JP2003158485A - In-vehicle information distribution system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To provide an information distribution system that considers the situation of a driver and other passengers in a vehicle, not only to improve safety but also to respond to individual security levels of the passengers. Distribution of received information. SOLUTION: A communication unit 1 for performing communication with an external system, a reception information storage / conversion unit 5 having a server function of storing received information and converting the information into media, and information added to the reception information. A distribution level control unit for determining a destination of the received information based on personal authentication information registered for the occupant of the vehicle; a control unit for controlling distribution of the received information to the destination; 6, a reception information notifying unit 2 for presenting reception information to a specific passenger or all passengers by using input / output devices corresponding to appropriate media such as a mobile phone, a screen, and a speaker. Information distribution within the vehicle.

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the development of mobile communication technology in a social situation where many users use mobile communication anywhere. The present invention also relates to an in-vehicle information distribution system capable of receiving necessary information while ensuring safety and security even in a vehicle. [0002] In order to carry out communication between a vehicle and the outside,
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 6, a wireless technology such as a car phone or a mobile phone 91 is directly brought into a vehicle to realize communication. By preparing an adapter for the mobile phone 91 in the vehicle and connecting the hands-free microphone 92 and the speaker 93 to the adapter for driving safety, the driver does not need to hold the mobile phone 91 in the vehicle. Some devices have been devised to enable calls. [0003] In addition, by setting an answering machine service in advance by operating a special number before driving a car, a guidance is given to a caller at the time of an incoming call that he cannot answer the call because he is "driving". Technology is also being considered. [0004] As described above, the prior art has focused on allowing a user to use a mobile phone in a vehicle. For this reason, communication is received from outside regardless of the situation inside the vehicle, for example, when the driver is changing lanes at high speed, when there is a curve or oncoming vehicle, or when there is a falling object on the road. In such a case, there is also a problem that communication may come in from outside, distracting the driver of the nervous driver and increasing the risk of an accident. Further, in the case of the conventional answering machine service, since guidance is provided to the caller regardless of whether or not the user is actually driving, an important message which must be contacted urgently cannot be transmitted. However, there is a problem that the great feature of portableness of a mobile phone cannot be utilized. Further, when a conversation is carried out using the speaker 93 in a hands-free manner, the contents of the conversation can be heard by all the occupants, and thus there is a problem in terms of privacy protection and confidentiality. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above problems and provides an information distribution system in a vehicle that considers the situation of a driver and other passengers, thereby improving not only the safety but also the passenger. An object of the present invention is to realize distribution of received information according to individual security levels. FIG. 1 shows an example of a block configuration for explaining the outline of the present invention. The present invention provides, for example, a communication unit 1 for performing communication with an external system,
A reception information notifying unit 2 for presenting reception information to a vehicle occupant using input / output devices corresponding to appropriate media such as a mobile phone, a screen, and a speaker, and a reception information having a server function of storing and converting the received information. The storage / conversion unit 5, a distribution level control unit 7 that performs personal authentication for the occupant of the vehicle, and determines the level at which the received information is provided according to the personal authentication, and the distribution level control unit 7 that is determined according to the level at which the received information is provided. The main feature is that it has a control unit 6 that performs information distribution control on distribution destinations. The present invention is different from the prior art in that, when providing received information to a passenger, in consideration of the situation of the passenger and the vehicle, the notification is not given in real time in some cases. However, the difference is that notification is made using media (such as voice and screen information) suitable for the situation. The running state monitor 3 shown in FIG.
Has a function of monitoring the running speed of the vehicle. The vehicle environment recognition unit 4 has a function of recognizing the environment around the vehicle. The control unit 6 includes the running state monitoring unit 3 or the vehicle environment recognizing unit 4
The information distribution control according to the situation of the vehicle and the occupant detected by the state monitoring means can be performed. The control unit 6 immediately informs the occupants of the information received by the communication unit 1 as a telephone call in accordance with the state of the vehicle detected by the running state monitoring unit 3 or the state monitoring means by the vehicle environment recognizing unit 4. Information transmission control to notify the information sender of the external system and the result of the information distribution control to the information sender of the external system. . Further, when the traveling state monitor section 3 detects that the vehicle is traveling at a certain speed or higher, a traveling call stopping section 8 having a function of stopping transmission from the driver is provided. You may. In general, the running condition of an automobile can be determined by monitoring its speed and the situation around the vehicle. The traveling state monitor 3 measures the traveling speed from the data of the driving actuator of the vehicle. The vehicle environment recognizing unit 4 measures a road width, a distance to an adjacent vehicle, and the like using a non-contact type vehicle-mounted sensor such as a laser radar or a radio wave radar as a situation around the vehicle. When the communication unit 1 receives a telephone call or mail from the outside, the reception information storage / conversion unit 5, which is a server placed in the vehicle, temporarily stores all information. The control unit 6 controls a situation in which the traveling speed of the vehicle becomes equal to or lower than a certain speed and the driver can afford to concentrate on things other than driving, for example, waiting for a traffic light or a long straight road. When the vehicle is traveling at a constant speed, the reception information notifying unit 2 notifies the reception information stored in the reception information storage / conversion unit 5 described above. When the driver is unable to respond immediately, the controller 6 informs the information sender that the vehicle is running and it is difficult to make a real-time call, but a message is transmitted. A reply to the effect is automatically transmitted on behalf of the driver. [0017] Depending on the content of the received message, information that really needs urgency may be included. In this case, the reception information storage / conversion unit 5 can also select a medium that does not load the driver and notify the driver of the arrival of the message with high urgency. It is also possible to analyze the content of the received message by a method such as semantic analysis or language element analysis, and notify the driver only of the purpose of the message. Even if the driver is talking while the vehicle is running, the result of monitoring by the running state monitor 3
When it is detected that the vehicle is traveling at a certain speed or higher, the traveling call stopping unit 8 stops transmission from the driver and temporarily suspends or terminates the call. At this time, the communication partner says, "End (or interrupt) the call because the vehicle is running and real-time communication is difficult.
