JP7609664B2 - Air pressure control device and vehicle including the air pressure control device - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to an air pressure control device and a vehicle including the air pressure control device.

Patent Document 1 discloses an air pressure controlled air conditioning system for vehicles that controls the air pressure inside an airtight vehicle cabin. Patent Document 2 discloses technology for a device that prevents the driver from falling asleep while driving by conditioning the space inside the vehicle cabin, in which the air pressure inside the vehicle cabin is detected, and when the air pressure is below a threshold, a blower is operated until the air pressure exceeds the threshold.

JP 2012-116404 A Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 06-191261

In the past, various solutions to the problem of motion sickness have been proposed. This disclosure proposes one of these solutions. In other words, this disclosure aims to solve the problem of motion sickness by controlling the air pressure inside the vehicle.

"Motion sickness" is generally recognized as a reaction of the autonomic nervous system caused by confusion in the brain between information from the semicircular canals and other sources of information from the eyes and body due to the swaying and irregular acceleration or deceleration caused by the vehicle. As an example of external factors that affect the autonomic nervous system, the relationship between the autonomic nervous system and air pressure has been pointed out in JP 2018-011729 A and other publications.

And current technologies, including those described in the patent documents above, cannot be said to adequately meet the market needs regarding "motion sickness," and the following issues exist.

For example, the above-mentioned Patent Documents 1 and 2 do not use information about air pressure that is unlikely to cause motion sickness according to the attributes (age, sex, etc.) of the occupants of the vehicle. Therefore, depending on the attributes of the occupants, it may not be possible to appropriately suppress the occurrence of motion sickness.

In addition, when there are multiple occupants in a vehicle, the air pressure ranges that are unlikely to cause motion sickness may not overlap between these multiple occupants. In such cases, it is difficult to say that Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 provide a method for making the ride more comfortable for all occupants.

The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems as an example, and aims to provide an air pressure control device and a vehicle including the air pressure control device that can more appropriately suppress the occurrence of motion sickness in various occupants of a vehicle.

In order to solve the above problem, the air pressure control device in one embodiment of the present disclosure includes a memory and a processor having hardware, and when at least one piece of information on the age and gender of an occupant in the vehicle cabin is input, the processor reads predetermined appropriate air pressure information for the vehicle cabin from the memory based on the input at least one piece of information on the age and gender, outputs an air pressure adjustment signal for adjusting the air pressure in the vehicle cabin based on the read appropriate air pressure information, and when a car sickness occurrence signal of the occupant in the vehicle cabin is input, outputs an air pressure increase signal for increasing the air pressure in the vehicle cabin above the adjusted air pressure.

The present disclosure provides an air pressure control device that can more appropriately suppress the onset of motion sickness for various vehicle occupants, and a vehicle that includes the air pressure control device.

1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle 1 equipped with an air pressure control device 100. FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an air pressure control device 100 according to a first embodiment. 5A to 5C are schematic diagrams showing an adjustment operation by the air pressure control device in the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an appropriate air pressure database in the first embodiment. 4 is a flowchart of an air pressure control method in the first embodiment. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an air pressure control device 110 according to a second embodiment. 10 is a flowchart of an air pressure control method in a second embodiment. 13 is a data structure (one example) of a priority order table in the second embodiment. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of a priority order table in a modified example.

Next, a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. Note that in all drawings of the following embodiments, the same or corresponding parts are given the same reference numerals. Furthermore, the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described below.

[First embodiment]
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle 1 equipped with an air pressure control device 100 according to this embodiment. The vehicle 1 shown in Fig. 1 is configured as a four-wheel drive vehicle that transmits drive torque output from a drive force source 9 that generates drive torque for the vehicle to a left front wheel 3LF, a right front wheel 3RF, a left rear wheel 3LR, and a right rear wheel 3RR (hereinafter, collectively referred to as "wheels 3" unless a distinction is particularly required). The drive force source 9 may be an internal combustion engine such as a gasoline engine or a diesel engine, may be a drive motor, or may include both an internal combustion engine and a drive motor.

The vehicle 1 may be an electric vehicle equipped with two drive motors, for example a front-wheel drive motor and a rear-wheel drive motor, or an electric vehicle equipped with drive motors corresponding to each wheel 3. In addition, if the vehicle 1 is an electric vehicle or a hybrid electric vehicle, the vehicle 1 is equipped with a secondary battery that stores the power supplied to the drive motors, and a generator such as a motor or fuel cell that generates power to charge the battery.

