Fluid-pressure and analogous brake systems – Speed-controlled – Automatic braking including speed governor or hydraulic...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-17
2001-03-20
Schwartz, Christopher P. (Department: 3613)
Fluid-pressure and analogous brake systems
Speed-controlled
Automatic braking including speed governor or hydraulic...
C340S435000, C367S909000, C701S301000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06203120
ABSTRACT:
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a braking control system for a vehicle, in which a braking device is automatically operated, based on a relative positional relationship between the vehicle and an object detected by an object detecting device such as a laser radar to thereby avoid contact of the vehicle with the object.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Such a braking control system for a vehicle is known, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 6-298022. This braking control system is designed so that contact of the vehicle with the object can be avoided only by the steering operation, and the avoidance of the contact is performed by the steering operation without an automatic braking operation. In a case of emergency where the contact of the vehicle with the object cannot be avoided with only the steering operation, the automatic braking operation is carried out to perform the avoidance of the contact.
When the automatic braking operation has been carried out to avoid the contact of the vehicle with another vehicle traveling ahead of the vehicle (which will be referred to as a preceding vehicle hereinafter), the behavior of the vehicle may become unstable causing a yaw motion in some cases. For example, this may occur when road surface friction coefficients are different between left and right wheels. In such a case, when the longitudinal axis of a vehicle body is deflected laterally due to the yaw motion, whereby the object detecting device does not detect the preceding vehicle, there is a possibility that it is determined that contact of the vehicle with the preceding vehicle has been eliminated, whereby the automatic braking operation is discontinued. However, when the automatic braking operation is discontinued in a state in which the behavior of the vehicle is unstable, the lateral force of a tire may be suddenly increased, whereby the behavior of the vehicle may in some cases, fall into a further unstable state.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been accomplished with the above circumstance in view, and it is an object of the present invention to ensure that when the behavior of the vehicle becomes unstable during the automatic braking operation for avoiding contact of the vehicle with an object, the restoration of the vehicle is backed up to effectively avoid the contact of the vehicle with the object.
To achieve the above object, there is provided a braking control system for a vehicle, comprising an object detecting device for detecting an object existing ahead of a vehicle in the direction of movement of the vehicle, a braking device for braking the vehicle, a determining means for determining the possibility of contact of the vehicle with the object from the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the object, based on the result of the detection by the object detecting device, and an automatic braking means for carrying out an automatic braking operation by operating the braking device based on the result of the detection by the determining means. The braking control system further includes an unstable state detecting means for detecting an unstable state of the vehicle, so that when the unstable state of the vehicle has been detected by the unstable state detecting means during the automatic braking operation carried out by the braking device, the automatic braking operation is forcibly continued by the automatic braking means, until the vehicle reaches a state in which the unstable state is not detected.
With the above arrangement, when the object detecting device detects the object existing ahead of the vehicle in the direction of movement of the vehicle, the determining means determines the possibility of contact of the vehicle with the object based upon the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the object, as a function of the result of such detection. When it is determined that there is the possibility of the contact, the automatic braking means operates the braking device to carry out the automatic braking operation to avoid the contact of the vehicle with the object. When the unstable state of the vehicle is detected by the unstable state detecting means during the automatic braking operation by the automatic braking means, the automatic braking means forcibly continues the automatic braking operation, until the vehicle reaches the state in which the unstable state is not detected, irrespective of whether or not the determining means determines that there is the possibility of the contact of the vehicle with the object. Therefore, it is possible to precisely control the continuation and finishing of the automatic braking operation, to reliably achieve the avoidance of the contact of the vehicle with the object, while preventing the behavior of the vehicle from becoming unstable due to the discontinuation of the automatic braking operation.
The unstable state detecting means detects the unstable state based on the lateral behavior of the vehicle. With this arrangement, the unstable state of the vehicle is detected, based on the lateral behavior of the vehicle and therefore, can be detected easily and precisely. The lateral behavior of the vehicle includes a yaw motion and a side slip motion of the vehicle.
Further, there is provided a braking control system for a vehicle, comprising an object detecting device for detecting an object existing ahead of a vehicle in the direction of movement of the vehicle, a braking device for braking the vehicle, a determining means for determining the possibility of contact of the vehicle with the object based upon the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the object, as a function of the result of the detection by the object detecting device, and an automatic braking means for carrying out an automatic braking operation by operating the braking device based on the result of the detection by the determining means. The braking control system further includes a vehicle behavior inhibiting means adapted to carry out a spin preventing control operation by detecting the lateral behavior of the vehicle to vary the distribution of a braking force to the left and right wheels. Thus, when the vehicle behavior inhibiting means is being operated during the automatic braking operation by the braking device, the automatic braking operation is forcibly continued by the automatic braking means based on the operational state of the vehicle behavior inhibiting means.
With the above arrangement, when the object detecting device detects the object existing ahead of the vehicle in the direction of movement of the vehicle, the determining means determines the possibility of the contact of the vehicle with the object from the relative positional relationship between the vehicle and the object, based on the result of such detection. When it is determined that there is the possibility of the contact, the automatic braking means operates the braking device to carry out the automatic braking operation to avoid the contact of the vehicle with the object. When the lateral behavior of the vehicle is detected by the vehicle behavior inhibiting means, the spin preventing control operation is carried out by operating the braking device with the automatic braking means, which operates to vary the distribution of the braking force to left and right wheels. When the vehicle behavior inhibiting means is being operated during the automatic braking operation by the automatic braking means, the automatic braking means forcibly continues the automatic braking operation based on the operational state of the vehicle behavior inhibiting means, whether or not the determining means determines that there is the possibility of the contact of the vehicle with the object. Therefore, it is possible to precisely control the continuation and finishing of the automatic braking operation to reliably achieve the avoidance of the contact of the vehicle with the object, while preventing the behavior of the vehicle from further be
Hada Satoshi
Ichikawa Shoji
Sugimoto Yoichi
Urai Yoshihiro
Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin & Kahn
Bartz C. T.
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Schwartz Christopher P.
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