Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Vehicle subsystem or accessory control
Reexamination Certificate
2002-08-19
2004-04-27
Cuchlinski, Jr., William A. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Vehicle subsystem or accessory control
C701S045000, C701S046000, C701S047000, C340S436000, C340S438000, C340S003430, C340S003440, C180S274000, C180S282000, C280S735000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06728613
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to collision judging systems, and more specifically to an improved collision judging system which is particularly suitable for use with, for example, a hood actuating apparatus of a vehicle to protect pedestrians.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Among examples of the conventional collision judging systems is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-80545, which is used with a hood actuating apparatus of a vehicle.
FIG. 10
hereof schematically shows the disclosed collision judging system, which includes a vehicle speed sensor
101
for detecting a traveling speed of the vehicle
100
, at least one acceleration sensor
103
for detecting acceleration produced by an external force acting on a bumper
102
from ahead of the vehicle
100
, a deformation rate calculation section
104
for calculating a deformation rate of the bumper
102
on the basis of the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor
103
, and a smoothing section
105
. The disclosed collision judging system also includes a vehicle-speed-vs-threshold map
106
for varying a threshold value of the bumper deformation rate in accordance with the detected vehicle speed, a hood actuator
108
for flipping up the hood
109
by a predetermined amount, and a control section
107
for controlling the operation of the hood actuator
108
. Once the calculated bumper deformation rate exceeds a predetermined threshold value while the vehicle speed detected by the speed sensor
101
is over a predetermined speed value, the control section
107
determines that the vehicle
100
hits a certain external object (e.g., a pedestrian) M considered to be one of predetermined external objects to be protected from a collision against the vehicle, and then it causes the hood actuator
108
to flip up the hood
109
. Thus flipping up the hood
109
via the hood actuator
108
can significantly lessen an impact when the external object M collides against the hood
109
.
In such a collision judging system, the acceleration sensor
103
is provided at a front end of the vehicle, while the control section
107
, which receives acceleration data and makes a collision judgment, is provided within a vehicle compartment because the control section
107
is in the form of a high-precision electronic control unit (ECU) to be installed in a good operating environment. Therefore, the acceleration sensor
103
has to be connected to the control section
107
via a relatively long signal transmission path; the relatively long signal transmission path would lead to a higher possibility that unwanted electrical noises, such as electromagnetic wave and static electricity, are introduced in the acceleration data transmitted from the acceleration sensor
103
to the control section
107
. The electrical noises sometimes prevent the acceleration data from being properly received by the control section
107
. As one measure to cope with such electric noises, it has been known to interconnect the acceleration sensor
103
and control section
107
via a serial communication line and use a particular data format, where a check code, such as a parity bit, is inserted before or behind the acceleration data indicative of the sensor-detected acceleration, to permit reliable determination as to whether the acceleration data set has been properly received by the control section
107
; this anti-noise measure may more or less contribute to improved communication reliability.
However, with the above-discussed conventional collision judging technique, the acceleration data having been prevented from being properly received by the control section
107
is not used at all in the collision judgment, i.e. no collision judgment is made at all with respect to the acceleration data received improperly during a vehicle collision, and the collision judgment is made only on the basis of subsequent acceleration data properly received by the control section
107
. As a consequence, the convention collision judging technique would present very poor collision judging performance. Further, the collision judgment tends to be made intermittently due to the improper reception of the acceleration data, which would also lead to poor collision judging performance
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing prior art problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved collision judging system which achieves enhanced collision judging performance by allowing acceleration data to be successively input to a control section so that the control section can make collision judgment with no unwanted intermission and achieves enhanced collision judging performance.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a collision judging system which comprises: a sensor unit that includes: an acceleration sensor for detecting acceleration; a data conversion section for converting the acceleration, detected by the acceleration sensor, into an acceleration data set including a check code; and a transmission section for transmitting the acceleration data set converted by the data conversion section; a received data control unit that includes: a reception section for receiving the acceleration data set transmitted from the transmission section of the sensor unit; an error (e.g., data deficiency or shortage) determination section for determining, with reference to the check code included in the acceleration data set, whether or not the acceleration data set has been received properly from the transmission section via the reception section, and outputting the received acceleration data set as a proper data set when it is determined that the acceleration data set has been received properly with no error involved but as an erroneous data set when it is determined that the acceleration data set has not been received properly; and a first storage section for storing a plurality of the acceleration data sets output by the error (data deficiency) determination section; and a collision judgment control unit for making a collision judgment on the basis of a latest proper data set of the plurality of the acceleration data sets stored in the first storage section.
In the collision judging system of the present invention, acceleration values detected successively by the acceleration sensor are each converted into an acceleration data set including a check code, and then the received data control unit determines, on the basis of the check code, whether or not the acceleration data set has been received properly with no error. Each acceleration data set determined as having been received properly is classified as an error-free normal or proper acceleration data set while each acceleration data set determined as not having been received properly is classified as an erroneous acceleration data set, and a predetermined plurality of these classified acceleration data sets are stored in the first storage section. With such arrangements, the present invention can significantly enhance the reliability of data communication between the sensor unit and a controller unit (e.g., an ECU: Electronic Control Unit). Further, because a plurality of the acceleration data sets received in succession are stored in advance for each collision judgment and the collision judgment is made on the basis of the latest proper data set of the stored acceleration data sets, the present invention can make the collision judgment successively with no interruption or intermission.
The collision judgment control unit may include a second storage section for storing the latest proper data set of the plurality of the acceleration data sets stored in the first storage section. When the collision judgment control unit has made an error determination that all of the plurality of the acceleration data sets stored in the first storage section are erroneous data sets, the collision judgment control unit may make the collision judgment on the basis of the proper data set stored in the second storage section. In this embodiment, when
Ishizaki Tatsuya
Matsuda Kazuo
Broadhead Brian J.
Cuchlinski Jr. William A.
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Merchant & Gould P.C.
LandOfFree
Collision judging system does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Collision judging system, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Collision judging system will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3268353