Yes "message is sent automatically. If it is detected that the vehicle is traveling at a certain speed or higher, calling from the driver is prohibited. In particular, according to the present invention, when there is a passenger other than the driver in the vehicle and the received message has a high security level, for example, such that only a specific person is to be contacted, Storage of received information
After the conversion unit 5 stores the received message, the distribution level control unit 7 analyzes the personal information included in the received message and determines a distribution level such that only the specific person is notified of the reception. The control section 6 notifies only the specific person of the reception of the message based on the determined distribution level. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. The vehicle 100 is driven by an engine unit including a speed control processor 30, a servo mechanism 31, and an actuator 32 for controlling fuel according to the speed condition. At this time, the running speed is monitored from the actuator 32, and the speed information collecting unit 33 collects the speed information. For example, when the vehicle speed is extremely high and the driver's condition is expected to be nervous, the speed information collecting unit 33
Informs the server control unit 60 that it is dangerous to distribute information. On the other hand, an on-board sensor 40 for monitoring the surroundings of the vehicle 100 constantly monitors the external situation of the vehicle 100. If a falling object or a sudden jump is detected, the speed control processor 30 informs the speed control processor 30 of an emergency such as a sudden brake. Give instructions. In this case, the control information output by the speed control processor 30 is also collected in the speed information collecting unit 33, and is notified to the server control unit 60 as the expected speed together with the current vehicle speed. The on-vehicle sensor 40 constantly informs the vehicle environment determining unit 41 of information about the distance to an adjacent vehicle, the number of vehicles, and the width of the traveling lane. The vehicle environment determination unit 41 determines whether the vehicle is traveling in a traffic jam or a narrow place based on the obtained information, and sends the result to the server control unit 60. Based on the above information, the server control section 60 determines whether or not communication from the outside to the occupants of the vehicle 100, particularly to the driver, is safe. With respect to the communication system in the vehicle 100, information from the outside is first received by the communication device 10, and then temporarily stored in the multimedia server unit 50. At that time, the server controller 60 determines that the vehicle 100 is in a relatively safe state, for example, in a signal waiting state or in an auto cruise state on a highway.
, Immediately notifies the multimedia server unit 50 of the received information, and
1 is instructed to convert the media into a media suitable for the user (driver or the like) and to notify the user of the media, and control so that communication with the outside is possible in real time. On the other hand, if the server control unit 60 determines that it is not secure, the multimedia server unit 50 returns to the information transmitting side an e-mail stating "although the call is currently in progress but the message cannot be transmitted". For a person who wants to convey a message in the car, only the fact that the message is coming is conveyed through the screen 20, the speaker 21 or the like. If the message has urgent contents, the server control unit 60 determines the urgency based on the rules defined between the sender and the receiver, and the multimedia server unit 50 displays the message on the screen 20 on the screen 20. It is also possible to send a message content or to notify only a contact. FIG. 3 is a processing flowchart for determining whether or not information distribution is possible by recognizing the running state of the vehicle and the vehicle environment in the above embodiment. The server control unit 60 includes a speed information collection unit 33
Monitors the driving speed collected from the actuator 32 (S1), and monitors the vehicle environment determined by the vehicle environment determining unit 41 (S2). The server control unit 60 calculates the load on the driver from the information (S3) and determines whether or not the information can be delivered (S4). If information distribution is possible, the current state is set to "information distribution possible" (S5). If information distribution is not possible, the current state is set to "information distribution impossible" (S6). . FIG. 4 is a processing flowchart relating to distribution of received information. When an external message is received by the on-vehicle communication device 10 (S11), the received message is stored in the multimedia server unit 50 (S12). The server control unit 60 determines whether the current state is “information distribution possible” or “information distribution impossible” (S13).