The vehicle 1 is equipped with a driving force source 9, an electric steering device 25, and brake devices 27LF, 27RF, 27LR, 27RR (hereinafter collectively referred to as "brake device 27" unless a distinction is required) as devices used to control the operation of the vehicle 1. The driving force source 9 outputs a driving torque that is transmitted to the front wheel drive shaft 5F and the rear wheel drive shaft 5R via a transmission, a front wheel differential mechanism 7F, and a rear wheel differential mechanism 7R (not shown). The driving of the driving force source 9 and the transmission is controlled by a vehicle control device 41 that includes at least one electronic control unit (ECU: Electronic Control Unit).

The front-wheel drive shaft 5F is provided with an electric steering device 25. The electric steering device 25 includes an electric motor and a gear mechanism (not shown), and is controlled by a vehicle control device 41 to adjust the steering angle of the left front wheel 3LF and the right front wheel 3RF. During manual driving, the vehicle control device 41 controls the electric steering device 25 based on the steering angle of the steering wheel 23 by the driver. During automatic driving, the vehicle control device 41 controls the electric steering device 25 based on a target steering angle set by the driving assistance device 50.

Brake devices 27LF, 27RF, 27LR, and 27RR apply braking forces to front, rear, left, and right drive wheels 3LF, 3RF, 3LR, and 3RR, respectively. Brake devices 27 are configured, for example, as hydraulic brake devices, and a predetermined braking force is generated by controlling the hydraulic pressure supplied to each brake device 27 by a vehicle control device 41. When vehicle 1 is an electric vehicle or a hybrid electric vehicle, brake devices 27 are used in conjunction with regenerative braking by a drive motor.

The vehicle control device 41 includes at least one electronic control device that controls the drive of the driving force source 9 that outputs the driving torque of the vehicle 1, the electric steering device 25 that controls the steering wheel 23 or the steering angle of the steering wheels, and the brake device 27 that controls the braking force of the vehicle 1. The vehicle control device 41 may also have a function of controlling the drive of a transmission that changes the speed of the output output from the driving force source 9 and transmits it to the wheels 3. The vehicle control device 41 is configured to be able to acquire information transmitted from the driving assistance device 50, and is configured to be able to execute automatic driving control of the vehicle 1.

The vehicle 1 is also configured to include, for example, an occupant monitoring sensor 31, a vehicle condition sensor 32, a GPS (Global Positioning System) sensor 33, and an HMI 34. The vehicle 1 may further include at least one of a publicly known forward-facing camera, a rear-facing camera, a LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging), an HMI (Human Machine Interface), and a head-up display (HUD).

The occupant monitoring sensor 31 is one or more known devices capable of capturing images of occupants in the vehicle cabin, and includes at least one of an in-vehicle camera or a biometric information detection sensor (biometric sensor). Of these, the in-vehicle camera serving as the occupant monitoring sensor 31 is equipped with an imaging element such as a CCD or CMOS, and captures the interior of the vehicle cabin to generate image data. The in-vehicle camera of this embodiment also transmits the generated image data to the air pressure control device 100. In this embodiment, the in-vehicle camera is positioned so that it can capture the driver or passengers of the vehicle 1. The number of in-vehicle cameras positioned in the vehicle cabin may be only one, or there may be multiple cameras, such as for the driver's seat, the passenger seat, the left rear seat, and the right rear seat, so that each of the multiple occupants can be captured.

The biosensor may be, for example, a radio wave Doppler sensor for detecting the driver's heartbeat, or a non-wearable pulse sensor for detecting the driver's pulse. The biosensor may be an electrode set embedded in the steering wheel 23 for measuring the driver's heartbeat or electrocardiogram. The biosensor may be a pressure gauge embedded in the driver's seat for measuring the seat pressure distribution when the driver is seated in the seat. The biosensor may be a displacement sensor for detecting changes in the position of the seat belt to measure the driver's heartbeat or breathing. The biosensor may be a Time of Flight (TOF) sensor for detecting information on the driver's position. The biosensor may be a thermograph for measuring the surface temperature of the driver's skin.

