JP7685149B2 - Vehicle sound generating device control device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a sound generating device control device for a vehicle.

Conventional vehicle sound source control devices include those disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2. Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicle alarm sound generating device that prevents a drop in sound pressure when multiple alarm sounds are sounded simultaneously. Patent Document 2 discloses a gaze guidance device that guides the driver's gaze to potential hazards.

JP 2008-143442 A JP 2016-86355 A

In Patent Document 2, a driver state detection unit (13) outputs a sound that notifies the occupant of information related to the operation of the vehicle (vehicle information), and a speaker (19) emits an alarm sound, but the electronic data of the alarm sound is thought to be recorded in a waveform as shown in Figures (6) and (7). However, in this configuration, when adjusting the level of ease of recognition of the alarm sound, it is necessary to rewrite this alarm sound data each time, which makes the work complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT EMBODIMENT In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a sound generator control device for a vehicle that can easily emit a sound that is easily recognized by the occupants.

In order to achieve the above object, the present disclosure provides a vehicle sound generating device control device, comprising:
A vehicle sound generating device control device that is mounted on a vehicle and controls a sound generating device that notifies a vehicle occupant of vehicle information,
a storage unit for storing electronic data of the sound representing the vehicle information;
a control unit that outputs an electrical signal to the sound generator to generate the sound,
the storage unit stores, as the electronic data, a blowing control waveform representing the timbre of the sound and a volume control waveform representing the intonation of the sound;
The control unit generates the electrical signal based on the sound control waveform and the volume control waveform,
The storage unit stores the sound control waveform in a NOR memory, and stores the volume control waveform in a NAND memory .

In order to achieve the above object, a sound generating device control device for a vehicle according to another aspect of the present disclosure includes:
A vehicle sound generating device control device that is mounted on a vehicle and controls a sound generating device that notifies a vehicle occupant of vehicle information,
a storage unit for storing electronic data of the sound representing the vehicle information;
a control unit that outputs an electrical signal to the sound generator to generate the sound,
the storage unit stores, as the electronic data, a blowing control waveform representing the timbre of the sound and a volume control waveform representing the intonation of the sound;
The control unit generates the electrical signal based on the sound control waveform and the volume control waveform,
The electrical signal causes the sound generator to produce the sound in an echo tone,
The period of the sound intonation becomes shorter when the driving performance of the vehicle is set to a mode that assumes agile driving .

In order to achieve the above object, a sound generating device control device for a vehicle according to another aspect of the present disclosure includes:
A vehicle sound generating device control device that is mounted on a vehicle and controls a sound generating device that notifies a vehicle occupant of vehicle information,
a storage unit for storing electronic data of the sound representing the vehicle information;
a control unit that outputs an electrical signal to the sound generator to generate the sound,
the storage unit stores, as the electronic data, a blowing control waveform representing the timbre of the sound and a volume control waveform representing the intonation of the sound;
The control unit generates the electrical signal based on the sound control waveform and the volume control waveform,
The electrical signal causes the sound generator to produce the sound in an echo tone,
The period of the intonation of the sound becomes shorter as the color of a dimmable interior light provided in the vehicle becomes cooler .

1 is a diagram showing a vehicle display device 1 according to a first embodiment. 1 is a block diagram of a vehicle display device 1 according to a first embodiment. 5 is a graph showing a sound control waveform in the first embodiment. 5 is a graph showing a volume control waveform in the first embodiment. 5 is a graph showing a sound waveform in the first embodiment. 13 is a graph showing a modified example of a sound control waveform. 11 is a graph showing a modified example of a volume control waveform. 13 is a graph showing modified examples of a sound waveform.

Each embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the following order.

[First embodiment]
1-1. Description of the configuration 1-2. Description of the behavior [Modification]
[Example of effect]

[First embodiment]
<1-1. Description of the configuration>
1 shows the appearance of a vehicle display device 1. The vehicle display device 1 is mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile or a motorcycle. The vehicle display device 1 is electrically connected to other electronic devices mounted on the vehicle. The vehicle display device 1 notifies vehicle occupants of vehicle information by displaying various vehicle information on a display 70 according to the state of the electrically connected electronic devices and an electric signal representing received vehicle information. The vehicle information may include vehicle state information relating to the state of electronic devices provided in the vehicle, vehicle operation information relating to the operation of the vehicle, vehicle occupant information relating to the state of the vehicle occupants, and the like.
The vehicle display device 1 may not only notify the occupants of the vehicle information by displaying it on the display 70, but also notify the occupants of the vehicle information as a sound emitted by the sound generator 20 described below. This sound may be a horn-like sound or other sound used as a warning sound or alarm sound.

