JPH0442203Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to an automobile control device that divides and controls automobile accessories such as lamps, indicators, and horns among a plurality of control stations. The present invention relates to a control device for a vehicle that is improved so as to be able to eliminate disturbances caused by disturbance light to optical transmission.

Prior Art The front of an automobile has a headlight, a horn, etc., the rear has a tail lamp, a stop light, etc., the instrument panel has various indicators, and the driver's seat has various operation switches.

If such a large number of equipment were to be centrally controlled in one place, a large number of wires would have to be laid, which would be a heavy burden.

Therefore, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 48-109629, for example, a control station is provided for each part of the automobile, and the control of the equipment of each part is shared between these control stations. It is proposed to install in the motor vehicle only the minimum number of wires necessary for the control of each control station.

In recent years, with the development of optical transmission technology, the wires have been replaced with optical transmission paths such as optical path spaces and optical fibers. Among these, an optical path space is suitable as an optical transmission path in an engine room, which is under a special environment where the transmitting side and receiving side of the control station are located close to each other and no disturbance light enters under normal conditions.

Problems with the Prior Art Conventional vehicle control systems that connect control stations via optical transmission lines have a problem in that transmission is obstructed by disturbance light (particularly sunlight).

For example, in the case of a device in which a control station placed in the front of the engine room and a control station placed near the dashboard panel are connected by an optical path space, when the hood is closed, no external light enters, so the optical transmission is is done correctly, but
When you open the bonnet, ambient light enters,
Optical transmission may be disrupted.

Therefore, it is possible to make it less susceptible to interference by applying special modulation to the light used for optical transmission (generally infrared rays are often used), but basically, if the level of optical transmission is increased, good.

However, since automobile control devices need to operate to control interior lights, headlights, emergency lights, etc. even when the engine is stopped, such as when parking, it is necessary to reduce power consumption as much as possible. From this point of view, it is difficult to constantly increase the level of optical transmission in case of rare cases such as when the hood is opened, even though the power consumption for optical transmission is large. Therefore, this is not at all desirable.

Purpose of the invention The purpose of the invention is to provide a control device for an automobile that can suppress an increase in power consumption, increase the level of optical transmission, and eliminate disturbances of external light to optical transmission. There is a particular thing.

Composition of the Invention The vehicle control device of the present invention divides a large number of vehicle accessories into two or more groups, and connects the accessories belonging to each group to each control station provided correspondingly to each group. In a control device for an automobile, each of the control stations is connected by an optical path space in an engine room covered by a bonnet so as to be able to cooperate with each other.
A bonnet switch detects opening/closing of the bonnet, a disturbance removing means removes data below a predetermined level when receiving data transmitted from the transmitting side, and the disturbance removing means detects whether or not there is an abnormality in the received data. When the data abnormality detecting means to be detected and the bonnet switch are activated and an abnormality is detected by the data abnormality detecting means, the optical output level on the transmitting side is increased and the disturbance is removed by the disturbance removing means on the receiving side. A structural feature of this device is that it is equipped with a level up means for increasing the level.

Function: In the vehicle control device of the present invention, when there is interference due to external light or there is a risk of interference, the optical output level on the transmitting side is increased, and the level is also increased on the receiving side. In other words, the level of optical transmission is increased.

Therefore, accurate data transmission can be performed regardless of the disturbance light.

On the other hand, when there is no disturbance due to disturbance light, optical transmission is performed at a normal level, so normal power consumption does not increase at all.

Therefore, the overall increase in power consumption is negligible.

Embodiments Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in more detail based on embodiments shown in the figures. Here, FIG. 1 is a plan view of an example of an engine room of an automobile equipped with the automobile control device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a main part of a transmitting side control station and a receiving side control station in the control device shown in FIG. 1. The block diagram, FIGS. 3 and 4 are characteristic diagrams of the input current and output voltage of the light receiving means. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown in the figures.

FIG. 1 schematically shows an engine room E of an automobile.

A front remote station 2 is provided in front of the engine room E, and a center remote station 3 is provided in the dart board D, and these constitute a part of the control device 1 of the automobile.

A light emitting light receiving section 4 provided on the front remote station 2 and a light emitting light receiving section 5 provided on the center remote station 3 are coupled by an optical path space 6.