The biosensor may be a wearable sensor that is attached to the driver and detects the driver's bioinformation. The wearable biosensor may be, for example, a wristwatch type or a wearable device that is attached to the head or arm. These wearable devices may have a function of detecting the driver's bioinformation such as heart rate, pulse, blood pressure, and body temperature. The wearable biosensor may be connected to the air pressure control device 100 directly or via a communication means such as a Controller Area Network (Controller Area Network) or a Local Inter Net (LIN). Alternatively, the wearable biosensor may be configured to be able to communicate with the driving assistance device 50 via a wireless communication means such as Bluetooth (registered trademark), Near Field Communication (NFC), wireless fidelity (WiFi), or a Local Area Network (LAN).

The vehicle state sensor 32 is composed of at least one sensor that detects the operation state and behavior of the vehicle 1 (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "vehicle driving state"). The vehicle state sensor 32 includes at least one of a steering angle sensor, an accelerator position sensor, a brake stroke sensor, a brake pressure sensor, or an engine speed sensor, and detects the operation state of the vehicle 1, such as the steering angle of the steering wheel 23 or the steering wheels, the accelerator opening, the amount of brake operation, or the engine speed. The vehicle state sensor 32 also includes at least one of a vehicle speed sensor, an acceleration sensor, or an angular velocity sensor, and detects the behavior of the vehicle, such as the vehicle speed, longitudinal acceleration, lateral acceleration, and yaw rate. The vehicle state sensor 32 can transmit a sensor signal including the detected information to the air pressure control device 100.

The GPS sensor 33 receives satellite signals from GPS satellites. The GPS sensor 33 transmits the location information on the map data of the vehicle 1 contained in the received satellite signals to the air pressure control device 100. Note that instead of the GPS sensor 33, an antenna that receives satellite signals from other satellite systems that identify the location of the vehicle 1 may be provided.

The HMI 34 is driven by the air pressure control device 100 and presents various information to the driver by means of image display, audio output, etc. The HMI 34 includes, for example, a display device provided in the instrument panel and a speaker provided in the vehicle. The display device may be a display device of a navigation system.

The external communication unit 45 is a known communication device capable of wireless communication via a known network, etc. Examples of such an external communication unit 45 include packet communication using a smartphone carried by the occupant, and a known communication device capable of performing various types of information communication with the outside world using next-generation automotive wireless communication technology, such as connected services.

<Air pressure control device 100>
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the air pressure control device 100 according to this embodiment.
The air pressure control device 100 is connected to the above-mentioned occupant monitoring sensor 31, vehicle condition sensor 32, GPS sensor 33, HMI 34, etc. directly or via communication means such as CAN (Controller Area Network) or LIN (Local Inter Net).

The air pressure control device 100 is also connected to the vehicle control device 41, either directly or via a communication means such as a Controller Area Network (CAN) or a Local Inter Net (LIN). Note that the air pressure control device 100 is not limited to an electronic control device mounted on the vehicle 1, and may be a terminal device such as a smartphone or a wearable device.

The air pressure control device 100 includes an electronic control unit 10, a storage unit 30, and an appropriate air pressure database 30a. The air pressure control device 100 of this embodiment also controls the operation of an air pressure adjustment mechanism 20 that is equipped in the vehicle 1 and can adjust the air pressure inside the vehicle cabin. Of these, the electronic control unit 10 is configured with at least one processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit). A part or all of the electronic control unit 10 may be configured with updatable firmware, or may be a program module executed by commands from the CPU, etc.

The air pressure adjustment mechanism 20 has a function of adjusting the air pressure in the passenger compartment of the vehicle 1. Specific examples of the air pressure adjustment mechanism 20 include a blower 21 that takes air into the passenger compartment, and a volume variable device 22 that can increase or decrease the space in the passenger compartment by varying its volume, as shown in FIG.
Of these, the blower 21 may be any of various known air compressors that are equipped in the vehicle 1 and capable of communicating with the electronic control unit 10. The volume variable device 22 may be, for example, a known balloon that is large enough to be installed in the vehicle cabin and is connected to an air compressor that can communicate with the electronic control unit 10. Note that, although the blower 21 and the volume variable device 22 are shown as an example of the air pressure adjustment mechanism 20 in this embodiment, other known mechanisms that can adjust the air pressure in the vehicle cabin may also be used as the air pressure adjustment mechanism 20.

