JP2000320657A - Vehicle travel control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To set the running characteristics of a vehicle to a desired mode by the voice of a vehicle driver. SOLUTION: The voice of a vehicle driver inputted from a microphone 10 is fed to a control device 14. The control device 14 decides a control object and a control mode from voice data, and feeds a control signal to a drive characteristic setting device 16. For example, when the vehicle driver makes vocalization of 'now', the control device 14 is varied from 2WD to 4WD. Further, variation characteristics are displayed on a display device 18 and announced to the vehicle driver.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a vehicle traveling control device,
In particular, the present invention relates to a device for changing vehicle driving characteristics by voice of a vehicle occupant.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a technique for controlling a driving characteristic of a vehicle, for example, a shift stage of a transmission by a voice of a vehicle occupant such as a driver.

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-222163 discloses that a voice of a vehicle driver is input from a voice input means, and voice data is analyzed to extract voices such as "to a traveling stage" and "to a reverse stage". A configuration for automatically controlling a transmission based on extracted audio data is disclosed.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, the vehicle occupant is conscious of changing the shift speed of the transmission, and the terminology "running speed" and "reverse speed" which are not often used on a daily basis are used. ", Etc., which is inconvenient. Further, in the above-described conventional technology, there is also a problem that the vehicle driver must utter while paying attention to the control target (transmission) and the control mode (forward or reverse).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and has as its object to optimize the vehicle occupant by using only everyday terms without being particularly conscious of the control target and the control mode. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle travel control device that can be set to drive characteristics.

[0006]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a voice input means for inputting a voice of an occupant,
A control unit for determining a control target and a control mode based on the voice; and a characteristic setting unit for setting the control target determined by the control unit to the control mode. By automatically determining the control target and the control mode based on the voice of the occupant, the occupant can set the vehicle characteristics to be optimal without using special terms. The voice of the occupant in the present invention is a voice that is used on a daily basis, such as “snow”, “mountain”, and “slip”.

Further, the present invention further comprises a detecting means for detecting a vehicle running condition, wherein the control means matches the running condition detected by the detecting means with a control mode determined based on the voice. If not, the determined control mode is interrupted or stopped. If the control target and the control mode are determined by the voice of the vehicle occupant but do not match the objective running state detected by the detection means, the change of the control mode to the determined mode is interrupted or stopped. Thus, it is possible to prevent the drivability from being unnecessarily reduced. Here, “interruption” does not mean that the determined control mode is completely ignored (canceled), but that the control mode is changed to the determined mode after a certain time.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration block diagram of the present embodiment. The microphone 10 inputs a voice uttered by a vehicle occupant (for example, a driver) and supplies the voice to the control device 14 as voice data. Note that the microphone 10 may not always input the voice of the vehicle occupant, but may input the voice only when the switch at hand is turned on, such as a hand-free phone in a car phone. It is also preferable to use a directional microphone to input only sound from a specific direction.

The sensor 12 detects the running condition of the vehicle, specifically, the road surface condition (μ value), the current shift stage of the transmission, the engaged state of the clutch, and the like, and supplies them to the control device 14. That is, the traveling state includes the traveling state of the vehicle itself in addition to the environment around the vehicle.

The control device 14 is specifically constituted by a microcomputer, recognizes voice data supplied from the microphone 10 by using a known voice recognition technology, and determines a control target and a control mode corresponding to the recognized voice. It is determined and output to the drive characteristic setting device 16 as a control signal. The determined control object and control mode are displayed on the display device 18 to notify the vehicle driver. In order to determine the control target and the control mode based on the recognized voice, for example, the control target and the control mode may be assigned to the voice data at a ratio of 1: 1 and stored in a memory as a map. An example of the map is a control target “drive wheel” and a control mode “4WD” for the audio data “snow”. Further, in the present embodiment, the control target and the control mode are not simply determined based on the voice data emitted by the vehicle occupant, but the control mode determined based on the traveling state from the sensor 12 is appropriate. Is determined. If the determined control mode does not match the driving situation supplied from the sensor 12, for example, the snow falls according to the data from the sensor 12, although the vehicle driver utters “snow”. If the μ on the road surface is much higher than μ on a normal snowy road, determining the control mode as uttered by the vehicle driver may degrade the driving characteristics. The control mode determined on the basis is interrupted or stopped.

