Communications: electrical – Land vehicle alarms or indicators – Of relative distance from an obstacle
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-16
2001-09-25
Pope, Daryl (Department: 2736)
Communications: electrical
Land vehicle alarms or indicators
Of relative distance from an obstacle
C340S436000, C340S903000, C701S301000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06294986
ABSTRACT:
FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Method for determining a control object whose distance from the following vehicle is measured, the distance between the control object and a following vehicle being adjusted to a desired distance if the control object is situated in an expected traveling corridor of the following vehicle, and an arrangement for carrying out the method.
In automatic speed and distance control systems for detecting the traffic situation, it is customary to predict a traveling corridor of the motor vehicle with the aid of signals from yaw rate sensors or transverse acceleration sensors. In other words, these systems ascertain the location at which the vehicle will stay after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, and which vehicles traveling ahead will stay in the traveling corridor of the system'vehicle.
For distance-controlled traveling, the control object is determined from the objects determined by the radar and from the calculated traveling corridor. This object is used for distance control purposes by a distance control device in the form of a series-path controller. The vehicle which is the nearest one that stays in the predicted traveling corridor is identified as the control object.
In this case, the traveling corridor is an assumption projected into the future in which the vehicle travels in the direction prescribed by the radius that has been determined. If this control object then leaves the predicted traveling corridor it is no longer identified as the control object.
That also applies to borderline situations such as cornering or skidding of the vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is thus based on the object of providing a method for reliably determining the control object which permits reliable distance control even in the event of momentary and sudden changes in the traveling corridor of the vehicle.
The object is achieved according to the invention wherein even after the control object has left the traveling corridor, the distance continues to be controlled with respect to this control object as long as the control object stays in an object corridor which is wider than the traveling corridor of the vehicle.
The advantage of the invention is that even in the event of the traveling corridor slightly fluctuating back and forth, in the event of a change in the radius of the roadway, and in the event of the vehicles traveling in an offset fashion within a lane, which lead to a change in the predicted traveling corridor, the control object can also continue to be reliably identified.
This also applies, in particular, to cornering and skidding of the vehicle. The traveling corridor of the vehicle to be controlled serves as a capture corridor for the control object, while the object corridor, which covers the traveling corridor, is utilized as an outlet corridor of the control object. Consequently, a narrower corridor (traveling corridor) is utilized for determining the control object, while a new further control object is determined only if the previous control object is situated outside the object corridor.
It is advantageous for the width of the object corridor of the vehicle to be chosen in a distance-dependent manner. In this case, it appears to be expedient for the object corridor to be chosen to be smaller for control objects which are situated near the vehicle to be controlled than for objects which stay further away from the vehicle to be controlled.
In a development, the object corridor of the vehicle is as wide as a roadway width of the roadway on which the vehicle to be controlled is moving. Usually, the traveling corridor is always narrower than the roadway of the vehicle. However, it must at least always be as wide as the distance between two wheels of an axle of the vehicle.
The object corridor can thus be set to different road situations, depending on whether the vehicle is moving on an ordinary road or an interstate highway.
In order to determine the control object, the vehicle to be controlled monitors other vehicles traveling ahead in a wire-free manner and selects, from the vehicles which are situated in its traveling corridor, the vehicle which is at the smallest distance from the vehicle to be controlled, and is identified as the control object.
In a refinement, the object corridor can be derived from the traveling corridor of the vehicle to be controlled. This ensures that the object corridor and the traveling corridor of the vehicle to be controlled always refer to the same vehicle reference point.
In a development, the traveling corridor of the vehicle is determined from the yaw rate of the vehicle which is measured by a yaw rate sensor.
As an alternative to this, the traveling corridor of the vehicle is determined by way of the turn radius determined from the differential speed of two vehicle wheels, in particular the wheels of one axle.
This has the advantage that, as a result of the measurement of the wheel speeds, the actual difference in speed at both vehicle wheels is incorporated into the determination of the traveling corridor. The latter can thus be determined highly accurately, since the traveling dynamics are taken directly into account in this way.
It is advantageous for the wheel speed of the two vehicle wheels to be measured and the yaw rate of the vehicle to be determined from the difference between the two wheel speeds.
In an arrangement for carrying out the method, a sensor which detects objects appearing in the direction of travel of the vehicle is connected to a sensor signal conditioning arrangement which passes the distance and relative speed of the monitored objects to a control device, which determines the object corridor of the vehicle.
The arrangement according to the invention thus enables the object lane to be determined in a simple manner. No further additional devices are necessary.
In a refinement, the sensor is arranged on the front of the vehicle to be controlled, for the purpose of detecting the vehicles traveling ahead. The sensor operates according to the echo principle and is advantageously a radar sensor.
In a refinement, the control device determines the traveling corridor of the vehicle and sets the distance from the control object.
Consequently, a space-saving sensor unit is made possible which takes up only insignificantly more structural space than the sensor with an integrated signal evaluation circuit.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5572428 (1996-11-01), Ishida et al.
patent: 6067031 (2000-05-01), Janky et al.
patent: 19614061 (1996-10-01), None
patent: 19637245 (1998-03-01), None
patent: 0657857 (1995-06-01), None
Farber Martin A.
Mannesmann VDO AG
Pope Daryl
LandOfFree
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