JPH0219515B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automatic station name announcement device used in a moving vehicle of a shared transportation system operating on a predetermined route.

BACKGROUND ART In shared transportation such as buses, announcement services such as station names are widely provided to passengers. In this case, most buses are operated by a one-man driver who does not require a conductor, so the station name announcement is performed by a semi-automated station name announcement device.

Conventionally used station name announcement devices are such that a recording tape containing necessary information such as the station name and a tape stop signal is recorded for each station is set in a playback device, and when the driver approaches the stopping station, the driver presses the start switch. is operated to run the recording tape and reproduce station name announcements, and when one unit of station name announcements is completed, a tape stop signal is reproduced and tape running is stopped.

However, in the station name announcement device with the above configuration, the announcement is started only by the driver's switch operation, so the driver searches for the station to stop at while driving and stops at the station before the stop. You must operate the start switch at the right time so that the announcement ends. For this reason, drivers have to pay attention to things other than driving, which can be very dangerous. On top of that, the train had to check whether there were any passengers at the next station or get off at the next station, and then operate a switch to announce to the train that it was stopping at the next station. .

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to automatically announce the name of the next station without bothering the driver, and to inform the passengers boarding the train and passengers getting off the train at the station whether or not the train will stop at the next station. To provide an automatic station name announcement device which automatically receives and announces a stop request from a station.

The automatic station name announcement device according to the present invention will be explained in detail below using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an automatic station name announcing device according to the present invention, in which each station (stop) 1a to 1n on a predetermined bus route is equipped with a transmitter 2 and an antenna 3. A device 4 is provided respectively. The transmitter 2 is configured to emit from the antenna 3 a radio wave A containing a station name code predetermined for each station and a bus call signal generated by the bus call button 5. This antenna 3 is installed a predetermined distance ahead of the station on the line, as shown in FIG. 2, in order to make announcements when the train passes. In addition, this antenna 3 has strong directivity in the direction of the advancing bus 6, and is located at points B1 and B2.
Range B surrounded by is the range in which the receiver 8 of the bus 6 can receive radio waves from the station 1a. on the other hand,
The bus 6 traveling on a predetermined bus route includes
A receiver 8 is provided which receives radio waves A emitted from the transmitter 4 installed at each station via an antenna 7. The signal demodulated by the receiver 8 is decoded by the signal decoder 9 into a station name code and a bus call signal. The control circuit 10 receives the station name code and bus call signal supplied from the signal decoder 9, the output of an in-car button 11 that allows passengers to notify the driver of their intention to get off the bus, and the output of a door switch 12 that detects the opening and closing of the exit door of the bus. are input, and the speech synthesizer 13 is controlled to produce sounds with contents corresponding to the combinations of these signals. In this case, the control circuit 10 controls the speech synthesizer 13 by performing operations according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, for example. The voice synthesis device 13 is a signal processing semiconductor device 15 that determines the content of the announcement based on the type of the input control signal and outputs a necessary voice production control signal.
and a voice production control semiconductor device 16 that receives the voice production control signal and outputs a readout signal, a pitch control signal, and a signal based on spectral distribution information;
It is comprised of an audio parameter storage memory 17 that receives a readout signal and sends out audio parameters, and a speech synthesis semiconductor device 18 that receives pitch control signals, signals based on spectral distribution information, and audio parameters and synthesizes audio signals. Note that 14 is a speaker that converts the audio signal output from the audio synthesizer 13 into audio. The operation of the automatic station name announcement device having the above configuration will be explained in detail below.