The center remote station 5 is connected by a wire to a master station (not shown) which is the core of the control device 1 of the vehicle.

Figure 2 shows front remote station 2.
This is a schematic diagram of the light emitting section _4s of the center remote station 3 and the light receiving section _5r of the center remote station 3.

Light emitting part 4 of front remote station 2
_s causes a drive current i _s to flow through the light emitting diode 22 through the resistor 23 by the driver 21, causing the light emitting diode 22 to emit light.

The signal to be transmitted is a digital signal, i _s =0 for a digital value “0”, and i _s =V _c /R for a digital value “1”. In addition, V _c
is the power supply voltage, and R is the resistance value of the resistor 23.

Light receiving section 5 of center remote station 3
_r converts the photocurrent i _r flowing through the phototransistor 32 into a voltage V _r by the amplifier 31, and the voltage V _r
The inverter 34 restores the digital values to "0" and "1" depending on the level.

The current i _r flowing through the phototransistor 32 becomes 0 when the amount of light received is 0, and the current i r flowing through the phototransistor 32 becomes 0 when the amount of light received is 0.
The amount of received light is set so that i _r =V _c /r when the current i s flowing through the current I _s =V _c /R. Note that r is the resistance value of the resistor 33.

The amplifier 31 is configured such that when i _r =0, v _r =0, i _r ≧V _c /
When r, v _r =V _c , and it has a linear characteristic between 0 and V _c /r.

The inverter 34 has a voltage that is 1/2 of the power supply voltage _Vc as a threshold level, and a CMOS type IC has this characteristic.

The output of the inverter 34 is connected to a start edge detection circuit 35 and a shift register 36.

The resistor 33, phototransistor 32, amplifier 31, and inverter 34 correspond to disturbance removing means.

The start edge detection circuit 35 detects the first edge of the start bit of the serial data, and inputs the detection signal to the clock counter 37 and the OR gate 38.

The clock counter 37 outputs a clock signal for serially reading the output of the inverter 34 into the shift register 36, counts the number of serial data bits from the start bit, and outputs a timing signal for the final bit to the check circuit 39. do.

The shift register 36 reads serial data and outputs operating data to each equipment. It also outputs a 1-bit start bit and 2-bit stop bits to the check circuit 39.

The check circuit 39 determines whether the start bit and stop bit are correct at the timing of the final bit, and outputs "1" if correct, and "0" if incorrect, to the OR gate 38. The start edge detection circuit 35 and check circuit 39 correspond to data abnormality detection means.

OR gate 38 outputs "1" to one shot circuit 40 when a start edge is detected or when the start bit and stop bit of the serial data are correct.

The one shot circuit 40 outputs a pulse to the timer circuit 41 when "1" is input.

The timer circuit 41 outputs "1" if it is not reset for a predetermined period of time, and is reset every time a pulse is input from the one-shot circuit 40.

The predetermined time is set to be slightly longer than the normal maximum value of the time from when the front remote station 2 finishes transmitting serial data until it begins transmitting the next serial data. In addition,
This time is longer than the serial data transmission time.

When data is being transmitted normally, a pulse is always applied and reset before the predetermined time elapses, so the timer circuit 41 never outputs "1".

However, if the start edge is not detected for a predetermined period of time or longer, or if the correct start bit or stop bit is not detected, the OR gate 38 will not output "1" to the one shot circuit 40, so the one shot circuit 40 will not output a pulse, and the timer circuit 41 outputs "1".

When the timer circuit 41 outputs "1", the driver circuit 42 turns on its output.

One end of the relay coil 12 is connected to the output of the driver circuit 42 via the bonnet switch 11, and the other end of the relay coil 12 is connected to the battery 10.

The bonnet switch 11 is turned on when the bonnet is opened and turned off when it is closed.

Then the bonnet switch 11 is on,
When the driver circuit 42 is turned on, the relay coil 12 is energized and its contacts 13 are pushed to the side of the broken line in FIG. 2. In other cases, the relay coil 12 is not energized and its contact 13 is on the solid line side in FIG.

The side of the relay contact 13 shown by the solid line in FIG. 2 is connected to the voltage regulator 14, and is supplied with a relatively low voltage _Vl . The relatively low voltage V _l is, for example, 5V. On the other hand, the second relay contact 13
The side shown by the broken line in the figure is directly connected to the battery 10 and is supplied with a relatively high voltage V _h . relatively high voltage
For example, V _h is 12V.

A common terminal of the relay contact 13 is connected to a power supply line 7, from which a power supply voltage _Vc of the remote stations 2 and 3 is applied.

Now, the operation when the bonnet is closed will be explained.

When the bonnet is closed, the bonnet switch 11 is off, so the relay contact 13 is always on the solid line side in Figure 2, and the power supply voltage V _c of the remote stations 2 and 3 is a relatively low voltage V _l
It is.

Since the disturbance light g is blocked by the bonnet, it does not enter the phototransistor 32.

In this state, the light emitting diode 22 has i _s = 0 when the digital value is “0” and i _s = 0 when the digital value is “1”.
A current of V _l /R flows, and the phototransistor 32 receives the emitted light amount via the optical path space 6,
A current of i _r =0 or i _r =V _l /r is passed.

The characteristics of the amplifier 31 are shown in Figure 3,
When i _r = 0, v _r = 0, and when i _r = V _l /r, v _r = V _l is output.

The inverter 34 is 1/2 of the power supply voltage V _l , i.e.
The digital value is determined using V _l /2 as a threshold level, and when v _r =0, a digital value "0" is output, and when v _r = V _l , a digital value "1" is output.

In this way, transmission is performed normally and the power supply voltage V _c
Since the voltage V _l is relatively low, the power consumption is also low.

Next, the operation when the bonnet is opened will be explained.

When you open the bonnet, the bonnet switch 1
1 is turned on. However, as long as no abnormality occurs in data transmission, the driver 42 is in the off state and the relay contact 13 is maintained at the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 2, so a relatively low voltage V _l is applied to the remote stations 2 and 3. Supplied.

However, since the hood is opened, the disturbance light g enters the phototransistor 32, and the amount of light received is biased. For convenience of explanation, it is assumed here that the amount of light received by the disturbance light g corresponds to the amount of light received when a current of V _l /2R-δ or V _l /2R+δ flows through the light emitting diode 22.
Here, δ represents a small value.

First, the amount of light received due to the disturbance light g is “V _l /2R−δ
When the front remote station 2 side transmits the digital value "0", the phototransistor 32
The current flowing in is only the current due to the disturbance light g, which is V _l /2r - Δ, and the output voltage of the amplifier 31 v _r = V _l /2 - ε. Here, Δ and ε represent small values.

This v _r = V _l /2−ε is the threshold level
Since it is smaller than V _l /2, it is determined that the digital value is "0".

When transmitting digital value "1" from front remote station 2, light emitting diode 2
The amount of light received is the sum of the amount of light received due to 2 and the amount of light received due to the disturbance light g, but the current exceeding V _l /r is restricted by the resistor 33 and does not flow. Therefore, the output voltage of the amplifier 31 v _r =V _l . Since this is higher than the threshold level V _l /2, it is determined that the digital value is "1".

Therefore, in this case, data transmission is performed normally.

However, the disturbance light g increases slightly and becomes “V _l /
If the amount of light received is equivalent to 2R + δ,
Even when transmitting the digital value "0" from the front remote station 2, a photocurrent of V _l /2r + Δ flows through the phototransistor 32, and the amplifier 31
The output voltage v _r =V _l /2+ε.

Since this is higher than the threshold level V _l /2, a digital value "1" is output. That is,
Correct data transmission will no longer be possible.

If such a data transmission abnormality occurs, the start edge detection circuit 35 will not correctly detect the start edge. Furthermore, when the amount of disturbance light g varies, an error may occur in the stop bit even if the start edge is accurately detected. Therefore, "1" from the start edge detection circuit 35 or the check circuit 39 is no longer output to the OR gate 38 within a predetermined time.

Then, the pulse is output to the timer circuit 4 within a predetermined time.
1 is no longer reset, the timer circuit 41
outputs "1", and the driver circuit 42 is turned on.

At this time, since the bonnet switch 11 is also in the on state, the relay coil 12 is energized by turning on the driver circuit 42, and the relay contact 13 is switched to the position shown by the broken line in FIG.

Then, a relatively high voltage V _h is applied to the power supply line 7, and the power supply voltage to the remote stations 2 and 3 becomes a relatively high voltage V _h . The relay coil 12 and relay contact 13 correspond to level up means.