Figure 2 shows a block diagram of the vehicle display device 1. For convenience, Figure 2 also shows a portion of the external configuration of the vehicle display device 1 that is installed in the vehicle.

The vehicle display device 1 is mounted on the vehicle and electrically connected to electronic devices provided in the vehicle via a network 90. The network 90 can be a known network such as a Controller Area Network (CAN) or Ethernet (registered trademark). The vehicle display device 1 transmits and receives electrical signals representing vehicle information between various electronic devices via the network 90.

The vehicle display device 1 comprises a control unit 10, a sound producing body 20, and a display 70.

The control unit 10 is an example of a sound source control device for a vehicle, and is electrically connected to the network 90, the sound source 20, and the display 70. The control unit 10 controls the behavior of the sound source 20 and the display 70 in response to electrical signals transmitted and received from the network 90. The control unit 10 can be implemented as a microcomputer having a first memory unit 11 and a second memory unit 12 such as a ROM or RAM used for storing predetermined programs and various data, and as a memory area during calculations, a CPU for performing calculations according to the predetermined programs, and an input/output interface, etc.

The control unit 10 stores electronic data for causing the sound generating unit 20 to emit a sound that notifies vehicle information. The control unit 10 outputs a sine wave for causing the sound generating unit 20 to emit a sound. This sine wave is generated based on the electronic data. The electronic data includes two waveforms: a blowing control waveform that represents the tone of the sound, and a volume control waveform that represents the intonation of the sound. The control unit 10 stores the blowing control waveform and the volume control waveform in a memory unit. The control unit 10 may store the blowing control waveform and the volume control waveform in the same memory unit, but in this embodiment, the blowing control waveform and the volume control waveform are stored in separate first and second memory units 11 and 12, respectively. In this case, it is preferable that the first memory unit 11 be a highly reliable NOR memory, and the second memory unit 12 be a relatively unreliable but inexpensive NAND memory. With this configuration, even if some abnormality occurs in the storage unit, there is a high possibility that only the electronic data (sound control waveform) in the highly reliable first storage unit 11 can be read normally, and it is possible to notify the occupants of vehicle information using an alarm sound, although the sound is not inflected. In this case, instead of reading out the volume control waveform indicating the volume ratio, it is preferable to play back the volume by performing a temporary volume control, such as setting the ratio to 1, for convenience.

The sound generator 20 generates a sound in response to an input electrical signal. In this embodiment, the sound generator 20 includes a filter circuit 21, an amplifier circuit 22, and a sound generating element 23, for example.
The filter circuit 21 may be a known filter circuit such as a band-pass filter, and cuts out inaudible frequency components from the frequency components of the input electrical signal, thereby improving the audibility of the sound emitted by the sound generator 20. The filter circuit 21 may also have characteristics that cut out noise in the electrical signal.

The amplifier circuit 22 can be an amplifier that amplifies the input electrical signal, and can be configured, for example, as an operational amplifier.

The sound-producing element 23 is an element that emits sound in response to an input electrical signal, and can be, for example, a speaker composed of a coil, a magnet, and a paper cone.

The display 70 notifies the occupant of vehicle information based on an electrical signal input from the control unit 10. For example, the display 70 can be configured as a warning light with a light source illuminating a translucent colored dial, a configuration in which a light source is illuminating a liquid crystal display plate, or a pointer-type instrument consisting of a dial plate with a printed indicator and a needle that rotates above it. Figure 1 shows vehicle information being displayed by a warning light and a pointer-type instrument displayed on a TFT liquid crystal display module.

<Explanation of behavior>
Here, the method for controlling a sound generating unit for a vehicle will be explained step by step in accordance with the order of control.

(Memory step)
In the storage step, the first storage unit 11 and the second storage unit 12 store electronic data of the sound representing vehicle information. At this time, the electronic data is stored as two waveforms: a blowing control waveform representing the timbre of the sound, and a volume control waveform representing the intonation of the sound. Fig. 3 shows an example of the blowing control waveform, and Fig. 4 shows an example of the volume control waveform. The vertical axis of Fig. 3 indicates the voltage ratio, and the horizontal axis indicates time. The vertical axis of Fig. 4 indicates the ratio, and the horizontal axis indicates time.

