Patent Application
20250146351
This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-190232 filed on Nov. 7, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to an information processing apparatus.
Technology related to the control of the opening and closing of vehicle power windows is known. For example, Patent Literature (PTL) 1 discloses automatically controlling the opening and closing of power windows and setting power window opening based on temperature, aerosol amount, air quality, weather, and the like at IG-ON.
However, the control of power windows according to the occupant or the like is not considered in PTL 1. In other words, there is room for improvement in the technology related to the control of the opening and closing of vehicle power windows.
It would be helpful to improve technology related to the control of the opening and closing of vehicle power windows.
An information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a controller configured to:
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, technology related to the control of the opening and closing of vehicle power windows is improved.
In the accompanying drawings:
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described.
An outline of technology according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to
The vehicle 1 is an automobile, for example, but is not limited to this and may be any appropriate vehicle. The automobile is, for example, a gasoline vehicle, a battery electric vehicle (BEV), a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), or the like, but is not limited to these.
The information processing apparatus 10 is any apparatus to be used by an occupant in the vehicle 1. For example, a dedicated in-vehicle device can be employed as the information processing apparatus 10. The information processing apparatus 10 may be a general purpose electronic device such as a smartphone or tablet terminal.
First, an outline of the present embodiment will be described, and details thereof will be described later. The information processing apparatus 10 stores in advance attribute information for an occupant who may board a vehicle and setting information for a power window to correspond with each other. The information processing apparatus 10 acquires attribute information for an occupant seated in a seat of the vehicle. The information processing apparatus 10 then controls driving of the power window corresponding to the seat using the setting information corresponding to the acquired attribute information.
Thus, according to the present embodiment, the information processing apparatus 10 acquires attribute information for the occupant who may board the vehicle, and controls driving of the power window corresponding to the seat using the setting information corresponding to the attribute information. Thus, the technology related to the control of the opening and closing of vehicle power windows is improved in that the driving of the power windows can be controlled adaptively according to the attributes of the occupants who may board the vehicle.
Next, configurations of the information processing apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail.
As illustrated in
The controller 11 includes at least one processor, at least one dedicated circuit, or a combination thereof. The processor is a general purpose processor, such as a central processing unit (CPU) or a graphics processing unit (GPU), or a dedicated processor specialized for particular processing. The dedicated circuit is, for example, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The controller 11 executes processes related to operations of the information processing apparatus 10 while controlling components of the information processing apparatus 10.
The memory 12 includes at least one semiconductor memory, at least one magnetic memory, at least one optical memory, or a combination of at least two of these. The semiconductor memory is, for example, random access memory (RAM) or read only memory (ROM). The RAM is, for example, static random access memory (SRAM) or dynamic random access memory (DRAM). The ROM is, for example, electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM). The memory 12 functions as, for example, a main memory, an auxiliary memory, or a cache memory. The memory 12 stores data to be used in the operations of the information processing apparatus 10 and data obtained by the operations of the information processing apparatus 10.
The input interface 13 includes at least one interface for input. The interface for input is, for example, a physical key, a capacitive key, a pointing device, or a touch screen integrally provided with a display. The interface for input may be, for example, a sound sensor that accepts audio input, a camera that accepts gesture input, or the like. The input interface 13 accepts an operation for inputting data to be used for the operations of the information processing apparatus 10. The input interface 13 may be connected to the information processing apparatus 10 as an external input device, instead of being included in the information processing apparatus 10. As the connection method, for example, any method such as Universal Serial Bus (USB), High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI®) (HDMI is a registered trademark in Japan, other countries, or both), or Bluetooth® can be used.
The display 14 includes at least one interface for display output. The interface for display output is, for example, a display for outputting information in the form of an image, or the like. The display is, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an organic electro luminescent (EL) display. The display 14 displays and outputs data obtained by the operations of the information processing apparatus 10. The display 14 may be connected to the information processing apparatus 10 as an external output device, instead of being included in the information processing apparatus 10. As the connection method, any technology such as USB, HDMI® (HDMI is a registered trademark in Japan, other countries, or both), or Bluetooth® (Bluetooth is a registered trademark in Japan, other countries, or both) can be used. The display 14 may be located in a position visible from the driver's seat of the vehicle 1.
The communication interface 15 includes at least one interface for external communication. The interface for communication may be either a wired or wireless communication interface. For wired communication, the interface for communication is, for example, a Local Area Network (LAN) interface or Universal Serial Bus (USB). For wireless communication, the interface for communication is, for example, an interface compliant with a mobile communication standard such as a Long Term Evolution (LTE), the 4th generation (4G) standard, or the 5th generation (5G) standard, or an interface compliant with a short-range wireless communication standard such as Bluetooth® (Bluetooth is a registered trademark in Japan, other countries, or both). The communication interface 15 receives data to be used for the operations of the information processing apparatus 10, and transmits data obtained by the operations of the information processing apparatus 10.
The functions of the information processing apparatus 10 may be implemented by a processor corresponding to the controller 11 executing a program according to the present embodiment. That is, the functions of the information processing apparatus 10 are realized by software. The program causes a computer to execute the operations of the information processing apparatus 10, thereby causing the computer to function as the information processing apparatus 10. That is, the computer executes the operations of the information processing apparatus 10 in accordance with the program to thereby function as the information processing apparatus 10.
