KR102780914B1 - Agricultural vehicle having a function of reporting breakaway of safety area - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention proposes an agricultural vehicle capable of reporting its current location to a server even when the engine is off. The agricultural vehicle of the present invention comprises a control unit (10) and a telematics unit (20). The control unit includes an engine control unit, a transmission control unit, and a hydraulic control unit for hydraulic control. In addition, the telematics unit receives information from the control unit (10) through vehicle communication, includes a GNSS module for determining the current location of the vehicle, a processor for processing a signal from the GNSS module, and a communication module for transmitting information to the server under the processing of the processor. In the sleep mode when the engine of the vehicle is off, the processor reports the current location of the vehicle to the server (30) with a period longer than the period in the on state.

Description

Agricultural vehicle having a function of reporting breakaway of safety area

The present invention relates to an agricultural vehicle such as a tractor, and more specifically, to an agricultural vehicle having a safe zone departure reporting function configured to periodically transmit the current location of the agricultural vehicle to a server even when the vehicle's engine is turned off when the agricultural vehicle leaves a safe zone.

Recently, there has been a trend toward introducing telematics functions to agricultural vehicles such as tractors to enable them to implement various functions. For example, as a prior patent, Korean Patent No. 10-2415915 proposed a technology that enables rapid response by transmitting vehicle failures to a server.

It can be said that agricultural vehicles are generally driven within a practically designated area and work is performed within this area. However, it is inevitable that the vehicle will leave this safe zone. Even if this happens due to the driver's driving, it can be said that specific measures are necessary if theft is suspected.

The present invention proposes an agricultural vehicle having a function that can quickly report to a server when the agricultural vehicle leaves a set safe zone. The server can store this information and send this information to the vehicle owner, manager, etc.

Here, the present invention proposes a function that can periodically transmit the current location of the vehicle to the server even when the vehicle is turned off while out of the safe zone, and in particular, it is designed to report the current location of the vehicle to the server for a long period of time with minimal battery usage by periodically transmitting only the minimum signal when the ignition is off. Furthermore, the period at this time is set longer than the driving state of the vehicle so as to efficiently use the battery.

The agricultural vehicle of the present invention comprises a control unit section and a telematics section. The control unit section includes an engine control unit for controlling the engine of the vehicle, a transmission control unit for controlling the transmission, and a hydraulic control unit for controlling the hydraulic pressure. In addition, the telematics section receives information of the control unit section (10) through vehicle communication, includes a GNSS module for determining the current location of the vehicle, a processor for processing signals from the GNSS module, and a communication module for transmitting information to a server under processing by the processor.

Here, in the driving mode where the vehicle is turned on, the processor periodically reports the vehicle's location to the server, and in the sleep mode where the vehicle is turned off, the processor reports the current location of the vehicle to the server with a longer period than the period in the on state. In addition, the processor determines whether the current location of the vehicle has left the safe zone and transmits an event signal to the server. In addition, the server can store this safe zone departure signal and transmit it to multiple terminals.

According to the present invention as described above, the current location of the vehicle can be transmitted to the server in real time, so that the owner or manager can conveniently identify and manage the current location of the vehicle through the server. In addition, if the vehicle leaves the set safe zone, the server can immediately identify this and notify the necessary terminal, so management convenience can also be expected.

In addition, the location report of these vehicles can be reported to the server by activating the GNSS module and processor periodically not only in the driving state but also in the sleep state. The reporting cycle in the sleep state is set to be significantly longer than the reporting cycle in the driving state, thereby responding to the battery consumption problem. This is expected to be advantageous in responding to theft, as it allows for a quick and accurate response to vehicle theft, etc.

Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the functions of the agricultural vehicle of the present invention.

Next, the present invention will be examined in more detail based on embodiments illustrated in the drawings.

The agricultural vehicle of the present invention has a safe zone departure reporting function. That is, when the vehicle leaves the set safe zone, the vehicle has a function to transmit this fact to the server. In addition, the server can notify this safe zone departure fact through a personal terminal, so that the vehicle owner and manager can quickly identify it.

As shown in Fig. 1, the agricultural vehicle of the present invention includes a control unit section (10) composed of a plurality of control units, and a telematics section (20) for processing information transmitted from the control unit section (10) and transmitting it to a server (30). The control unit section (10) includes several control units that control each part of the tractor.

For example, the control unit unit (10) includes an engine control unit (ECU) related to engine control, a transmission control unit (TCU) related to transmission control, and a hydraulic control unit (HCU) related to control of hydraulic components. The control units included in the control unit unit (10) report the current status of the corresponding units to the telematics unit (20) in real time through vehicle communication (e.g., CAN communication). Since the transmission and reception of information through vehicle communication is substantially well known, a detailed description thereof is omitted.

Information in the control unit (10) is processed by the processor (24) of the telematics unit (20). The processor (24) of the telematics unit (20) may be configured in multiple units according to a pre-input algorithm, and may include, for example, a periodic reporting unit (24). The periodic reporting unit (24) is a unit that controls the transmission of corresponding information to the server (30) according to a set period. One of the periodic reports of the periodic reporting unit (24) may include, for example, the current location of the vehicle.

And the telematics unit (20) includes a global navigation satellite system (GNSS; Global Navigation Satellite System) (22a) that provides information on the location, altitude, and speed of objects (vehicles) on the ground using artificial satellites. This GNSS module (22a) can obtain information on the location, speed, altitude, etc. of the vehicle, and this information is processed by the processor (24).

Here, the vehicle location information reported by the GNSS module (22a) is processed by the periodic reporting unit (24a) among the processors (24). That is, the agricultural vehicle of the present invention has a safe zone departure reporting function, and is based on the periodic reporting unit (24) processing information transmitted from the GNSS module (22a).

Here, the safe zone is determined by the settings of the owner or manager, and can be set, for example, within a radius of several kilometers from the vehicle's home. As an example, it can be set as a circular area with a radius set with respect to a reference point (e.g., the owner's home). In addition, it can be set by separately entering an area created by connecting multiple coordinates, and it is also possible to use various other known methods for designating a certain area.

In addition, the telematics unit (20) is equipped with a communication module (22b) for communicating with a server (30), an inertial measurement unit (IMU: Inertial Measurement Unit) for measuring the speed, direction, gravity, and acceleration of a moving object, and a memory (22d) for storing information through processing by a processor (24).

In addition, in addition to the above-described periodic reporting unit (24a), the processor (24) of the telematics unit (20) is installed with an immediate reporting unit (24b) that controls immediate reporting to the server (30) in relation to the vehicle, a failure reporting unit (24c) that reports failure information of the vehicle, a work unit (24d) for reporting information related to the operation of the vehicle, and a driving unit (24e) for reporting information related to driving.

Each processing unit of such a processor (24) can be said to be preset to classify and process information transmitted from a sensor of the landing or a control unit (10). For example, the periodic reporting unit (24a) can be said to be a processor that processes information that must be periodically reported to a server among the information transmitted from a unit such as the control unit (10) or the above-described GNSS module (22a).

The communication module (22b) of the telematics unit (20) can perform wireless communication with the communication module (32) of the server (30) through a communication network. In addition, the server (30) is equipped with a processor (34) that performs overall control including the above-described communication module (32), and a storage unit (36) that stores the transmitted information. This server (30) processes the information transmitted from the telematics unit (20) by the processor (34) and stores it in the storage unit (36).

And each piece of information processed in the periodic reporting unit (24a), the immediate reporting unit (24b), the failure reporting unit (24c), the work unit (24d), and the driving unit (24e) has already been determined and classified by the designer. Next, the operation of the vehicle according to the present invention in relation to departure from the safety zone will be examined in sequence.

First, when the vehicle is turned on, the processor (24) starts the driving mode. In this driving mode, periodic report information is transmitted to the server (30) through the communication network by the periodic report unit (24a) according to a set time period. Among these periodic reports, information related to the present invention includes location information. That is, the vehicle location information measured by the GNSS module (22a) is reported to the server (30) at regular time periods.

In this way, the immediate reporting unit (24b) always determines whether the current location of the vehicle is within the safe zone. That is, when the vehicle is in the driving mode, the periodic reporting unit (24a) transmits the vehicle's location information to the server (30) according to the set period, and at the same time, the immediate reporting unit (24b) determines whether the vehicle is within the safe zone based on the current location of the vehicle. For example, by comparing the current location information of the vehicle measured by the GNSS module (22a) with the stored safe zone radius, it determines whether the vehicle is within the safe zone.