For convenience of explanation, let V _h = 2V _l , then the front
The amount of light emitted by the light emitting diode 22 when transmitting the digital value "0" from the remote station 2 is 0.
However, since the current when outputting the digital value "1" is doubled, the amount of light emission is also doubled.

On the other hand, in the light receiving section 5r of the center remote station 3, since the power supply voltage is _2Vl , a photocurrent of up to _2Vl /r can flow through the phototransistor 32.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the characteristics of the amplifier 31 are such that an input current of 0 or 2 V _l /r results in an output voltage of 0 or 2 V _l .

Furthermore, the threshold level of the inverter 34 is 2V _l /2=V _l .

Then, the amount of light received due to the disturbance light g is “V _l /2R+
Even if the amount of light received corresponds to δ, normal data transmission can be performed.

In other words, front remote station 2
When transmitting a digital value _" 0" _from
A current of +Δ flows, and the amplifier 31 becomes v _r =V _l /2+ε
The output voltage will be . This is the threshold level
Since it is smaller than V _l , it is determined that the digital value is "0".

Next, when transmitting the digital value "1" from the front remote station 2, the phototransistor 32 has a "2V _l /R voltage across the light emitting diode 22".
_The amount of light received when a current of
The amount of light received is the sum of the amount of light received corresponding to the case where a current of +δ is applied. However, since the current of more than 2V _l /r does not flow through the resistor 33,
i _r = 2V _l /r, and the output of amplifier 31 is also v _r = 2V _l
becomes. Therefore, it is above the threshold level V _l and is determined to be a digital value of "1".

In this way, data transmission can be performed correctly without being disturbed by the disturbance light g.

Another embodiment uses a comparator and a resistive voltage divider circuit for outputting a threshold voltage in place of the inverter 34.

Another example is one in which the number of light emitting diodes is increased in order to increase the optical output on the transmitting side.

Effects of the invention According to the invention, a large number of automobile equipment is divided into two or more groups, and the equipment belonging to each group is connected to each control station provided correspondingly to each group. The control station is a control device for an automobile that is connected by an optical path space in an engine compartment covered with a bonnet so that they can cooperate with each other, and includes a bonnet switch that detects the opening and closing of the bonnet, and a bonnet switch that detects the opening and closing of the bonnet. Disturbance removing means for removing data below a predetermined level when receiving data; data abnormality detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of an abnormality in the data received by the disturbance removing means; An automobile characterized in that it is equipped with level up means for raising the light output level on the transmitting side and raising the disturbance removal level in the disturbance removing means on the receiving side when an abnormality is detected by the abnormality detection means. A control device is provided, which increases the level of optical transmission when the hood is open and a data abnormality is detected, thereby reliably eliminating disturbance of external light to optical transmission and suppressing an increase in power consumption. I can do it.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an example of an engine room of an automobile equipped with an automobile control device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of essential parts of a transmitting side control station and a receiving side control station in the control device shown in FIG. 1. , 3 and 4 are characteristic diagrams of the input current and output voltage of the light receiving means. Explanation of symbols, 1... Automobile control device, 2...
Front/remote station, 3... Center/remote station, 4, 5... Light emitting/receiving section, 4 _s ... Light emitting section, 5 _l ... Light receiving section, 6... Optical path space, 7... Power line, 10... …Battery,
11... Bonnet switch, 12... Relay coil, 14... Voltage regulator, 13...
...Relay contact, 31...Amplifier, 34...Inverter, 41...Timer circuit, g...Disturbance light.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A large number of automobile equipment is divided into two or more groups, and the equipment belonging to each group is connected to each control station provided correspondingly to each group, and each of the equipment is connected to a control station provided correspondingly to each group. The station is a control device for an automobile that is connected by an optical path space in an engine room covered with a bonnet so as to be able to cooperate with each other.The station is a bonnet switch that detects opening/closing of the bonnet, and data transmitted from the transmitting side. Disturbance removing means for removing data below a predetermined level when receiving data, data abnormality detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of an abnormality in the data received by the disturbance removing means, and the bonnet switch operating and detecting the data abnormality. A control for an automobile, characterized in that it is equipped with level up means for raising the light output level on the transmitting side and raising the disturbance removal level in the disturbance removing means on the receiving side when an abnormality is detected by the detection means. Device.