First, a case will be explained in which there is a passenger attempting to board the train at station 1a. The customer presses the bus call button 5 to inform the driver of the bus 6 of his/her intention to board the bus.
When the bus call button 5 is pressed, a radio wave A modulated with a station name code and a bus call signal is emitted from the transmitter 2 of the station 1a. As shown in FIG. 2, these radio waves are emitted from the antenna 3 in the direction of travel of the bus 6 with strong directivity. The system design is such that the transmitter output, announce gain, etc. are at the limit where these radio waves can be received at points B1 and B2. And bus 6 is at point B1
When the train passes through and enters the receivable range B, the receiver 8 receives the radio wave A from the station 1a. The received radio waves are demodulated and then supplied to the signal decoder 9. The signal decoder 9 decodes the signal supplied from the receiver 8 to extract a station name code and a bus call signal and supplies them to the control circuit 10. The control circuit 10
As shown in the figure, the presence or absence of a bus call signal is determined based on the input of the station name code signal. When a bus call signal is present, this control circuit 10 controls the speech synthesizer 13 to generate the guidance for station K specified by the station name code, ``Next, we will stop at K station.'' , this signal is supplied to the speaker 14 to generate sound. In this case, the speech synthesizer 1
The voice production control semiconductor device 16 forming part 3 supplies a readout signal for reading out the voice element corresponding to the station name code to the voice parameter storage memory 17. Further, the above-mentioned voice production control semiconductor device 16
supplies a signal based on spectral distribution information that determines the characteristics of the voice and a pitch control signal that determines the pitch of the voice to the voice synthesis semiconductor device 18. Here, the audio elements read out from the audio parameter storage memory 17 are added to the audio synthesis semiconductor device 18, and controlled by a signal based on the spectral distribution information and a pitch control signal to create the audio to be announced. This combined signal is applied to the speaker 14 to make an announcement. Furthermore, since the above-mentioned announcement is made continuously during the period when the signal is being received, the flow of vehicles may be disrupted due to traffic conditions, etc., so once the signal processing semiconductor device 15 has made the announcement, it will not be able to make subsequent announcements. Performs pronunciation control so as to terminate.

On the other hand, if there is no bus call signal, it is determined whether the on-board button 11 is on or off, and
1 is turned on, the speech synthesizer 13 is controlled and the message "Next time, we will stop at K station" is sent in the same way as above.
Have them make the following pronunciations.

Next, when the bus 6 passes point B2, the receiver 8 becomes unable to receive the radio waves emitted from the station 1a, and accordingly, the signal decoder 9 sends the signal to the control circuit 1.
The station name code signal supplied to 0 is turned off. The control circuit 10 determines the presence or absence of a bus call signal at the time when the station name code signal turns off, as shown in FIG. If not, the voice synthesizer 13 is controlled and the speaker 1
From 4 onwards, an announcement sound saying "We are passing K station. Next is L station" is generated.

Next, when the driver stops the vehicle at the station and opens the door due to the presence of the bus call signal or the button output of the in-car button 11, the control circuit 10 controls the voice synthesizer 13 to say "Go to station X". By making the loudspeaker 14 make a sound such as ``It's . When all passengers have boarded the vehicle and the doors have been closed, the control circuit 10 switches the door switch 1
2 is detected, the voice synthesizer 13 is controlled, and the speaker 14 makes an announcement such as "Next station is L station."

By performing these operations sequentially,
The driver can automatically make various announcements including station name announcements without any trouble.

Note that if the same radio frequency is used for the outbound and return trips, the station name code and bus call signal will be the same, making it impossible to identify the round trip. All you have to do is change the bus call signal. However, it is not necessary to use different bus call signals at all stations, and it is possible to share them as long as they can be identified. Further, when a passenger presses the bus call button 5 at a station, the bus call signal is continuously emitted, so it is necessary to cancel the transmission of the bus call signal by some method. As an example,
There is a method in which a transmitter (not shown) that operates in conjunction with the door switch 12 is mounted on the bus 6 and transmits a reset signal to a receiver at the station.

Further, in this embodiment, the case where the application is applied to a bus has been described, but any type of shared transportation may be used.

Since the automatic station name announcement device of the present invention is configured as described above, it can not only automatically announce the next station name, but also automatically respond to stop requests from passengers boarding and getting off at the next station. It is possible to announce that the train will stop at the next station without bothering the driver.
Station name announcements and stop announcements can be made.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the automatic station name announcing device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the antenna arrangement of the automatic station name announcing device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is the same as shown in FIG. 1. This is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the automatic station name announcement device. 1a to 1n...Station, 2...Transmitter, 6...Vehicle, 8...Receiver, 13...Speech synthesizer, 14
...Speaker.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a shared transportation system that operates on a predetermined route, a transmitter is installed at each station to transmit the station name code of each station, and a transmitter is installed in the vehicle of the shared transportation system to receive radio waves from the transmitter. a voice synthesizer that generates a station name audio signal corresponding to the station name code output from the receiver;
and a speaker for converting the output of the speech synthesizer into speech, the transmitter transmitting a call signal representing a request to stop the shared transportation at the station when a button provided thereon is pressed. , the speech synthesizer issues an announcement of a stop at the next station through the speaker when at least one of the following conditions occurs: the call signal is received or the passenger of the shared transit presses a stop request button in the car. An automatic station name announcement device characterized by: