IN-VEHICLE APPARATUS AND SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE

• US 20100145776A1
• Filed: 05/07/2008
• Published: 06/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Eguchi, Osamu, Hayashi, Kenta, Hanai, Shouichirou
• Application Number:
  US12/598,464
• Publication Number:
  US 20100145776A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/13
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/063 using wireless information transmission between the vehicle and a fixed station identification of vehicles G08G
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/017 identifying vehicles G08G1/015, G08G1/054 take precedence

Abstract

The in-vehicle apparatus card information stored in a storage section is set to an inactive state and is prevented from being read from the storage section when an ignition switch changes from “on” to “off” or when a user performs an operation signifying a change from an active state to the inactive state. Accordingly, the in-vehicle apparatus card information is disabled by an explicit user operation or a normal operation performed when the user gets out of a vehicle. It is possible to prevent the unauthorized use of the in-vehicle apparatus card information when the user does not get in the vehicle.

Claims

1. An in-vehicle apparatus comprising:

a charging execution section that communicates with a roadside apparatus and executes a charging process;

a charging information storage section that stores charging information needed to execute the charging process by the charging execution section; and

a setup section that assigns one of an active state and an inactive state to a state of the charging information stored in the charging information storage section, the active state corresponding to an available state of the charging information and the inactive state corresponding to an unavailable state of the charging information.

2. The in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the setup section acquires state information about an ignition switch and, when the ignition switch changes from an on-state to an off-state, the setup section changes the charging information to the inactive state when the charging information is in the active state.

3. The in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a first operation acceptance section that accepts from a user a first operation associated with changing the charging information from the active state to the inactive state,

wherein the setup section changes the charging information from the active state to the inactive state when the first operation acceptance section accepts the first operation for changing the charging information from the active state to the inactive state.

4. The in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a second operation acceptance section that accepts from a user a second operation to input a private code for changing the charging information from the inactive state to the active state,

wherein the setup section determines whether or not the private code accepted by the second operation acceptance section is the same as a predetermined private code, and

wherein, when it is determined that the private code and the predetermined private code are the same, the setup section changes the charging information from the inactive state to the active state.

5. The in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the setup section determines whether or not activation-ready information entered from an other apparatus is the same as already input and stored information and, when it is determined that the activation-ready information and the already input and stored information are the same, the setup section changes the charging information from the inactive state to the active state.

6. The in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 5,

wherein the activation-ready information is specific to the other apparatus.

7. The in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the setup section receives notification of a release of a door lock from a keyless entry ECU and changes the charging information to the active state when the charging information is set to the inactive state.

8. The in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a flag storage section for storing a flag that indicates whether or not to enable the active state for the charging information,

wherein the setup section acquires state information about the ignition switch and, when an ignition switch state changes from an off-state to an on-state, the setup section activates the charging information based on the flag stored in the flag storage section.

9. The in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an output section for outputting information indicative of the state of the charging information stored in the charging information storage section upon detection that a user performs a specified driving preparation operation for the vehicle.

10. The in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an output section for, when the state of the charging information stored in the charging information storage section is set to the inactive state, outputting information indicative of the state of the charging information upon detection that a user performs a specified driving preparation operation for the vehicle.

11. The in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an output section for outputting information indicative of the state of the charging information stored in the charging information storage section when a route for guidance provided by a navigation system is detected to include a place capable of executing the charging process and the charging information is set to the inactive state.

12. The in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the charging information storage section is capable of storing multiple elements of charging information, and

wherein the setup section is configured so that all the elements of the charging information stored in the charging information storage section are set to the inactive state or only any one thereof is set to the active state.

13. The in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the charging information storage section stores the charging information and the activation-ready information in association with each other,

wherein the setup section determines whether or not activation-ready information entered from another apparatus is the same as already input and stored information, and

wherein, when it is determined that both information are the same, the setup section changes the charging information from the inactive state to the active state and changes the charging information corresponding to the activation-ready information entered from the other apparatus from the inactive state to the active state.

14. The in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising:

a charging information acquisition section that acquires the charging information and the activation-ready information from the other apparatus and allows the charging information storage section to store the both of the information in association with each other.

15. The in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising:

a history information storage section that stores history information about the charging process performed by the charging execution section in association with the charging information used for the charging process.

16. The in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising:

a history information output section that reads, from the history information storage section, the history information corresponding to the charging information corresponding to the activation-ready information input from the other apparatus and outputs the history information.

17. The in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a third operation acceptance section for accepting from a user a third operation associated with erasing the charging information stored in the charging information storage section;

a charging information erase section for erasing the charging information stored in the charging information storage section when the third operation acceptance section accepts the third operation; and

a control information storage section for storing control information acquired from the charging process,

wherein the charging execution section allows the control information storage section to store the control information from the charging process performed at an entrance tollbooth and erases the control information when the charging process is performed at an exit tollbooth, and

wherein the charging information erase section erases charging information to be erased from the charging information storage section on condition that the control information storage section does not store the control information corresponding to the charging information to be erased.

18. A semiconductor device having a configuration described with respect to the setup section in the in-vehicle apparatus according to claim 1.

19. A semiconductor device characterized by assigning one of an active state and an inactive state to a state of charging information needed to execute a charging process, the active state corresponding to an available state of the charging information and the inactive state corresponding to an unavailable state of the charging information.