And if the current location of the vehicle is out of the safe zone as a result of the judgment in step 12, the immediate reporting unit (24b) transmits an abnormal event occurrence signal to the server (30). It is preferable to transmit such a safe zone departure signal to the server (30) after judging that it has departed a certain distance from the input safe zone, taking into account errors and accuracy. It is more preferable to report the departure signal when it has departed a certain distance from the safe zone, considering the GPS error and the accuracy of the signal.

The server (30) periodically receives the vehicle's location information from the processor (24), and when the vehicle leaves the safe zone, it receives an event occurrence of a safe zone departure. The server (30), which receives this information through the communication module (32), stores the necessary information in the storage unit (36) under the control of the processor (34). In addition, the processor (34) can also transmit the safe zone departure event information to a user or administrator, etc., according to a set algorithm.

In this way, in the driving mode with the engine turned on, the vehicle position transmission cycle is set shorter than when the engine is turned off, as described later. And the reporting cycle of the processor (24) is the same while the driving mode is maintained. Unlike this driving mode, when the vehicle engine is turned off, the processor (24) is switched to the sleep mode.

In a typical vehicle, when the vehicle switches to sleep mode, the power to the processor (24) is also cut off, so the vehicle's location cannot be transmitted. However, in the present invention, when the vehicle switches to sleep mode, the processor (24) is input (installed) to be activated periodically, so that it receives the current location through the GNSS module (22a) at set times (for example, 1 hour) and transmits the current location to the server (30) through the periodic reporting unit (24a).

At the same time, the immediate reporting unit (24b) determines whether the vehicle has left the safe zone, and if so, sends an event indicating that the vehicle has left the safe zone to the server (30). As described above, the reporting cycles of the immediate reporting unit (24a) and the immediate reporting unit (24b) in the driving mode are relatively short, and the reporting cycle in the sleep mode is relatively long. This is designed to take into account the operation of the generator in the driving mode, and to allow the vehicle's current location to be reported for a longer period of time in the sleep mode, taking into account the battery.

Here, we will look at the final processing according to the remaining battery capacity. The above-described processor (24) actually determines the remaining battery capacity, and considering the remaining battery capacity, the processor (24) performs the following processing. For example, if it is determined that the next report cannot be made after a long period of sleep state because the remaining battery capacity is very low, a signal of this content is transmitted to the server (30).

In this way, if the next location report is not possible based on the current remaining battery level, the server (30) can be notified in advance that the safe zone departure report service may be terminated, thereby inducing a quick response from the manager. Then, when the engine is turned on and the vehicle battery becomes capable of sending a transmission signal, the transmission of the location data as described above will be reactivated, enabling normal operation.

As discussed above, the present invention is configured to periodically wake up from a sleep state with the engine off and report the current location and whether or not it has left the safe zone, in particular, by reporting whether or not it has left the safe zone. It is possible that there may be various modifications within this technical category, and it is natural in accordance with the purpose of the provisions of the patent law that the scope of protection of the present invention should be interpreted based on the description of the claims.

10 .... Control unit section
20 ..... Telematics Department
22a ..... GNSS module
22b ..... communication module
22c ..... inertial measurement unit
22d ..... storage
24 ..... processor
30 ..... server

Claims (1)

A control unit section (10) including an engine control unit for controlling the engine of a vehicle, a transmission control unit for controlling the transmission, and a hydraulic control unit for hydraulic control;
It is composed of a telematics unit (20) that receives information from the control unit (10), includes a GNSS module for determining the current location of the vehicle, a processor for processing signals from the GNSS module, and a communication module for transmitting information to a server under processing by the processor;
In the driving mode when the vehicle is turned on, the processor periodically reports the vehicle's location to the server, and in the sleep mode when the vehicle is turned off, the processor reports the vehicle's current location to the server with a longer period than the period in the on state;
An agricultural vehicle having a safe zone departure reporting function, characterized in that the processor determines whether the current location of the vehicle has left the safe zone and transmits an event signal to the server, and if it is determined that the remaining battery capacity in sleep mode does not allow for a further report, transmits the information to the server.