The storage unit 30 is configured with a storage element (memory) such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) or a ROM (Read Only Memory). However, the number and type of storage units 30 in this embodiment are not particularly limited. The storage unit 30 is configured with the function of storing information such as computer programs executed by the electronic control unit 10, various parameters used in calculation processing, detection data, and calculation results.

The optimum air pressure database 30a has a hierarchical data structure configured using memory elements such as RAM, or updatable recording media such as hard disk drives (HDDs), compact disks (CDs), digital versatile disks (DVDs), solid state drives (SSDs), USB flash drives, storage devices, etc. However, there are no particular limitations on the type of recording media on which this database can be stored.
In addition, in the present embodiment, an example has been shown in which the appropriate air pressure database 30a is provided inside the vehicle 1, but the present disclosure is not limited to this embodiment. For example, the appropriate air pressure database 30a may be applied as a cloud server provided outside the vehicle 1.

The appropriate air pressure database 30a is an organized collection of information or data in which multiple pieces of appropriate air pressure information are stored in a searchable structure by age, sex, etc. of the occupant. Such an appropriate air pressure database 30a has a searchable data structure in which appropriate air pressure information is associated with each other by age and sex, as shown in FIG. 4, for example. Note that "SA" in FIG. 4 corresponds to standard atmosphere in this embodiment, which is approximately 1013 hPa. Also, in FIG. 4, the standard atmosphere SA is used as a reference and the adjusted air pressure value is determined by multiplying this standard atmosphere by a predetermined coefficient, but this is not limited to this form and other air pressure values may be used as the reference value.

In this embodiment, "optimum air pressure information" refers to information based on empirical rules obtained from analysis by experiments or simulations, and is information about air pressures within which motion sickness is less likely to occur than at other air pressures. For example, information about the air pressure at which the majority of subjects did not feel car sick after conducting an experiment with a large number of subjects divided by age or gender corresponds to the optimum air pressure information in this embodiment. In addition, the above-mentioned air pressure that is considered to be relatively less likely to cause motion sickness is referred to as the "optimum air pressure" or "optimum air pressure value" in this embodiment.

The appropriate air pressure information managed in the appropriate air pressure database 30a may be collected from outside the vehicle 1, for example by the electronic control unit 10, via a known external communication device (not shown). The appropriate air pressure information may also be input by a passenger or a maintenance inspector via an input/output unit (not shown, for example, an operation input unit on an instrument panel inside the vehicle cabin).

(Functional configuration)
When at least one of the age and sex information of the occupant (driver or passenger) riding in the vehicle 1 is input, the electronic control unit 10 of the air pressure control device 100 executes a process of reading predetermined appropriate air pressure information for the vehicle cabin based on the inputted at least one of the age and sex information, and outputting an air pressure adjustment signal for adjusting the air pressure in the vehicle cabin based on the read appropriate air pressure information. Furthermore, when a car sickness occurrence signal of an occupant is input in the vehicle cabin, the electronic control unit 10 executes a process of outputting an air pressure increase signal for increasing the air pressure in the vehicle cabin further than the air pressure adjusted based on the appropriate air pressure information.

As shown in FIG. 2, the electronic control unit 10 in the air pressure control device 100 includes an air pressure control unit 11, an occupant information detection unit 12, an appropriate air pressure determination unit 13, a sickness assessment unit 14, an adjusted air pressure value determination unit 15, and a display unit 16. Each of these units may be a function realized by the execution of a computer program by at least one processor such as a CPU.

(Atmospheric pressure control unit)
The air pressure control unit 11 is configured to have a function of controlling the air pressure in the vehicle cabin of the vehicle 1 by controlling the air pressure adjustment mechanism 20. More specifically, the air pressure control unit 11 can obtain air pressure information in the vehicle cabin from, for example, a known barometer (not shown) provided in the vehicle cabin. In addition, the air pressure control unit 11 can control the air pressure in the vehicle cabin to be an appropriate air pressure for the occupants in the vehicle 1 by receiving appropriate air pressure information for the occupants in the vehicle cabin from the appropriate air pressure determination unit 13. The specific contents of the processing by the air pressure control unit 11 will be described in detail later.