In the case of "information distribution possible", the multimedia server unit 5
The information held by 0 is notified to the driver as it is in real time (S14). If the current state is "information delivery impossible", information indicating whether the message is important is extracted from the received message (S15), and it is determined whether the received message requires urgency. (S16). If the received message is urgent, a media format for outputting the received information is selected (S17), and media conversion such as converting character data into voice data is performed (S18). , Driver 20
The received information is distributed to 0 (S19). If the received message does not require urgency, the received message is stored again in the multimedia server unit 50 (S20), and the information sender is asked, for example, , A message is always transmitted "(S21). Then, it waits for "information distribution possible" (S22). If it becomes "information distribution possible", it is determined whether or not the information can be redistributed (S23). If the information can be redistributed, the process from S17 is performed. Judgment of whether or not information can be redistributed is based on the existence of externally received information, because if a new message happens to be received from the outside, the distribution of the received information may collide. After re-distribution. Further, when the driver is talking while traveling assuming that the driver is in a relatively stable traveling state, the server control unit 60 determines that the traveling speed is equal to or higher than a certain speed based on the monitoring result of the speed information collecting unit 33. When it is determined that the call is dangerous, the transmission of the driver is stopped, and a message is automatically sent from the multimedia server unit 50 to the other party to the effect that the call is stopped due to the dangerous driving condition. I do. In particular, according to the present invention, information relating to the inside of the vehicle 100, that is, information on the number of passengers and their own recognition, or information on a person who can read mail, is also used as information for controlling the distribution of the received information. Use as First, the personal authentication setting unit 70 performs personal authentication of all the occupants of the vehicle at the time of boarding by inputting from an ID card or other input means, and registers the ID information of each individual. The distribution level control unit 71 determines the distribution destination of the received message based on the information registered in the personal authentication setting unit 70, and notifies the server control unit 60 of the distribution level. The server control unit 60 controls the multimedia server unit 50 based on the received distribution level. Depending on the distribution level, for example, "notify only to the driver", "notify only to specific passengers", and "notify to all passengers" determine who can be received in the vehicle.
Alternatively, depending on the distribution level, the received information is
May be determined, output from the speaker 21, or output to the mobile phone 90 or other mobile terminal. For example, when a certain sender sends a message to the passenger A of the vehicle 100 and it is not desired to transmit the contents to the passengers other than the passenger A, only a person having a specific name or ID is required. (Here, the passenger A) is transmitted to the vehicle with a message with a comment notifying it. In the vehicle 100, when a communication message enters the occupant A from the outside, the distribution level is specified by collating the personal authentication information of the occupant registered in advance with the comment in the received message. Notify only the passenger (A) of the vehicle. " In accordance with this distribution level, the multimedia server unit 50 notifies only the passenger A of the fact that the message has been received via the screen 20 or the like, regardless of the traveling state of the vehicle 100. Passenger A who has received the message on screen 20 obtains the information of the message without being known to other passengers, for example, by directly connecting his or her portable terminal to multimedia server unit 50. It becomes possible. If there is no comment that identifies the recipient in the received message, the distribution level is set to “notify all passengers”, and the screen 20 and the speaker 21 are set via the multimedia server unit 50. Vehicle 100
Notify all passengers. In addition, other services such as setting the distribution level to “notify only the driver” in a specific case are conceivable, but taking into account the safety of the vehicle environment,
In the sense of providing information stored on the server,
Considered as the same kind of service. FIG. 5 is a processing flowchart of the embodiment relating to the distribution level control of the present invention. When the occupant gets on the vehicle, the information such as his / her ID number and whether or not he / she is a driver is registered in a distribution level control table using input devices such as an ID card and a touch panel (S31). . When an external message is received (S3
2), the received message is sent to the multimedia server unit 5
0 is stored (S33). It is determined whether or not the received message has a comment specifying the recipient (S34). If there is a comment, authentication information is extracted from the comment and a distribution level is set (S35). If there are no comments,
The distribution level is set to "general (notify all passengers)" (S36). The received message is converted into an appropriate media format according to the distribution level (S37), and the received information is output based on the distribution level (S38). For example, if the information is for a specific passenger, the notified passenger will:
The user connects his / her mobile phone or the like to the multimedia server unit 50 and talks with an external caller via the in-vehicle communication device 10. As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the communication control is performed according to the vehicle condition, the safety is improved, and the information security level of the user can be improved by using the same mechanism.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a block configuration of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a processing flowchart for determining whether information distribution is possible based on recognition of a running state of a vehicle and a vehicle environment. FIG. 4 is a processing flowchart relating to distribution of received information. FIG. 5 is a processing flowchart of an embodiment relating to distribution level control of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the related art. [Description of Signs] 1 Communication unit 2 Received information notification unit 3 Running state monitor unit 4 Vehicle environment recognition unit 5 Received information storage / conversion unit 6 Control unit 7 Distribution level control unit 8 Running call stop unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04Q 7/38 H04B 7/26 109L (72) Inventor Masatoshi Ogiwara 2-3-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo No. F-term in Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (reference)

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A system for communicating between a passenger in a vehicle and an external system, a communication unit for transmitting and receiving information to and from the external system, and an external system received by the communication unit. Based on received information storage / conversion means for storing received information from the vehicle and converting it to media, information added to the received information received from the external system, and personal authentication information registered for the occupants of the vehicle, Distribution level control means for determining a distribution destination of the reception information, control means for controlling distribution of the reception information to the distribution destination determined by the distribution level control means, and identification of the reception information in the vehicle by the control of the control means And a receiving information notifying means for presenting the information to all passengers or all passengers.