normally performed. On the other hand, if there is no correlation between the instruction transmission information and the operating state information, it indicates that the seat back control is abnormal. Thus, even if the position of the seat back 4 constituting the seat 2 is changed without the vehicle colliding, whether or not the operation is performed because the vehicle may collide. It becomes possible to specify.

  Next, the control performed by the operation history storage system 1 will be described using a flowchart. FIG. 3 is a flowchart regarding control of the operation history storage system 1. First, when the present system is activated (the engine is started), a counter for counting the number of engine starts is updated by adding 1 to the current counter value (step # 02). This counter is maintained even when the system is not activated.

  If the approach information indicating that there is an object approaching the vehicle is not acquired by the approach information acquisition unit 10 after the engine is started (step # 03: No), the process is suspended until the approach information is acquired.

  On the other hand, when the approach information is acquired by the approach information acquiring unit 10 (step # 03: Yes), the activation signal transmitting unit 11 transmits an activation signal for performing the seat back control to the operation instructing unit 12 (step). # 04). In response to the activation signal, the operation instruction unit 12 instructs to perform seat back control (step # 05). This instruction is first given to the operating condition determination unit 15. Further, the operation instructing unit 12 indicates the instruction transmission information indicating that there is an activation signal for performing the seat back control, and the time-lapse information corresponding to the instruction transmission information, that is, the information related to the number of engine starts. The data is stored in the storage unit 13 (step # 06).

  Next, the operating condition determination unit 15 acquires sheet information indicating the current sheet state acquired by the sheet information acquisition unit 14 (step # 07). The operation condition determination unit 15 determines whether or not the current sheet state has an operation condition based on the sheet information. When the current seat condition has an operation condition (step # 08: Yes), the operation control unit 16 performs the seat back control, that is, a position suitable for protecting the vehicle occupant from the collision. The seat back 4 is moved to (step # 10). Then, the operation control unit 16 stores, in the operation state information storage unit 17, operation state information indicating that seatback control has been performed, and time-dependent information corresponding to the operation state information, that is, information related to the number of engine starts. (Step # 11).

  On the other hand, in step # 08, when the current seat state does not have the operating condition (step # 08: No), the operating condition determination unit 15 indicates that the current seat state does not have the operating condition. Then, the time-lapse information corresponding to the operating state information, that is, the information related to the engine start frequency is stored in the operating state information storage unit 17 (step # 09).

  Then, the correlation determination unit 19 determines the correlation between the instruction transmission information stored in the instruction transmission information storage unit 13 and the operation state information stored in the operation state information storage unit 17 (step # 12). . This determination is made based on whether or not each piece of information includes information related to the number of engine starts. That is, if the information related to the engine start frequency linked to the instruction transmission information corresponds to the information related to the engine start frequency linked to the operating state information, it is determined that each information is correlated ( Step # 13: Yes), it is determined that the seat back control is normal (step # 14).

  On the other hand, if the information related to the engine start frequency linked to the instruction transmission information and the information related to the engine start frequency linked to the operating state information do not correspond to each other, it is determined that the respective information has no correlation ( Step # 13: No), it is determined that the seat back control is abnormal (step # 15). These determination results are stored in the determination result storage unit 20 (step # 16), and the process ends.

  In this way, even when the position of the seat 2 is changed without the vehicle colliding, it is possible to specify whether or not the operation is performed because the vehicle may collide. It becomes possible.

[Other Embodiments]
In the above embodiment, the correlation determination unit 19 has been described as determining the correlation based on the instruction transmission information and the operating state information. However, the scope of application of the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the activation signal transmission unit 11 may store information indicating that the activation signal is stored in a separately provided storage unit (for example, the activation signal transmission information storage unit) together with the transmission of the activation signal. With such a configuration, it is possible to determine whether or not the activation signal transmission unit 11 is abnormal by using the information for the correlation determination performed by the correlation determination unit 19.

  In the above-described embodiment, it has been described that the time-lapse information is information related to the number of engine starts provided in the vehicle. However, the scope of application of the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as time information, it is naturally possible to use date and time information indicating date and time instead of information on the number of engine starts. Alternatively, it is naturally possible to use a count value of a timer provided separately. Of course, it is also possible to use a combination of the number of engine starts and the count value of the timer. It is also possible to use a reception count value indicating the number of times the activation instruction unit 12 has received the activation signal received from the activation signal transmission unit 11. Even in these cases, it is naturally possible to determine the correlation between the instruction transmission information and the operating state information.

  In the above embodiment, the instruction transmission information storage unit 13 and the operation state information storage unit 17 are not specifically described. For example, it is naturally possible to form this storage form in the form of a ring buffer. Further, these storage units can be formed by, for example, an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory). In such a case, it is possible to store three sets in order to improve the reliability of data retention.

  In the above-described embodiment, it has been described that the time-lapse information is information related to the number of engine starts provided in the vehicle. However, the scope of application of the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it is naturally possible to apply the operation history storage system 1 and the operation history determination system 8 according to the present invention to an electric vehicle that does not use an engine as a power source or a hybrid vehicle that uses an engine and a rotating electric machine as a power source. When applied to such a vehicle, it is preferable that the time-lapse information is information related to the number of energizations, which is the number of times the main power is turned on, instead of the information related to the engine start frequency. Even in such a case, it is naturally possible to obtain the operational effects of the operation history storage system 1 and the operation history determination system 8 according to the present invention.

Diagram showing the sheet schematically 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a schematic configuration of an operation history storage system according to the present invention. Flow chart relating to control of operation history storage system

Explanation of symbols

1: Operation history storage system 10: Approach information acquisition unit 11: Activation signal transmission unit 12: Operation instruction unit 13: Instruction transmission information storage unit 14: Sheet information acquisition unit 15: Operation condition determination unit 16: Operation control unit 17: Operation State information storage unit 18: Time information acquisition unit 19: Correlation determination unit 20: Determination result storage unit

Claims (3)

An operation history determination system including an operation history storage system for storing an operation history of seat back control for a seat provided in a vehicle,
An instruction transmission information storage unit for storing instruction transmission information indicating that there is an activation signal for performing the seat back control;
An operating state information storage unit for storing operating state information indicating the operating state of the seat;
A time information acquisition unit for acquiring time information indicating information over time in the vehicle ,
The time information is the number of energizations that is the number of times the engine provided in the vehicle is started or the number of times the main power of the vehicle is turned on, and the time information is stored in the instruction transmission information storage unit and the operating state information storage unit. An operation history storage system ,
A correlation determination unit that determines whether or not the operating state is a result of seat back control corresponding to the activation signal based on a correlation between the instruction transmission information and the operating state information;
An operation history determination system comprising: The operation history determination system according to claim 1, wherein the operation state information is stored when the seat is operated in response to the activation signal. The operation history determination system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the operation state information is stored when the seat does not operate in response to the activation signal.

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