Apparatus and method for controlling horn with touch pattern

Horn control device and method using touch pattern

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for controlling a horn using a touch pattern, and more particularly, to a horn corresponding to a driver's various touch patterns input through a capacitive touch sensor mounted on a steering wheel of a vehicle. A horn control apparatus using a touch pattern for outputting a horn and a method therefor.

Most vehicles are equipped with a horn output device that sounds a horn.

The horn output from this horn output device is used to give a strong warning to the other party in an emergency situation, but is also used to call the attention of nearby vehicles or pedestrians when parking or in an alley. is also used for

However, since the conventional horn output device is manufactured on the premise of giving a strong warning to the other party in an emergency situation, a uniform powerful horn is always output, simply for the purpose of calling attention or informing the location of the vehicle. Not suitable for use.

That is, since the conventional horn output device outputs a horn that causes discomfort even when the horn is sounded for the purpose of simply calling attention, there is a problem in that it causes discomfort to people around the horn.

In particular, when children are playing in front of the vehicle while driving in the alley, there is a problem in that a soft horn (for example, bicycle music that is a commotion) cannot be output so that children are not surprised.

Even though it is possible to output a soft horn, since a switch must be provided for each horn, there is a problem in that the number of switches increases, providing inconvenience to the driver.

<p>In order to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, the present invention recognizes various touch patterns of a driver input through a capacitive touch sensor mounted on a steering wheel of a vehicle and outputs a corresponding horn, An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for controlling a horn using a touch pattern, which can sound a suitable horn and does not require an increase in the number of switches.</p><p>The objects of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned objects, and other objects and advantages of the present invention not mentioned may be understood by the following description, and will be more clearly understood by the examples of the present invention. It will also be readily apparent that the objects and advantages of the present invention may be realized by the means and combinations thereof indicated in the appended claims.</p>

<p>In order to achieve the above object, an apparatus of the present invention includes a storage means for storing a horn sound matched to various touch patterns; a touch sensing means mounted on a steering wheel of a vehicle to sense a driver's touch; a touch pattern recognition means for recognizing a driver's touch pattern sensed through the touch detection means; a control unit for retrieving a horn sound corresponding to the touch pattern recognized by the touch pattern recognition unit from the storage unit and transmitting it to the horn output unit; and the horn output means for outputting the horn sound received from the control means.</p><p>In addition, the method of the present invention for achieving the above object comprises the steps of: storing, by a storage means, a horn sound matched to various touch patterns; The touch sensing means is mounted on the steering wheel of the vehicle to detect the driver's touch; Recognizing the sensed driver's touch pattern by a touch pattern recognition means; control means for which the control means searches the storage means for a horn sound corresponding to the recognized touch pattern; and outputting, by the horn output means, the searched horn sound.</p>

<p>According to the present invention as described above, by recognizing the driver's various touch patterns input through a capacitive touch sensor mounted on a steering wheel of a vehicle and outputting a corresponding horn, it is possible to sound a horn suitable for the situation. have.</p><p>In addition, the present invention recognizes various touch patterns of the driver input through a capacitive touch sensor mounted on a steering wheel of a vehicle and outputs corresponding horns, thereby eliminating the need to provide switches corresponding to various horns. there is </p>

1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a horn control device using a touch pattern according to the present invention; 2 is an exemplary view showing a mounting state of the touch sensing unit according to the present invention; 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for controlling a horn using a touch pattern according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The above-described objects, features and advantages will become more clear through the detailed description that will be described later in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, and accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains can understand the technical spirit of the present invention can be easily implemented. In addition, in the description of the present invention, if it is determined that a detailed description of a known technology related to the present invention may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. Hereinafter, preferred embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a configuration diagram of an apparatus for controlling a horn using a touch pattern according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the apparatus for controlling a horn using a touch pattern according to the present invention includes a storage unit 10 , a touch sensing unit 20 , a touch pattern recognition unit 30 , a control unit 40 , and a horn output. part 50 .

Looking at each of the components, first, the storage unit 10 stores various types of horn sounds matched to various touch patterns.

For example, while fulfilling the original purpose of the horn, such as a bicycle song, a children's song, "Pororon~ I'll pass~" recorded with the voice of children's favorite cartoon characters, and a soft voice "Thank you~", etc. It stores various songs, voices, music, sound effects, etc. that do not offend those around you.

The touch sensing unit 20 may be implemented as, for example, a capacitive touch panel or at least two or more capacitive touch sensors, and is mounted on a steering wheel of a vehicle to sense a driver's touch.

The touch pattern recognition unit 30 recognizes the driver's touch pattern sensed through the touch detection unit 20 .

For example, the driver's touch maintained for a threshold time or longer, the number of touches by the driver, and a touch type such as when the driver moves the touch position left/right are included.

Here, when the touch sensing unit 20 is implemented with two touch sensors, that is, as shown in FIG. 2 , the first touch sensor 210 is mounted on the left side of the steering wheel and the second touch sensor 220 is steered When mounted on the right side of the wheel, the touch pattern recognition unit 30 is configured such that the first touch sensor 210 detects the driver's touch and then the second touch sensor 220 detects the driver's touch, or the second touch sensor When 220 detects the driver's touch and then the first touch sensor 210 detects the driver's touch, it is recognized that the driver has moved the touch position left/right.

In this case, the number of times the touches between the first touch sensor 210 and the second touch sensor 220 are alternately generated may be recognized as different touch patterns according to the designer's intention, and one touch pattern regardless of the number of times. may be recognized as

In addition, when the touch sensing unit 20 is implemented as a touch panel, a case in which the driver moves the touch position left/right by detecting a reciprocating drag is recognized. The reciprocal drag means dragging from a first point to a second point on the touch panel and then dragging to the first point.

In this case, the number of reciprocating drags may be recognized as different touch patterns according to the designer's intention, or may be recognized as a single touch pattern regardless of the number of times.

Although the case of using two touch sensors has been described above, the driver's touch as described above may be sensed as well as a larger number of touch patterns by using two or more touch sensors.

The control unit 40 searches for a horn sound corresponding to the touch pattern recognized by the touch pattern recognition unit 30 from the storage unit 10 and transmits it to the horn output unit 50 .

The horn output unit 50 outputs the horn sound received from the control unit 40 .

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for controlling a horn using a touch pattern according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, the storage unit 10 stores horn sounds matched with various touch patterns ( 301 ).

Thereafter, the touch sensing unit 20 is mounted on the steering wheel of the vehicle to detect the driver's touch ( 302 ).

Thereafter, the touch pattern recognition unit 30 recognizes the driver's touch pattern detected by the touch detection unit 20 ( 303 ).

Thereafter, the controller 40 searches the storage unit 10 for a horn sound corresponding to the touch pattern recognized by the touch pattern recognition unit 30 ( 304 ).

Thereafter, the horn output unit 50 outputs the horn sound received from the control unit 40 ( 305 ).

Through this process, a horn suitable for a situation can be sounded, and various horn sounds can be output without increasing the number of switches.

On the other hand, the method of the present invention as described above can be written in a computer program. And codes and code segments constituting the program can be easily inferred by a computer programmer in the art. In addition, the written program is stored in a computer-readable recording medium (information storage medium), read and executed by the computer, thereby implementing the method of the present invention. And the recording medium includes all types of computer-readable recording media.

The present invention described above, for those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains, various substitutions, modifications and changes are possible within the scope without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. It is not limited by the drawings.

10 : storage unit 20: touch sensing unit 30: touch pattern recognition unit 40: control unit 50: horn output unit