(Occupant information detection unit)
The occupant information detection unit 12 is configured to have a function of detecting an occupant present in the vehicle cabin of the vehicle 1 based on detection data transmitted from the occupant monitoring sensor 31. For example, the occupant information detection unit 12 detects at least one of the driver and passenger in the vehicle cabin based on image data transmitted from an in-vehicle camera. In addition, the occupant information detection unit 12 in this embodiment may be equipped with a known image recognition algorithm that automatically detects a person or face from image data and estimates gender, age, or whether or not a mask is worn, as in the technology described in JP 2019-149022 A, for example. Furthermore, since the occupant information detection unit 12 in this embodiment is fixedly disposed in the vehicle cabin of the vehicle 1, it is possible to determine whether the person detected in the vehicle cabin is a driver or a passenger based on the imaged position of the person.

This allows the occupant information detection unit 12 to detect whether an occupant whose image is captured inside the cabin of the vehicle 1 is a driver or passenger, as well as the age and gender of the occupant whose image is captured. Note that the occupant information detection unit 12 of this embodiment detects people and faces from image data to estimate gender and age, but is not limited to this, and may, for example, detect at least one of gender and age and prompt the occupant to input the other.

(Appropriate air pressure determination unit)
The appropriate air pressure determination unit 13 is configured to have the function of determining an appropriate air pressure value for the occupant in the vehicle 1 based on the occupant information detected by the occupant information detection unit 12 and the appropriate air pressure information managed in the appropriate air pressure database 30a. Specifically, for example, if the only occupant in the vehicle 1 is a male driver in his 40s, the occupant information detection unit 12 detects that the occupant is a male driver in his 40s. The appropriate air pressure determination unit 13 then determines that the appropriate air pressure value for this male driver in his 40s is "SA" by referring to the appropriate air pressure database 30a.

(Drunkenness Judgment Section)
The sickness determination unit 14 is configured to have a function of determining whether or not an occupant in the vehicle cabin has become sick during manual driving of the vehicle 1. More specifically, the sickness determination unit 14 determines whether or not an occupant has become sick from image data of the face of the occupant captured by the above-mentioned in-vehicle camera.

Here, in the recent process of developing algorithms for estimating car sickness, it has been found that, for example, when car sickness begins, the surface temperature of the face rises, followed by the appearance of a cold sweat, after which the surface temperature of the face drops rapidly. Therefore, the sickness determination unit 14 of this embodiment may determine the occurrence of sickness based on the facial progression when car sickness occurs, based on the displacement of facial expression obtained from the facial image data of the occupant captured at predetermined time intervals. In addition, the sickness determination unit 14 may detect the occurrence of sickness based on detection data (at least one of heart rate, pulse rate, electrocardiogram, respiration, blood pressure, and body temperature) obtained from the above-mentioned biosensor.

(Adjusted air pressure value determination unit)
The adjusted air pressure value determination unit 15 is configured to have a function of increasing the air pressure in the vehicle cabin in the vehicle 1 when the sickness determination unit 14 determines that the occupant is sick even in an environment adjusted to the appropriate air pressure value determined by the appropriate air pressure determination unit 13. More specifically, the adjusted air pressure value determination unit 15 can determine an adjusted air pressure value for the occupant in the vehicle cabin based on at least one of the first-stage adjusted air pressure information and the second-stage adjusted air pressure information in the appropriate air pressure database 36a. The specific processing contents by the adjusted air pressure value determination unit 15 will be described in detail later.

(Presentation section)
The presentation unit 16 is configured to have a function of presenting the status of the air pressure control by the electronic control unit 10. More specifically, the presentation unit 16 can present at least one of the air pressure information in the vehicle cabin, the appropriate air pressure information, the occurrence of sickness, and the adjusted air pressure information, for example, via the above-mentioned HMI 34. In addition, the presentation form of the presentation unit 16 via the HMI 34 may be, for example, audio, video, or audio and video.

<Operation of the air pressure control device>
Next, an example of the operation of the air pressure control device 100 according to this embodiment will be specifically described.
5 is a flowchart showing an example of an air pressure control process (air pressure control method) executed in the vehicle 1. In this embodiment, a method of controlling air pressure based on occupant information of one occupant A other than the driver in the vehicle cabin will be described.

