Radio communication system for vehicle

• US 6,876,845 B1
• Filed: 09/06/2000
• Issued: 04/05/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Tabata, Hajime, Miyamaru, Yukio
• Primary Examiner(s): Hudspeth, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Huy D
• Application Number:
  US09/655,846
• Time in Patent Office: 1,672 Days
• Field of Search: 455/568, 455/344, 455/351, 455/90, 455/575, 455/89
• US Class Current: 455/344
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3822 specially adapted for use in vehicles H04B1/3827 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/385 Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/3866 carried on the head

Abstract

A radio communication system for a vehicle which allows communication not only between fellow passengers but also with a passenger of another vehicle without increasing the scale of a radio communication apparatus to be mounted on a helmet. A radio wave signaled from a radio wave transmitter-receiver of a driver of a vehicle is received by a repeating apparatus of the self-vehicle and amplified by and re-signaled from the repeating apparatus. The radio wave signaled from the repeating apparatus is received by a radio wave transmitter-receiver of a driver of another vehicle and reproduced by a speaker. A radio wave signaled from the radio wave transmitter-receiver of the driver of the vehicle is received by a repeating apparatus of the self-vehicle and amplified by and re-signaled from the repeating apparatus. The radio wave signaled from the repeating apparatus is received by the radio wave transmitter-receiver of a driver of the vehicle and reproduced by a speaker.

Claims

1. A radio communication system for a vehicle comprising:

a radio communication apparatus mounted on at least one helmet to be worn by a passenger of said vehicle and including at least a speaker, a microphone and a radio wave transmitter-receiver powered by a battery housed within a case of the transmitter-receiver; and

a repeating apparatus mounted on said vehicle side for communicating with said radio wave transmitter-receiver, said radio communication apparatus mounted on said helmet communicating with a second helmet through said repeating apparatus,

wherein said radio wave transmitter-receiver is removably mounted at the center of a rear portion of each helmet through a removable fixing member and includes a pair of operation buttons disposed one above another on a rear face of the case, the operations buttons being disposed on either a right side or a left side of the case, and the battery being disposed in the right or the left side of the case opposite to the side where the operations buttons are disposed.

2. The radio communication system for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said repeating apparatus repeats mutual communication between two radio communication apparatus mounted on each of the two helmets worn by passengers of said vehicle and a radio communication apparatus mounted on a third helmet worn by a person other than the passengers of said vehicle.

3. The radio communication system for a vehicle according to claim 2, wherein said repeating apparatus includes a mixing apparatus to which at least one sound signal generation apparatus which generates a sound signal is connected and which mixes a sound signal or signals outputted from said sound signal generating apparatus with the received sound signal and transmits a resulting signal.

4. The radio communication system for a vehicle according to claim 3, wherein a display apparatus of a navigation system is supported for movement between a use position and an accommodation position.

5. The radio communication system for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the repeating apparatus includes a mute function and attenuates or interrupts when a sound source having a higher priority order and another sound source having a lower priority order interfere with each other.

6. The radio communication system for a vehicle according to claim 5, wherein said repeating apparatus includes a mixing apparatus to which at least one sound signal generation apparatus which generates a sound signal is connected and which mixes a sound signal or signals outputted from said sound signal generating apparatus with the received sound signal and transmits a resulting signal.

7. The radio communication system for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said repeating apparatus includes a mixing apparatus to which at least one sound signal generation apparatus which generates a sound signal is connected and which mixes a sound signal or signals outputted from said sound signal generating apparatus with the received sound signal and transmits a resulting signal.

8. The radio communication system for a vehicle according to claim 7, wherein said sound signal generation apparatus is at least one of a navigation system, a portable telephone set, a music reproduction apparatus, some other radio apparatus and a sound board.

9. The radio communication system for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said repeating apparatus has a mute function of selectively muting by attenuating or interrupting at least one of the sound signals outputted from said sound signal generation apparatus.

10. The radio communication system for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said sound signal generation apparatus is at least one of a navigation system, a portable telephone set, a music reproduction apparatus, some other radio apparatus and a sound board.

11. The radio communication system for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said radio wave transmitter-receiver has an antenna for radio communication built inside the case of the transceiver-receiver.

12. The radio communication system for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said radio wave transmitter-receiver has at least a circuit board and a battery accommodation section, and said circuit board and said battery accommodation section are disposed in such a manner as to be distributed to the left and the right when said radio wave transmitter-receiver is mounted in a predetermined posture at the center of the rear portion of each of the helmets.

13. The radio communication system for a vehicle according to claim 12, wherein said battery accommodation section is sized to correspond to the magnitude of a cell of a size of a AAA battery, the size being equivalent to a size of said circuit board.

14. The radio communication system for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the operation buttons are a volume control switch and a power supply switch.

15. The radio communication system for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said radio wave transmitter-receiver has a coil antenna accommodated along an upper inner side of the case of the radio transmitter-receiver.

16. A radio communication system for a vehicle comprising:

a radio communication apparatus mounted on at least one helmet to be worn by a passenger of said vehicle and including at least a speaker, a microphone and a radio wave transmitter-receiver powered by a battery housed within a case of the transmitter-receiver, said radio wave transmitter-receiver including;

a pair of operation buttons disposed one above another on one side of a rear face of the case, the operations buttons being disposed on either a right side or a left side of the case, and the battery being disposed in the right or the left side of the case opposite to the side where the operations buttons are disposed; and

a repeating apparatus mounted on said vehicle side for wireless communication with said radio wave transmitter-receiver, said radio communication apparatus being mounted on said helmet communicating with a second helmet through said repeating apparatus, wherein said repeating apparatus repeats mutual communication between two radio communication apparatus mounted on each of the two helmets worn by passengers of said vehicle and a radio communication apparatus mounted on a third helmet worn by a person other than the passengers of said vehicle, the repeating apparatus including;

a mixing section for combining signals received from two or more radio communication apparatuses; and

a mix/mute section for mixing sound signals outputted from the mixing section, a portable telephone set, and a music reproduction apparatus, and providing an output transmission signal.

17. The radio communication system for a vehicle according to claim 16, wherein the mix/mute section includes a mute function and attenuates or interrupts, when a sound source having a higher priority order and another sound source having a lower priority order interferes with each other.

18. The radio communication system for a vehicle according to claim 16, wherein the operation buttons are a volume control switch and a power supply switch.

19. The radio communication system for a vehicle according to claim 16, wherein said radio wave transmitter-receiver has a coil antenna accommodated along an upper inner side of the case of the radio transmitter-receiver.