SOUND-DIRECTED-OUTSIDE-VEHICLE EMITTING DEVICE

• US 20110313617A1
• Filed: 05/26/2010
• Published: 12/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: Omote, Asako, Aoyagi, Takahisa, Taniguchi, Takuya, Kokido, Noritaka
• Granted Patent: US 8,121,755 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/36
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 5/008 for signaling silent vehicles, e.g. for warning that a hybrid or electric vehicle is approaching
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

A sound-directed-outside-vehicle emitting device includes a storage unit 2-A for storing criteria by each of which to determine whether or not a running zone is a high-risk zone, each of the criteria describing a status of the vehicle, and a navigation device 1-A for acquiring information showing a status of the vehicle. The sound-directed-outside-vehicle emitting device compares the information acquired by the navigation device 1-A with the criteria stored in the storage unit 2-A to determine whether the above-mentioned vehicle is running through a high-risk zone, and does not stop the output of a warning sound when determining that the vehicle is running through a high-risk zone even if a switch 4 for commanding a stop of the output of the warning sound is operated.

Claims

1. A sound-directed-outside-vehicle emitting device mounted in a vehicle, for emitting a sound directed outside the vehicle, said sound-directed-outside-vehicle emitting device comprising:

a sound emitting unit for emitting a sound directed outside the vehicle;

a storage unit for storing criteria by each of which to determine whether or not a running zone is a high-risk zone, each of said criteria describing a status of the vehicle;

an information acquiring unit for acquiring information showing a status of said vehicle;

a determining unit for comparing the information showing the status of said vehicle acquired by said information acquiring unit with said criteria read from said storage unit to determine whether or not said vehicle is running through a high-risk zone; and

a control unit for controlling the output of said sound emitting unit while not stopping the output of said sound emitting unit when said determining unit determines that said vehicle is running through a high-risk zone even if a predetermined operation of commanding a stop of the output of the sound is performed thereon by something outside said sound-directed-outside-vehicle emitting device.

2. The sound-directed-outside-vehicle emitting device according to claim 1, wherein said information acquiring unit acquires the information showing the status of said vehicle at fixed time intervals, and said determining unit compares the information showing the status of said vehicle which is acquired by said information acquiring unit at the fixed time intervals with said criteria read from said storage unit to determine whether or not said vehicle is running through a high-risk zone.

3. The sound-directed-outside-vehicle emitting device according to claim 1, wherein said information acquiring unit acquires the information showing the status of said vehicle every time when said vehicle runs a fixed distance, and said determining unit compares the information showing the status of said vehicle which is acquired by said information acquiring unit every time when said vehicle runs the fixed distance with said criteria read from said storage unit to determine whether or not said vehicle is running through a high-risk zone.

4. The sound-directed-outside-vehicle emitting device according to claim 1, wherein said storage unit stores, as said criteria, a criterion showing whether a predetermined ground object or a predetermined obstacle exists in an area surrounding the vehicle, said information acquiring unit detects said predetermined ground object or said predetermined obstacle existing in an area surrounding said vehicle, and said determining unit compares said predetermined ground object or said predetermined obstacle detected by said information acquiring unit with said criteria read from said storage unit to determine whether or not said vehicle is running through a high-risk zone.

5. The sound-directed-outside-vehicle emitting device according to claim 1, wherein said storage unit stores, as said criteria, a criterion showing whether a predetermined ground object exists in an area surrounding the vehicle and a criterion showing a running time zone of said vehicle, said information acquiring unit detects said predetermined ground object existing in an area surrounding said vehicle and a running time zone of said vehicle, and said determining unit compares said predetermined ground object and said running time of said vehicle detected by said information acquiring unit with said criteria read from said storage unit to determine whether or not said vehicle is running through a high-risk zone.

6. The sound-directed-outside-vehicle emitting device according to claim 1, wherein said storage unit stores, as said criteria, a criterion showing whether a predetermined obstacle exists in an area surrounding the vehicle and a criterion showing a distance between said obstacle and said vehicle, said information acquiring unit detects whether the predetermined obstacle exists in an area surrounding said vehicle and a distance between said obstacle and said vehicle, and said determining unit compares said predetermined obstacle existing in an area surrounding said vehicle and the distance between said obstacle and said vehicle which are detected by said information acquiring unit with said criteria read from said storage unit to determine whether or not said vehicle is running through a high-risk zone.

7. The sound-directed-outside-vehicle emitting device according to claim 1, wherein said storage unit stores, as said criteria, a criterion showing a predetermined vehicle speed range, said information acquiring unit detects a vehicle speed of said vehicle, and said determining unit compares the vehicle speed of said vehicle detected by said information acquiring unit with said vehicle speed range of said criteria read from said storage unit to determine whether or not said vehicle is running through a high-risk zone.

8. The sound-directed-outside-vehicle emitting device according to claim 1, wherein said storage unit stores, as said criteria, a criterion showing a predetermined road width range of roads along which vehicles run, said information acquiring unit detects a road width of a road along which said vehicle is running, and said determining unit compares the road width of the road along which said vehicle is running and which is detected by said information acquiring unit with said predetermined road width range of said criteria read from said storage unit to determine whether or not said vehicle is running through a high-risk zone.

9. The sound-directed-outside-vehicle emitting device according to claim 1, wherein said information acquiring unit dynamically changes a time at which said information acquiring unit acquires the information showing the status of said vehicle according to at least one of an environmental variation in an inside of the vehicle and an environmental variation in an outside of the vehicle.

10. The sound-directed-outside-vehicle emitting device according to claim 1, wherein said sound-directed-outside-vehicle emitting device includes a presentation unit for presenting information to a user, and, when the predetermined operation of commanding the stop of the output of the sound is performed thereon by something outside said sound-directed-outside-vehicle emitting device while said determining unit determines that said vehicle is running through a high-risk zone, said control unit presents information showing that said predetermined operation is disabled or said sound emitting unit cannot stop the output by way of said presentation unit.

11. The sound-directed-outside-vehicle emitting device according to claim 10, wherein said control unit presents a reason why the predetermined operation of commanding the stop of the output of the sound must not be performed while said determining unit determines that said vehicle is running through a high-risk zone by way of said presentation unit.

12. The sound-directed-outside-vehicle emitting device according to claim 1, wherein said storage unit stores a degree of risk for a high-risk zone as said criteria, and said control unit changes a sound volume of the output sound of said sound emitting unit according to said degree of risk.