As shown in FIG. 5, first, occupant information is detected in step ST1. Specifically, image data captured by the in-vehicle camera while the vehicle 1 is stopped or traveling is transmitted to the occupant information detection unit 12. In this example, the image data captured by the in-vehicle camera serving as the occupant monitoring sensor 31 is, for example, facial data of occupant A. The occupant information detection unit 12 detects at least one of the age and gender of occupant A based on the facial data of occupant A. Note that this at least one of the information of the age and gender of occupant A may be stored, for example, in the memory unit 30 described above.

Next, in step ST2, the appropriate air pressure determination unit 13 determines an appropriate air pressure value for the occupant A based on the occupant information detected by the occupant information detection unit 12. Specifically, the appropriate air pressure determination unit 13 determines an appropriate air pressure value for the occupant A from at least one of the information on the age and gender of the occupant A based on the appropriate air pressure database 36a illustrated in FIG. 4.

Next, in step ST3, a process is performed to bring the air pressure inside the vehicle 1 closer to the appropriate air pressure value determined by the appropriate air pressure determination unit 13. Specifically, the air pressure control unit 11 compares the appropriate air pressure value determined by the appropriate air pressure determination unit 13 with the current air pressure inside the vehicle. If the appropriate air pressure value determined by the appropriate air pressure determination unit 13 is lower than the current air pressure inside the vehicle, the air pressure control unit 11 executes control to increase the air pressure inside the vehicle 1 via, for example, the air pressure adjustment mechanism 20 described above.

On the other hand, if the appropriate air pressure value determined by the appropriate air pressure determination unit 13 is higher than the current air pressure inside the vehicle cabin, the air pressure control unit 11 executes control to lower the air pressure inside the vehicle cabin, for example by controlling the power windows of the vehicle 1. Note that in this embodiment, the air pressure inside the vehicle cabin may be periodically detected by the above-mentioned barometer, and if a difference of a predetermined value or more occurs between the air pressure inside the vehicle cabin and the appropriate air pressure value, the above process may be repeated to maintain the appropriate air pressure value.

Next, in step ST4, the sickness determination unit 14 determines whether or not occupant A is sick. Specifically, the sickness determination unit 14 receives image data of occupant A's face (occupant's facial image data) from the occupant monitoring sensor 31 (such as an in-vehicle camera) multiple times at different times while the vehicle 1 is traveling. The sickness determination unit 14 then compares multiple images of occupant A's facial image data captured at different times, for example. This allows the sickness determination unit 14 to determine whether or not occupant A is sick, based on changes in occupant A's face that correspond to the mechanism of sickness onset described above.

If it is determined that the occupant A is sick, the process proceeds to the next step ST5. On the other hand, if it is not determined that the occupant A is sick, the process may return to the above-mentioned step ST1 or may end the process.
Next, in step ST5, if it is determined that occupant A is feeling sick, a process is performed to increase the air pressure in the vehicle cabin in the vehicle 1. Specifically, the adjusted air pressure value determiner 15 determines an adjusted air pressure value for occupant A based on the above-mentioned appropriate air pressure database 30a. Note that when determining this adjusted air pressure value, at least one of the information on occupant A's age and gender used in step ST2 can be reused by reading it out from the memory unit 30, for example.

The appropriate air pressure database 30a may contain multiple types of adjusted air pressure values that differ in stages, as illustrated in FIG. 4. More specifically, the appropriate air pressure database 30a of this embodiment preferably contains, in addition to the appropriate air pressure information, first-stage adjusted air pressure information in which the air pressure value is increased by one stage, and second-stage adjusted air pressure information in which the first-stage adjusted air pressure is increased by another stage. That is, in the air pressure control processing method of this embodiment, the air pressure in the vehicle cabin may be adjusted to increase in stages, or may be increased to a specified adjusted air pressure value based on the preferences and setting information of occupant A that are stored in advance in the memory unit 30, etc.

Next, in step ST6, a process is performed to increase the air pressure in the vehicle cabin based on the adjusted air pressure value for occupant A determined above. Specifically, the adjusted air pressure value determined by the adjusted air pressure value determination unit 34 is output to the air pressure control unit. The air pressure control unit 11 then outputs a drive signal to the air pressure adjustment mechanism 20, for example, and executes control to increase the air pressure in the vehicle cabin by, for example, maximizing the output of the air compressor.

After step ST6 is completed, the air pressure control process in this embodiment may be terminated, or, for example, the process may return to step ST4 and the subsequent processes may be repeated. When the system power supply of the vehicle 1 is shut off and the vehicle stops traveling, the air pressure control process in this embodiment is also terminated.