The drive characteristic setting device 16 controls the relationship between the accelerator opening and the throttle opening, the shift stage of the transmission, or the motor / motor in an electric vehicle or hybrid vehicle so that the control mode is determined by the control device 14. Set characteristics such as generator control and clutch control.
As is apparent from this, the traveling control device of the present embodiment can be applied not only to a normal vehicle equipped with an engine, but also to an electric vehicle, or a hybrid vehicle combining a motor and an engine.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show a processing flowchart of the control device 14 in the present embodiment. First, predetermined input signal processing (digital processing, filter processing, etc.) is executed (S101), and it is determined whether or not a voice input has been made (S102). If there is a voice input,
The control device 14 selects the driving characteristics of the vehicle based on the audio data (S103). The selection of the drive characteristics is to select what (control object) and how to control (control mode), and based on a predetermined map, for example, when a vehicle occupant inputs "snow" Selects a drive wheel as a control target, and selects a change from 2WD to 4WD as a control mode. Of course, it is also possible to select the throttle opening as the control object and select the downward correction of the throttle opening as the control mode. When the vehicle occupants say "many people", a transmission is selected as a control object, and a gear ratio having a larger gear ratio is used as a control mode, or a gear having a relatively large gear ratio up to a high vehicle speed is selected. Select a power mode that uses a large ratio. Other specific examples will be described later.

After selecting the vehicle drive characteristics based on the voice input, the control device 14 reads the detection signal from the sensor 12 (S104), and further identifies the vehicle driver (S10).
5). This vehicle driver identification processing is for matching the driving characteristics with the driver-specific preference characteristics. When the vehicle driver A prefers to run in the power mode, the control device 14 stores the fact in the memory. If the vehicle driver is identified as A as a result, the driving mode is set to the power mode preferred by the driver. Of course, such vehicle driver identification processing is not essential, and can be omitted in the present embodiment.

After reading the detection signals from the sensors in S104, the control device 14 determines the temporary running characteristics (S106). The provisional running characteristics mean the control target and the control mode provisionally determined based on the voice data from the microphone 10 (or the identification result of the vehicle driver), and do not immediately execute the provisionally determined control mode. Sensor 12
Is executed after it is determined whether or not the current driving condition is met based on the detection signal from.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the control device 14 determines whether the characteristics (control mode) of the control target can be changed according to the provisionally determined characteristics (S107). For example, a vehicle driver enters "snow"
If the detection signal from the sensor 12 also indicates that the road is “low μ road”, it is determined that the characteristic can be changed because the driver's input voice matches the traveling state of the sensor 12.
On the other hand, when the voice of the vehicle driver is in the “power mode” and the detection signal from the sensor 12 indicates that “the road surface is frozen at night”, the voice data does not match with the running condition, and It is not preferable to set the power mode in the environment), and it is determined that the characteristic cannot be changed.

If the characteristic can be changed, the control device 14 supplies a control signal to the drive characteristic setting device 16 to change the selected characteristic (S108). The selected characteristic is displayed on the display device 18 to notify the vehicle driver that the characteristic has been changed (S109).

On the other hand, if the characteristic cannot be changed, the characteristic change is stopped without executing the provisionally determined selected characteristic (S
110), the fact that the characteristic change has been stopped is displayed on the display device 18 (S111).

FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the throttle opening and the accelerator opening as an example of the characteristic change. In the figure, the abscissa indicates the accelerator opening, and the ordinate indicates the throttle opening.The relationship between the accelerator opening and the throttle opening during normal running and the accelerator opening on a snowy road or a low μ road. The relationship with the throttle opening is shown.

In the case of a snowy road or a low μ road, slip is generally likely to occur. Therefore, by suppressing (correcting downward) the throttle opening for the same accelerator opening, a steep torque generation is prevented and smooth running is performed. Is possible. When the vehicle driver inputs "snow" in the case where the throttle opening characteristic of the vehicle is the normal characteristic, the controller 14 changes the throttle opening characteristic from the normal mode to the snowy road / low μ according to the processing flowchart described above. Automatically changes to road mode and shifts to smooth running.

Hereinafter, examples of the input voice of the vehicle driver and examples of the driving characteristics corresponding to the input voice in the present embodiment will be summarized.

Input voices: "Snow", "Low μ", "Slip", "Slip", "Road surface freezing", "Road surface slippery",
"On ice" Driving characteristics: (1) Change from 2WD to 4WD (4WD
(2) Change the electronic throttle opening characteristics to snowy road / low μ road mode (3) In the case of electric vehicles or hybrid vehicles, reduce the regenerative torque of the motor / generator (4) Set the first gear to the first gear Changed to 2nd speed (starting from 2nd speed) Input voice: "5 passengers", "heavy", "many luggage",
"Heavy load", "Run", "Large number of people", "Accelerate acceleration", "Moving fast" Driving characteristics: (1) Change to power mode (2) Start gear ratio is low geared (for example, when starting in CVT vehicles) (3) Change the electronic throttle opening characteristic (change to a mode in which the throttle opening becomes larger for the same accelerator opening) (4) 4th gear, 5th gear Speed setting prohibited (5) Reduce lock-on area of clutch with lock-up (6) Implement torque assist of motor / generator and increase assist amount Input voice: "Loose", "Fuel efficiency", " Driving characteristics: (1) Economy pattern (2) High gear ratio (3) Enlarged lock-up engagement area of clutch with lock-up Input sound : "Environment mode" Driving characteristics: (1) Implement idling stop (2) In hybrid vehicles, expand driving range by motor (3) Expand lock-up range of clutch with lock-up Input voice: "Mountain", "Winding" , "Valley", "Hill", "Up-down road" Driving characteristics: (1) Uphill road logic setting (running with lower gear than normal driving) (2) Motor / generator regeneration and power running (3) Enlargement of lock-on area of clutch with lock-up (4) Prohibition of 4th gear and 5th gear setting Input sound: "N (noise) V (vibration) emphasis" Drive characteristics: (1) Motor / Execution of generator vibration suppression control (2) Execution of neutral control of clutch (3) Enlargement of lock-up release area of clutch with lock-up (4) Prohibition of variable cylinder drive If is the presence of a plurality, it is possible to select one of the characteristics. Of course, input voices and drive characteristics other than those described above are also possible, and the point is not special terminology,
What is necessary is just to determine the control object and the control mode based on the voice used on a daily basis.

In this embodiment, when the vehicle driver utters "clear", it is preferable that the control device 14 returns all the characteristics to the normal state.

When the vehicle driver utters "cancel" or "cancel", the control device 14 can return the control mode set immediately before to the normal state.

Further, when the determined control mode is interrupted or interrupted as a result of the provisional characteristics not matching the running conditions, it is also preferable to provide different displays for interrupting and canceling.
For example, in the case of interruption, the lamp continues blinking to indicate that the interruption is being performed, and in the case of interruption, the lamp blinks twice. Thereby, the vehicle driver can easily visually recognize the state of the characteristic set by the voice.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The vehicle occupant can very easily set the driving characteristics of the vehicle to desired characteristics.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a processing flowchart (part 1) of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a processing flowchart (part 2) of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing a relationship between an accelerator opening and a throttle opening in the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 microphones, 12 sensors, 14 control devices, 16
Drive characteristic setting device, 18 display device.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A voice input unit for inputting a voice of an occupant, a control unit for determining a control target and a control mode based on the voice, and a characteristic for setting a control target determined by the control unit to the control mode. A vehicle travel control device, comprising: setting means. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: detecting means for detecting a vehicle running condition, wherein said control means controls the vehicle based on the running condition detected by said detecting means and the sound. If the determined control modes do not match, the determined travel mode is interrupted or stopped.