JP-7856032-B2 - Communication device

JP7856032B2JP 7856032 B2JP7856032 B2JP 7856032B2JP-7856032-B2

Inventors

櫻井広昭
高橋国人

Assignees

トヨタ自動車株式会社

Dates

Publication Date: 20260511
Application Date: 20230323

Claims (2)

A communication device installed in a vehicle with a speaker and microphone located inside the vehicle, which communicates with a center outside the vehicle, When an audio signal is input, an output unit generates sound from the speaker based on the audio signal, An input section into which an input audio signal, which is an audio signal related to the sound collected by the aforementioned microphone, is input. A sound signal generation unit generates a sound signal for diagnostic purposes that relates to a sound with frequencies not included in the audible range, which is the frequency range of sounds that humans can hear. A diagnostic unit diagnoses whether or not an abnormality has occurred by comparing the input audio signal related to the audio collected by the microphone when audio based on the diagnostic audio signal generated by the audio signal generation unit is emitted from the speaker, with the diagnostic audio signal. It comprises multiple functional units that perform signal input and output when performing communication processing with the aforementioned center, The aforementioned diagnostic unit, The diagnostic audio signal generated by the audio signal generation unit is input sequentially to the plurality of functional units. The system diagnoses whether or not an abnormality has occurred by comparing the signal that has passed through any of the multiple functional units with the diagnostic audio signal. Communication device.
The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the audio signal generation unit generates an audio signal relating to audio with frequencies higher than the audible range as the diagnostic audio signal.

Description

This invention relates to a communication device installed in a vehicle. Patent Document 1 discloses an emergency information notification device installed in a vehicle. The emergency information notification device has a function to transmit an audio signal related to the voice collected by the microphone to a center outside the vehicle, and a function to generate voice from a speaker based on the audio signal transmitted from the center. Furthermore, when the emergency information notification device is activated, it generates voice from the speaker based on a predetermined audio signal and collects this voice into the microphone. The emergency information notification device then diagnoses whether an abnormality has occurred by comparing the loopback signal, which is the audio signal related to the voice collected by the microphone, with the predetermined audio signal. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2002-288772 Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the outline of a communication device according to an embodiment.Figure 2 is a schematic diagram showing the outline of the communication device of the embodiment.Figure 3 is a flowchart showing the sequence of processes performed by the audio input/output device of the communication device shown in Figure 1. An embodiment of the communication device will be described below with reference to Figures 1 to 3. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate a communication device 20 mounted in a vehicle, and a speaker 11 and microphone 12 installed in the vehicle's passenger compartment. The speaker 11 generates sound in the passenger compartment based on an audio signal input from the communication device 20. The microphone 12 collects sound in the passenger compartment and outputs an audio signal, which is a signal related to that sound, to the communication device 20. The microphone 12 is positioned to collect sound generated by the speaker 11. <Communication equipment> The communication device 20 is a device that communicates with the center 100 installed outside the vehicle via a wireless LAN 110. For example, when a vehicle occupant and an operator outside the vehicle are having a conversation, the speaker 11 collects the voice spoken by the occupant, and the communication device 20 transmits an audio signal related to the voice collected by the speaker 11 to the center 100. When the communication device 20 receives an audio signal related to the voice spoken by the operator, the communication device 20 generates audio from the speaker 11 based on the received audio signal. The communication device 20 comprises a main control unit 30, an audio input/output device 40, and an amplifier 21. The audio input/output device 40 outputs an audio signal to the amplifier 21 when generating sound from the speaker 11. The amplifier 21 amplifies the input audio signal and outputs it to the speaker 11. This allows the speaker 11 to generate sound based on the audio signal output by the audio input/output device 40. Although not shown in the diagram, the communication device 20 also includes other control devices besides the main control device 30 and the audio input/output device 40. The audio input/output device 40 and the other control devices are configured to transmit and receive information with the main control device 30. <Main control unit> The main control unit 30 has a first interface for sending and receiving information with the audio input/output device 40, and a second interface for communicating with the center 100. The main control unit 30 has, as the first interface, a first receiving interface 31 for receiving audio signals from the audio input/output device 40, and a first transmitting interface 32 for transmitting audio signals to the audio input/output device 40. The main control unit 30 has, as the second interface, a second transmitting interface 33 for transmitting signals to the center 100, and a second receiving interface 34 for receiving signals transmitted by the center 100. Furthermore, the main control unit 30 has a plurality of functional units 35 that perform signal input and output when exchanging signals between the first interface and the second interface. These plurality of functional units 35 include, for example, a volume control unit and switches. Furthermore, the main control unit 30 also has a third interface 36 for sending and receiving information with the audio input/output device 40. As will be described in detail later, the audio input/output device 40 performs a diagnostic process to determine whether or not an abnormality has occurred. If this diagnostic process is performed in the audio input/output device 40, it transmits diagnostic information, which is information related to the diagnostic result, to the main control unit 30. At this time, the main control unit 30 receives the diagnostic information via the third interface 36. <Audio Input/Output Device> The audio input/output device 40 has a transmission interface 41 for transmitting audi