[Second embodiment]
Next, the air pressure control device 110 and the air pressure control method executed by the air pressure control device 110 in the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the second embodiment, a method for controlling the air pressure inside the vehicle cabin when, in addition to the driver, there are also multiple occupants (two in this example), occupant B (age: 35 years old, sitting in the right rear seat) and occupant C (age: 3 years old, sitting in the left rear seat), is described.

In the following, components having the same functions as those in the first embodiment described above are given the same reference numbers, and their description will be omitted as appropriate. In addition, in this embodiment, a case in which two passengers other than the driver ride in the vehicle 1 will be described, but the number of passengers may be two including the driver, or three or more other than the driver as long as it is within the capacity of the vehicle 1.

<Air Pressure Control Device 110>
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the air pressure control device 110 according to this embodiment.
The air pressure control device 110 in the second embodiment is connected to the above-mentioned occupant monitoring sensor 31, vehicle state sensor 32, GPS sensor 33, HMI 34, etc., directly or via communication means such as a CAN, in the same manner as the air pressure control device 100 in the first embodiment. The air pressure control device 110 in this embodiment further includes a priority occupant determination unit 17 and a priority order database 30b.

The priority occupant determination unit 17 is configured to have the function of, when multiple occupants are in the vehicle 1, referring to a priority database 30b described below, determining which of the occupants should be given priority in applying the appropriate air pressure value or the adjusted air pressure value as the air pressure control in the vehicle cabin. More specifically, in this embodiment, the priority occupant determination unit 17 can determine which of the two occupants, occupant B and occupant C, in the vehicle cabin should be given priority in the air pressure control based on the priority information stored in the priority database 30b.

The priority database 30b has a data structure (priority data table) including priority information in which ranking according to occupant characteristics is defined, as shown in Fig. 8. Examples of such occupant characteristics include age as shown in the figure, as well as gender and attributes in the vehicle cabin (such as whether the occupant is the driver or a passenger).
In addition, in this embodiment, the age is used as the rank order for the occupant characteristics, but the age may also be used in combination with other characteristics as shown in Fig. 9. That is, as shown in Fig. 9, the driver may be given the highest priority, and the age may be used as the rank order.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining an air pressure control method that can be executed by the air pressure control device 110 in the second embodiment.
7, first, in step ST11, information on occupant B and occupant C is detected. Specifically, facial image data of occupant B and occupant C, respectively captured by an in-vehicle camera serving as an occupant monitoring sensor 31, is transmitted to the occupant information detection unit 12. The occupant information detection unit 12 detects the age of occupant B (35 years old) and the age of occupant C (3 years old) from the received facial image data of occupant B and occupant C.

Next, in step ST12, the appropriate air pressure determination unit 13 determines appropriate air pressure values for occupant B and occupant C based on the occupant information detected by the occupant information detection unit 12. Specifically, the appropriate air pressure determination unit 13 refers to the appropriate air pressure database 30a and determines the appropriate air pressure values for occupant B and occupant C as "SA" and "SA x 1.01", respectively, based on the detected ages of occupant B (35 years old) and occupant C (3 years old).

Next, in step ST13, the electronic control unit 10 determines whether there is an overlap in the appropriate air pressure values for occupants B and C obtained in step ST12. If there is an overlap in the appropriate air pressure values for occupants B and C (Yes in step ST13), the air pressure control unit 11 controls the operation of the air pressure adjustment mechanism 20 in the following step ST14a so that the air pressure in the vehicle cabin is maintained within the range of the overlapping air pressures.

If there is no overlap in the appropriate air pressure values for occupants B and C (No in step ST13), the air pressure control unit 11, in step ST14b, refers to the priority order database 30b and controls the operation of the air pressure adjustment mechanism 20 so that the air pressure in the vehicle cabin becomes the appropriate air pressure value corresponding to the prioritized occupant. More specifically, in the priority order database 30b of this embodiment, occupant C's age (3 years old) has the highest priority, so the air pressure control unit 11 controls the air pressure by prioritizing the appropriate air pressure value or adjusted air pressure value for occupant C over occupant B.

