Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Indication or control of braking – acceleration – or deceleration
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-05
2004-09-07
Black, Thomas G. (Department: 3663)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Indication or control of braking, acceleration, or deceleration
C701S110000, C180S170000, C342S029000, C342S109000, C340S435000, C340S902000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06789009
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
The invention relates to a method for limiting the speed of a vehicle, a device for carrying out this method and a vehicle having a device of this type.
Devices and methods for automatic speed control in vehicles are known. For instance, there are what are referred to as cruise controls that, when activated, maintain the current speed of the vehicle constantly until the driver intervenes in the driving process by activating the gas pedal or the brake, which leads to deactivation of the cruise control. Furthermore, speed limiters are known in which the driver exerts complete control of the vehicle up to a set speed limiting value and an automatic intervention into the driving characteristics takes place only if the speed approaches the speed limiting value. The intervention is intended to ensure that the predefined speed limiting value is not exceeded and thus to prevent legally prescribed speed limits being undesirably exceeded.
A system of the type just mentioned is known, for example, from DE 195 09 492 A1. In said publication, a particular method is applied in which an intervention into the driving characteristics already takes place when the speed approaches the predefined speed limiting value.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,076,622 discloses a speed limiter in which information from a distance sensor, which detects when the vehicle is approaching another vehicle, is additionally taken into account.
Against this background, the object of the present invention is to make available a vehicle with a speed limiter which is easy and reliable to operate in a variety of driving situations.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
This object is achieved by means of a method, a device and a vehicle having the features of the corresponding independent claims. The subclaims contain advantageous refinements.
Firstly, a proposed method for inputting speed limiting values will be explained in detail for the speed limiter of a vehicle. After an activation element is activated by the driver of the vehicle, a current, effective speed limiting value v
lim
, which depends on the current speed v
act
of the vehicle, is set.
It is important for the convenience and the reliability of a speed limiting system that the driver can prescribe desired speed limiting values in a simple and intuitive fashion. This objective is achieved with the proposed method because the current speed of the vehicle is taken into account in the evalution of the activation of the activation element. As a result, it is possible to react in a way that is matched to an optimum degree to the input by the driver. This makes the system considerably easier to operate because the settings that are inappropriate for the situation/speed of the vehicle are automatically excluded and the settings that correspond best to the prevailing situation/speed of the vehicle can be adopted with maximum preference. Simplifying the process in which the system is operated in this way serves not only to improve convenience but also safety because because the risk of incorrect settings is reduced and the driver is not distracted from the events on the road by awkward inputting procedures.
The selection of a current speed limiting value v
lim
after the activation element has been activated can take place, for example, in such a way that, if possible, the next highest predetermined speed limiting value in relation to the current speed v
act
of the vehicle is selected. Which speed limiting values are predefined for selection depends, in particular, on the respective legal provisions. Thus, in Germany, there is usually a speed limiting value v
30
=30 km/h for residential areas and a speed limiting value v
50
=50 km/h for built-up areas. If appropriate, a single speed limiting value can also be predefined for “selection”. In the proposed selection method, that speed limiting value which is closest to the current speed of the vehicle and at the same time higher than it is automatically searched for. In the specified example, given a speed v
act
of a vehicle of 20 km/h, the limiting value v
30
would thus be selected, and given a speed v
act
of a vehicle of 35 km/h the limiting value v
50
would thus be selected. If the speed v
act
of the vehicle should happen to be above the maximum predefined speed limiting value v
50
, the proposed selection method cannot be applied. In this case, a suitable alternative selection, for example that of the highest, predefined speed limiting value v
50
, must be made. An alternative embodiment is explained in more detail below.
The method for selecting a speed limiting value from a predefined set of a plurality of speed limiting values can be developed in such a way that the respective next highest speed limiting value from the series of predefined speed limiting values can be adopted as the current speed limiting value by means of repeated activations of the activation element in close succession. Accordingly, during the first activation of the activation element, a first speed limiting value of the predefined speed limiting values is selected, which can be, as explained, the next highest value in relation to the current speed of the vehicle. However, if the driver does not wish to retain this value, he can cause the next highest of the predefined speed limiting values to be set as the effective speed limiting value by activating the activation key again within a predefined time interval after the first activation. If this speed limiting value is not the desired speed limiting value either, it is possible, by activating the activation key once more, which again must be done within the predefined time interval after the last activation, to make a further jump to the next highest speed limiting value and so on until the desired limiting speed is set.
If the maximum predefined speed limiting value should happen to be reached in the method just explained and if a renewed activation of the activation element should happen to take place within the predefined time interval after the last activation, said renewed activation is preferably interpreted as being a command for deactivation of the speed limiter so that a corresponding signal is generated.
Furthermore, a signal for deactivating the activated speed limiter can be generated if the predefined time interval mentioned above since the last activation of the activation element has expired and the activation element is activated again after that.
The activation element serves, on the one hand, to set a desired speed limiting value and, if appropriate, to activate the speed limiter. On the other hand, it serves simultaneously to deactivate the speed limiter if it is no longer desired. It thus becomes possible for a single activation element to be used for the entire operator control of this limitation process, said element reacting suitably to its activation depending on the situation. This not only provides greater convenience and makes the system easier to operate but also considerably improves the safety. The driver can in fact activate the activation element without looking because it is not a case of selecting one key of several or one specific position setting.
According to one embodiment of the proposed method, after the activation element has been activated, the current speed v
act
of the vehicle increased by a speed difference &Dgr;v is set as the current speed limiting value v
lim
, i.e., v
lim
=v
act
+&Dgr;v. Similarly to a cruise control, the driver can thus set the vehicle to a specific speed and predefine said speed to the automatic system at a guideline value. However, in contrast to a cruise control, no attempt is made to maintain this speed constantly but rather the automatic system merely ensures that the set speed is not exceeded. Such an adoption of a speed of the vehicle as a speed limiting value is possible in combination with the use of predefined speed limiting values as explained above: if the vehicle is at a vehicle speed below the maximum predefined speed limiting value when the activation element is activated, sa
Busch Rainer
Schmitz Peter
Black Thomas G.
Ford Global Technologies LLC
MacKenzie Frank A.
To Tuan C
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