(Control Step)
In the control step, the control unit 10 outputs an electric signal to the sound generating body 20 to control the sound generating body 20 to generate a sound. Specifically, the control unit 10 reads the blowing control waveform and the volume control waveform stored in the first storage unit 11 and the second storage unit 12. After that, the control unit 10 generates a blowing waveform, which is an electric signal to be output to the sound generating body 20, by multiplying the blowing control waveform by the volume control waveform. FIG. 5 shows an example of a blowing waveform, which is an electric signal output from the control unit 10 to the sound generating body 20. The vertical axis of FIG. 5 indicates the voltage ratio, and the horizontal axis indicates the time. It can be seen that the sine wave shown in FIG. 3 has an intonation waveform in accordance with the waveform shown in FIG. 4. Depending on the volume control waveform, the passenger will get the impression that the notification sound has an echo depending on the intonation. In other words, the recognizability of the sound can be improved by intentionally adjusting the sound to make the passenger feel uncomfortable. The echoic sound referred to here is the sound that is heard through an echo or an echo, or the sound that is felt when a sound emitted in a room that is prone to echo is perceived by the ears of a hearing person multiple times.

With the above-described vehicle sound generating unit control method, when adjusting the sound to improve the recognizability of the sound that notifies vehicle information, it is possible to adjust the sound to a certain extent simply by changing the volume control waveform. As a result, it becomes a vehicle sound generating unit control method that can easily emit a sound that is easily recognized by the occupants.

Although the vehicle sound source control device, vehicle display device, and vehicle sound source control method of the present invention have been described using the above-mentioned embodiment configurations as examples, the present invention is not limited to these, and it goes without saying that various improvements and changes to the display are possible in other configurations without departing from the gist of the present invention.

For example, the sound generator 20 has a filter circuit 21, an amplifier circuit 22, and a sound element 23, but this configuration is not essential as long as it is capable of producing sound in response to an electrical signal. For example, the filter circuit 21 and the amplifier circuit 22 may be eliminated and replaced with an audio IC. The audio IC may have a digital-to-analog converter and an amplifier circuit inside, and in this case, it is desirable for the control unit 10 to output the electrical signal as a digital signal.

Also, while examples of waveforms are shown in Figures 3, 4, and 5, the waveforms handled by the control unit 10 are not limited to these, and any waveforms may be used as long as they are a blowing control waveform that represents the tone color and a volume control waveform that represents the intonation. As a second example, a blowing control waveform is shown in Figure 6, a volume control waveform in Figure 7, and a blowing waveform in Figure 8. It goes without saying that even in the case of controlling the sound generating body based on these second example waveforms, it is easy to adjust the sound.
In the first embodiment, the intonation and echo tone are adjusted by multiplying a volume control waveform that expresses intonation by a blowing control waveform that does not have intonation, but the blowing control waveform itself may contain intonation (increase or decrease in amplitude) as in the modified examples shown in Figures 6, 7, and 8. The amplitude of the blowing control waveform shown in Figure 6 gradually increases over time, and after reaching a maximum amplitude, it gradually decreases. By multiplying such a waveform by the volume control waveform that expresses intonation shown in Figure 7, it is possible to improve recognition.

In addition, in the first embodiment, the connection line between the control unit 10 and the sound producing body 20 was not described in detail, but the control unit 10 and the sound producing body 20 may be connected by a blowing control line and a volume control line. The volume control line transmits the volume control waveform output by the control unit 10 to the sound producing body 20. The blowing control line transmits the blowing control waveform output by the control unit 10 to the sound producing body 20. The tone of the sound produced by the sound producing body 20 is controlled based on the blowing control waveform. The increase or decrease in the volume of the sound produced by the sound producing body 20 is controlled based on the volume control waveform. With this configuration, there is no need to perform calculations to calculate the blowing waveform that was previously performed in the control unit 10, and the operating load of the sound producing body control device for a vehicle and the display device for a vehicle can be reduced.

In addition, the vehicle sound source control device and vehicle sound source control method can inform occupants of various vehicle information by, for example, multiplying the same sound control waveform with different volume control waveforms depending on the type of vehicle information.

For example, in Figures 4 and 7, intonation is expressed by raising and lowering the volume, with three intonations occurring over a period between approximately 0.3 seconds and 0.9 seconds. In other words, the intonation occurs over a period of 0.2 seconds. By shortening the intonation period, it is possible to express the high urgency of the vehicle information to be notified to the occupants.

Although a modified example has been shown in which intonation is adjusted according to the type of vehicle information, the volume control waveform may also be changed to suit the preferences of the occupants. This configuration can encourage occupants to take a greater interest in the sounds that represent vehicle information.

In addition, when the vehicle is equipped with electrical equipment that is customized according to the preferences of the occupant, the intonation may be adjusted according to the customization information of the electrical equipment. With this configuration, the occupant can customize the vehicle equipment with fewer operations.
Specifically, for example, when the vehicle's dimmable interior light is a warm color, the tone may be gentler, whereas when the vehicle's interior light is a cool color, the tone may be quicker. This configuration makes it possible to create a more uniform in-vehicle environment.