Next, in step ST15, the sickness determination unit 14 determines whether or not occupant B and occupant C are sick. Specifically, the sickness determination unit 14 receives facial image data of occupant B and occupant C from the occupant monitoring sensor 31 (such as an in-vehicle camera) multiple times at different times while the vehicle 1 is traveling. Then, as in the first embodiment, the sickness determination unit 14 compares, for example, multiple images of facial image data of occupant B captured at different times, and similarly compares multiple images of facial image data of occupant C captured at different times. This allows the sickness determination unit 14 to determine whether or not occupant B and occupant C are sick, based on the facial changes of each of occupants B and C.

If it is determined in step ST15 that either occupant B or occupant C is feeling sick, the process proceeds to the next step ST16a. In step ST16a, a process is performed to increase the air pressure in the vehicle cabin in the vehicle 1 in response to the occupant who is feeling sick. Specifically, the adjusted air pressure value determination unit 15 determines an adjusted air pressure value corresponding to the occupant who is determined to be feeling sick, based on the above-mentioned appropriate air pressure database 30a.

If it is determined in step ST15 that both occupant B and occupant C are feeling sick, the process proceeds to the next step ST16b. In step ST16b, the electronic control unit 10 refers to the priority database 30b to determine which of the multiple occupants who are each feeling sick should be given priority. In the priority database 30b of this embodiment, occupant C (3 years old) has a higher priority than occupant B (35 years old), so the electronic control unit 10 refers to the priority database 30b and determines to give priority to occupant C who is feeling sick.

Then, in step ST16c following step 16b, a process is executed to determine the adjusted air pressure value for the occupant who has been determined to be prioritized. Specifically, the adjusted air pressure value determination unit 15 determines the adjusted air pressure value corresponding to occupant B who is feeling sick, based on the above-mentioned appropriate air pressure database 30a.

Next, in step ST17, a process is performed to increase the air pressure in the vehicle cabin based on the adjusted air pressure values for the occupants determined above. Specifically, after the adjusted air pressure value determined by the adjusted air pressure value determination unit 34 is output to the air pressure control unit 11, the air pressure control unit 11 executes control to increase the air pressure in the vehicle cabin, for example by outputting a drive signal to the air pressure adjustment mechanism 20.

Next, in step ST18, it is determined whether the vehicle-mounted system including the air pressure control device 100 has stopped, and unless the vehicle-mounted system has stopped, the process returns to step ST11 and repeats the air pressure control process described above.

Although preferred embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above with reference to the attached drawings, the present disclosure is not limited to such examples. For example, the features described in the first and second embodiments may be configured to be common to each embodiment. In other words, it is understood that a person skilled in the art would clearly be able to attempt further modifications to the above-described embodiments.

100, 110 Air pressure control device 10 Air pressure control unit 20 Air pressure adjustment mechanism 30 Memory unit 30a Appropriate air pressure database 30b Priority order database

Claims (5)

At least one processor;
at least one memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor;
The processor,
When at least one of the ages and genders of the passengers who will be riding in the vehicle is input, predetermined appropriate air pressure information for the interior of the vehicle is read from the memory based on the input at least one of the ages and genders,
outputting an air pressure adjustment signal for adjusting the air pressure in the vehicle cabin based on the read appropriate air pressure information;
outputting an air pressure increase signal for increasing the air pressure in the vehicle cabin to a level higher than the adjusted air pressure when a car sickness occurrence signal of the occupant in the vehicle cabin is input;
Air pressure control device. The processor,
When it is estimated by an occupant monitoring sensor that a plurality of the occupants have developed car sickness, an air pressure adjustment signal is output to adjust the air pressure within a range where appropriate air pressures overlap among the plurality of occupants.
The air pressure control device according to claim 1 . The memory is capable of holding a predetermined passenger priority data table;
The processor,
When it is estimated by an occupant monitoring sensor that a plurality of occupants have developed car sickness, if the appropriate air pressures of the plurality of occupants do not overlap, an air pressure adjustment signal is output to adjust the air pressure based on the priority order data table.
The air pressure control device according to claim 1 . The processor,
The air pressure control device according to claim 1 , further comprising a process for stopping the vehicle from traveling when an occupant monitoring sensor detects that a driver in the vehicle cabin is suffering from car sickness. An air pressure adjustment mechanism for adjusting the air pressure inside the vehicle cabin;
A braking device for stopping the vehicle from moving;
The air pressure control device according to claim 1 ;
Vehicles including.