JP2001068910A - Reply display for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow an operator located at a remote place to easily confirm it with a light emission of a very weak power when the operator at the remote place is informed of the reaction of an operation object part of an automobile in response to a radio signal sent from the outside of a cabin through remote control. SOLUTION: The inside of a case-shaped base 20 that supports a base end of an antenna rod 10 extended upward and is mounted on a roof 1 is provided with an LED 25 that is lighted in response to a response signal generated when an operation object part reacts. An optical fiber 11 that leads a light emission of the LED 25 made incident from the base end to the tip of the antenna rod 10 is contained in the antenna rod 10. A light projection section 18 that projects the light emission made incident from the tip to surrounding is provided to the tip of the antenna rod 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a response display of a vehicle for notifying a remote operator that a portion to be operated of a vehicle has responded in response to a radio signal transmitted by remote control from outside the vehicle. It is about a vessel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a response indicator for confirming the operation of a wireless door lock, a headlight, a vehicle width light, a turn signal lamp, a tail light and the like are blinked in combination, or a buzzer, a horn, and the like are used. It is well known to make a sound.

[0003]

However, the above-described method using the blinking of the lamps may be difficult to see depending on the position of the operator, and also requires a considerable amount of power.
Furthermore, in the case of a buzzer, it may not be heard due to the surrounding noise, and in the case of a horn, it may be annoying at night or in a residential area.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a response indicator for a motor vehicle of the kind mentioned at the beginning, which can be easily confirmed by light emission of a small power.

[0005]

In order to achieve this object, according to the present invention, an object to be operated of a motor vehicle responds to a radio signal transmitted by remote control from outside the vehicle. Of the response indicator of the vehicle for notifying the remote operator of the fact that it occurs when the operation target part responds to the case-shaped base attached to the roof while supporting the base end of the antenna rod extending upward A lamp that lights up in response to a response signal received is provided, an optical fiber for guiding light emitted from the lamp from the base end to the distal end is housed in the antenna rod, and light emitted from the distal end is projected to the surroundings. The optical part is provided at the tip of the antenna rod.

Light emitted from a lamp lit in response to a response signal generated by a circuit device for causing an operation target portion to respond to a remote operation is guided through an optical fiber, and is projected to the surroundings by a light projecting unit. . In this case, in order to easily configure the lamp, the lamp is an LED according to the second aspect. According to the third aspect of the present invention, in order to easily configure the light projecting portion, the light projecting portion is formed of a light transmitting member having a circular outer peripheral surface, and the light transmitting member is transmitted from an optical fiber to the upper surface of the light transmitting member. An inverted conical reflecting surface that reflects the emitted light toward the outer peripheral surface is formed.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A response indicator for an automobile according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
Reference numeral 10 denotes an antenna rod, whose base end is supported by a base 20 attached to the roof 1 and extends upward. In this antenna rod, an optical fiber 11 functions as a core instead of a conventional rod-shaped core, and an antenna coil 12
Is wound, and the outer periphery thereof is further covered with a sheath-shaped cover 13 made of resin.
Surrounded by

At the lower end of the antenna coil 12, a conductive joint 15 having a thread 15a on the outer periphery of the lower end is provided.
However, the antenna coil 12 is seated in the conductive contact state and is engaged with the sheath-shaped cover 13. The base 20 is formed in a case shape, is screwed to the roof 1 with bolts 29, and a conductive sleeve 22 having a thread on the inner peripheral surface is attached to the upper opening 21. An LED 25 is fitted as a lamp in the central opening at the bottom of the sleeve.

The distal end of the solid optical fiber 11 is exposed from the sheath-shaped cover 13, and the outer peripheral surface 18 a is bulged to a frustoconical light-transmitting member to be integrally formed as a light projecting portion 18. (See FIG. 3). The upper surface of the inverted conical shape is formed as a reflection surface 19 by applying a reflection coating. Accordingly, the light emitted from the LED 25 that is incident on and propagates into the optical fiber 11 is incident on the light projecting unit 18, is reflected laterally by the front reflecting surface 19, and is emitted from the entire outer peripheral surface 18 a.

A printed circuit board 27 housed in the base 20 is provided with a preamplifier for amplifying an antenna signal received by the antenna coil 12 supplied through the joint 15 and the sleeve 22, and an LED drive circuit for driving the LED 25. . That is, the door lock ECU, which is a circuit device that operates the door lock mechanism that is the operation target part in response to the remote operation, locks each door lock mechanism when the vehicle body side receives a radio signal transmitted by a key operation. Upon activation, a response signal is generated for a built-in timer time to notify the remote operator that the door lock mechanism will respond. In response to this response signal, the aforementioned LE
The D drive circuit turns on the LED 25.

The operation of the thus constituted response display is as follows. When the joint 15 at the base end of the antenna rod 10 is screwed into the sleeve 22 of the opening 21 of the base 20, the base end of the optical fiber 11 faces the LED 25 with the antenna rod 10 supported by the base 20.

When the door lock is remotely operated with a key from outside the vehicle compartment, the door lock mechanism responds to the door lock signal to perform the door lock, and the response signal is transmitted to the LED drive circuit of the printed circuit board 27. Supplied, LED 25
Lights for a predetermined time. The emitted light is guided through the optical fiber 11 and enters the light projecting portion 18, and the outer peripheral surface 18 is viewed from any direction by the reflection surface 19 at the top.
The light is reflected to the entire circumference of a. As a result, answerback is performed by light emission from the outer peripheral surface 18a and temporary spot emission in response to a command for remote operation.

The light projecting portion is not limited to a truncated cone, but may be formed in a cylindrical shape or a spherical shape having a circular outer peripheral surface. Also,
It is also conceivable to form the optical fiber as a separate body with a light-transmitting material such as acrylic and abut on the tip of the optical fiber. The present invention is not limited to the door lock, and can be applied to an operation display of an anti-theft device, an operation state of an engine remote start device, and the like.

[0014]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the response display by spot light emission is performed at the highest position of the automobile, so that the visibility is improved, the power consumption is reduced, and the cost is reduced. According to the second aspect of the present invention, the lamp is configured to have a small size and a long life by using the LED. According to the invention of claim 3,
The light projecting section is simply constituted by a light transmitting body.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a response indicator of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of an automobile equipped with the response indicator.

FIG. 3 is a front end of an antenna rod in which the response indicator is incorporated.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Roof 10 Antenna rod 11 Optical fiber 18 Light projection part 19 Reflection surface 20 Base part 25 LED

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A response indicator for a vehicle for notifying a remote operator that a part to be operated of a vehicle has responded in response to a radio signal transmitted by remote control from outside of a vehicle, extending upward. A lamp that lights up in response to a response signal generated when the operation target part responds is provided in a case-like base that is attached to the roof while supporting the base end of the antenna rod. An automobile, wherein an optical fiber for guiding light emission to the tip is housed in the antenna rod, and a light projecting unit for projecting the light emitted from the tip to the periphery is provided at the tip of the antenna rod. Response indicator. 2. The response indicator according to claim 1, wherein the lamp is an LED. 3. The light projecting part is formed of a light transmitting body having a circular outer peripheral surface, and the light transmitted through the light transmitting body from an optical fiber is directed to the outer peripheral surface on the upper surface of the light transmitting body. 3. A response indicator for an automobile according to claim 1, wherein an inverted conical reflection surface is formed to reflect the light.