For example, if, as part of customizing electrical equipment, the vehicle's driving performance is set to a mode intended for more agile driving, such as race mode or sports mode, speeding up the intonation can improve recognition, making it easier for occupants to recognize vehicle information even in a relatively fast driving environment. On the other hand, if the vehicle's driving performance is set to a mode intended for gentle driving, such as comfort mode or eco mode, suppressing the intonation can encourage gentle driving.

[Example of effect]
First, the present disclosure provides a vehicle sound source control device 10 that is mounted on a vehicle and controls a sound source 20 that notifies vehicle occupants of vehicle information,
a first storage unit 11 and a second storage unit 12 for storing electronic data of sounds representing vehicle information;
A control unit 10 is provided for outputting an electrical signal to a sound generating body 20 to generate a sound.
The first memory unit 11 and the second memory unit 12 store, as electronic data, a blowing control waveform representing the timbre of the sound and a volume control waveform representing the intonation of the sound,
The control unit 10 is a vehicle sound generator control device that generates an electric signal based on a sound control waveform and a volume control waveform.
This configuration makes it possible to easily emit a sound that is easily noticeable to the passengers.

Secondly, the vehicle sound generating device control device of the present disclosure includes:
The electrical signal may cause the sound generator 20 to emit an echo-like sound.
This configuration makes it possible to emit a sound that is more easily noticeable to the passengers.

Thirdly, the vehicle display device 1 of the present disclosure has
The vehicle sound generating device control device 10,
a sound generator 20 to which an electrical signal is input from a sound generator control device 10 for a vehicle;
A display 70 may be provided to display the vehicle information.
According to this configuration, the occupant can perceive vehicle information not only audibly but also visually, so that the occupant can more easily perceive vehicle information.

Fourthly, the method for controlling a sound generating unit for a vehicle according to the present disclosure includes:
A method for controlling a sound generator for a vehicle, which is performed in a vehicle and controls a sound generator for notifying a vehicle occupant of vehicle information, comprising the steps of:
a storage step for storing electronic data of the sound representing vehicle information;
A control step of outputting an electrical signal to the sound generating body 20 to generate a sound,
In the storage step, the blowing control waveform representing the timbre of the sound and the volume control waveform representing the intonation of the sound are stored as electronic data;
In the control step, an electrical signal is generated based on the blowing control waveform and the volume control waveform.
This configuration makes it possible to easily emit a sound that is easily noticeable to the passengers.

1 Vehicle display device 10 Control unit (an example of a vehicle sound generating device control device)
11 First memory section 12 Second memory section 20 Filter circuit 30 Amplifier circuit 40 Sound generating element 70 Display 90 CAN

Claims (3)

A vehicle sound generating device control device that is mounted on a vehicle and controls a sound generating device that notifies a vehicle occupant of vehicle information,
a storage unit for storing electronic data of the sound representing the vehicle information;
a control unit that outputs an electrical signal to the sound generator to generate the sound,
the storage unit stores, as the electronic data, a blowing control waveform representing the timbre of the sound and a volume control waveform representing the intonation of the sound;
The control unit generates the electrical signal based on the sound control waveform and the volume control waveform,
The storage unit stores the sound generation control waveform in a NOR memory and stores the volume control waveform in a NAND memory. A vehicle sound generating device control device that is mounted on a vehicle and controls a sound generating device that notifies a vehicle occupant of vehicle information,
a storage unit for storing electronic data of the sound representing the vehicle information;
a control unit that outputs an electrical signal to the sound generator to generate the sound,
the storage unit stores, as the electronic data, a blowing control waveform representing the timbre of the sound and a volume control waveform representing the intonation of the sound;
The control unit generates the electrical signal based on the sound control waveform and the volume control waveform,
The electrical signal causes the sound generator to produce the sound in an echo tone,
The period of the sound intonation becomes shorter when the driving performance of the vehicle is set to a mode assuming agile driving . A vehicle sound generating device control device that is mounted on a vehicle and controls a sound generating device that notifies a vehicle occupant of vehicle information,
a storage unit for storing electronic data of the sound representing the vehicle information;
a control unit that outputs an electrical signal to the sound generator to generate the sound,
the storage unit stores, as the electronic data, a blowing control waveform representing the timbre of the sound and a volume control waveform representing the intonation of the sound;
The control unit generates the electrical signal based on the sound control waveform and the volume control waveform,
The electrical signal causes the sound generator to produce the sound in an echo tone,
The period of the intonation of the sound becomes shorter as the color of a dimmable interior light provided in the vehicle becomes cooler.

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