In the present embodiment, the program can be recorded on a computer readable recording medium. The computer readable recording medium includes a non-transitory computer readable medium and is, for example, a magnetic recording apparatus, an optical disc, a magneto-optical recording medium, or a semiconductor memory. The program is distributed, for example, by selling, transferring, or lending a portable recording medium such as a digital versatile disc (DVD) or a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM) on which the program is recorded. The program may also be distributed by storing the program in a storage of an external server and transmitting the program from the external server to another computer. The program may be provided as a program product.
Some or all of the functions of the information processing apparatus 10 may be realized by a dedicated circuit corresponding to the controller 11. That is, some or all of the functions of the information processing apparatus 10 may be realized by hardware.
The operations of the information processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to
Step S100: The controller 11 of the information processing apparatus 10 acquires attribute information for occupants seated in the seats of the vehicle 1. The target seats from which attribute information is acquired may be all seats or a subset of seats. In the present embodiment, the controller 11 shall acquire attribute information for all seats in the vehicle 1. In other words, in the present embodiment, the controller 11 shall acquire attribute information for each occupant seated in each seat of the vehicle 1.
Any method can be employed to acquire the attribute information for the occupants. For example, the controller 11 may automatically acquire the attribute information for the occupants from sensors or other sources via the communication interface 15. Alternatively, the controller 11 may acquire the attribute information for the occupant based on the user's input operation to the input interface 13.
For example, any user interface can be adopted for the input operation.
Step S200: The controller 11 controls driving of the power window corresponding to the seat using the setting information corresponding to the attribute information acquired in step S100.
Here, the correspondence between the attribute information and the setting information for the power windows may be stored in the memory 12, for example, in the form of a table. Table 1 illustrates an example of a correspondence table.
When the correspondence table illustrated in Table 1 is stored in the memory 12, the controller 11 controls driving of the power window corresponding to the seat using the setting information corresponding to the attribute information based on the correspondence table. For example, if the attribute information is adult, the controller 11 controls driving of the power windows without restrictions. In other words, in this case, the occupant seated in the seat can freely operate the power window opening, etc. For example, if the attribute information is child, the controller 11 controls driving using a first predetermined value as the upper limit of the power window opening and with a notification setting. The first predetermined value may be set freely, e.g., 50%. In this way, the power window opening is limited and controlled by the drive control, reducing the risk of children putting their faces, hands, etc. out of the power window. The notification setting includes, for example, a setting to notify prior to driving of the power window. Such a notification setting allows the driver and others to know that the operation will be performed before the child or others open the power window.
For example, if the attribute information is pet, the controller 11 controls driving of a power window using a second predetermined value as the upper limit of the power window opening and with a notification setting. The second predetermined value may be the same as or different from the first predetermined value. In this way, the power window opening is limited and controlled by the drive, reducing the risk of pets jumping out of the power window, etc.
For example, if the attribute information is a specific username (in this case, user A), the controller 11 controls the driving of the power window, assuming that manual open/close operation is allowed only from the driver's seat.
As described above, according to the information processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, the information processing apparatus 10 acquires attribute information for the occupant who may board the vehicle, and controls driving of the power window corresponding to the seat using the setting information corresponding to the attribute information. Thus, the technology related to the control of the opening and closing of vehicle power windows is improved in that the driving of the power windows can be controlled adaptively according to the attributes of the occupants who may board the vehicle.
While the present disclosure has been described with reference to the drawings and examples, it should be noted that various modifications and revisions may be implemented by those skilled in the art based on the present disclosure. Accordingly, such modifications and revisions are included within the scope of the present disclosure. For example, functions or the like included in each component, each step, or the like can be rearranged without logical inconsistency, and a plurality of components, steps, or the like can be combined into one or divided.
Here, the controller 11 may visually display the status of the rear seat by means of the display 14. For example, the controller 11 may use the display 14 to show the power window opening, or whether a child or pet is near the power window. In this way, the driver can easily monitor the rear seats from the driver's seat.
Here, the user may be allowed to set the attribute information and the setting information manually to correspond with each other according to the screen display. In other words, the user may be allowed to set the attribute information and the setting information to correspond with each other. For example, a user interface showing the correspondence table may be displayed on the display 14. In addition, the setting information corresponding to each attribute information may be freely editable.
For example, specific attribute information may be automatically set to correspond to specific setting information. Such specific attribute information may include children or pets. The specific setting information may be a setting of the upper limit of the power window opening. Specific setting information may also be a setting that allows manual open/close operation only from the driver's seat, or a setting that notifies the user if a child or pet is near the power window before driving of the power window.
For example, if a predetermined object is detected in the vicinity of the vehicle 1, the controller 11 may control the power window of the seat closest to the object to open. Prescribed objects may include parking ticket issuing machines or bar gates. In this case, the controller 11 may control driving of the power window according to the setting information corresponding to the attribute information for the occupant seated in the seat of the power window. Alternatively, the controller 11 may control the power window to fully open regardless of the attribute information for the occupant seated in the seat at the power window. In other words, in this case, the controller 11 may control the power window of the seat closest to the object to open as an exception process.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-190232 | Nov 2023 | JP | national |
