Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Indication or control of braking – acceleration – or deceleration
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-11
2002-03-05
Nguyen, Tan (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Indication or control of braking, acceleration, or deceleration
C701S093000, C701S301000, C340S435000, C340S436000, C340S903000, C342S070000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06353788
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a method for regulating speed and/or distance of a first vehicle to at least one other vehicle driving ahead in connection with a passing maneuver.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The safety of vehicular passengers is of concern when initiating and executing passing maneuvers. During passing maneuvers the attention of the driver must be focused simultaneously on various ranges of the drivers environment. It first must be determined whether the driving situation in the passing lane or oncoming lane permits a passing maneuver, that is, a passing maneuver is, thus, not rendered impossible from the beginning by vehicles approaching from behind or from the front. If the driver recognizes that the passing lane or oncoming lane would generally permit a passing maneuver, then he or she must also pay attention to vehicles that could be passing already and vehicles coming up from behind, while simultaneously having to keep in mind the driving behavior of the vehicles driving in front of him, especially that of the vehicle driving directly in front of him. After deciding for a passing maneuver, the driver must continue to make these observations constantly while having to create the conditions necessary to be able to move into the passing lane and initiate the passing maneuver, by operating the turn signal and accelerating. In this connection, it is especially important that the driver continually check the driving behavior of the vehicle driving directly in front of him here, as well as his own accelerating behavior, so that no dangerous situations can result from driving up too closely and/or the velocity of the directly preceding vehicle changing.
The passing maneuver itself is an especially risky driving situation because of the plurality of observations to be made simultaneously, as well as the actions to be taken as a result of these. Therefore, efforts have already been made to be able to render this especially risky driving situation less dangerous using systems which relieve or assist the driver. For example, a method for regulating speed and distance of a vehicle is known from DE 42 00 694 A1 which is hereby incorporated by reference herein, in which the actual distance, as well as the instantaneous velocity of a vehicle, can be detected, and the setpoint values for distance and speed of this vehicle can be ascertained and set from this. The present invention starts from the assumption that an intervention of the driver, which can occur under particular driving circumstances, must have absolute priority over the automatically operating cruise control or adaptive cruise control. Therefore, the adaptive cruise control in the known method is interrupted temporarily after the driver intervenes. This should ensure that the system reacts flexibly to various driving situations, in which case activating a turn signal and/or operating the gas pedal can be used to trigger such interruptions. It may be that the method put forward allows the driver to intervene directly in a proceeding automatic-control situation; however, especially in the critical time interval of a passing maneuver, namely, as the vehicle approaches the vehicle driving in front and simultaneously accelerates, by switching off the adaptive cruise control and/or the cruise control, a safety gap is created exactly at the point when it is particularly important to support the driver. If, for example, the driver operates the turn signal upon approaching a vehicle driving directly in front, then the time elapsing between operating the turn signal and the vehicle accelerating and pulling out into the passing lane is very short in normal passing maneuvers. However, this manner of pulling-out and simultaneously accelerating to reach the speed of traffic flow in a passing lane, e.g., of a motorway, can result in the vehicle approaching the preceding vehicle very closely, in which case the operation of an adaptive cruise control would create an especially large safety distance. However, the described system is completely deactivated in this very time frame and first reactivated, e.g., after two or three seconds.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method and/or device for regulating the speed and/or the distance of a first vehicle to at least one preceding vehicle in connection with a passing maneuver, in which the driver is supported especially during the passing maneuver, thereby allowing it to be performed more safely without the driver being restricted in his free decision to pass; and in which the execution of the passing maneuver is simultaneously rendered safer by supporting the driver.
An object of the present invention is achieved in interaction with the features according to the following: a method or device for regulating speed and/or distance of a first vehicle (
1
) to at least one vehicle (
2
) driving ahead in connection with a passing maneuver, in which a detection system (
15
) provided at the first vehicle (
1
) continuously detects at least the vehicle directly in front, as well as at least the position of the turn signal lamps (
16
,
17
), and the yaw rate and/or steering position of the first vehicle (
1
); and an evaluation unit continuously ascertains setpoint values for regulating the speed of the first vehicle (
1
) and its distance at least to the vehicle (
2
) directly in front from this data, wherein after the driver of the first vehicle (
1
) actuates the turn signal lamp (
16
) indicating a passing maneuver, in preparation for the passing maneuver, the distance (
12
) to the vehicle (
2
) driving directly in front is reduced, at most, until a minimum permissible distance (
13
) to the vehicle (
2
) directly in front is reached; the evaluator checks, at least upon reaching the minimum permissible distance (
13
), whether a collision with the vehicle (
2
) driving directly in front will occur in the prevailing driving situation; and the initiated passing maneuver is aborted in response to determining a danger of collision with the vehicle (
2
) driving directly in front. The dependent claims describe preferred further refinements of the method according to the present invention.
The method and/or device according to the present invention is that after the driver of the first vehicle operates the turn signal light himself, which is arranged in the direction of travel on the driver's side of the vehicle, and in order to prepare for the passing maneuver, the distance to the vehicle driving directly in front is reduced at most until a minimum allowable distance to the directly preceding vehicle is reached.
In this case, the evaluator tests, at least when the minimum allowable distance is reached, whether a collision with the vehicle driving in front can occur in the present driving situation. If it is determined that the first vehicle is in danger of colliding with the vehicle driving directly in front, the initiated passing maneuver is aborted, and the first vehicle is brought back to a specifiable safe distance.
Particularly during the critical period of time when the first vehicle is approaching the vehicle driving directly in front, the method according to the present invention is used to constantly monitor that there is no drop below a minimum distance set in the system or dependent on the situation. In this connection, the operation of the turn signal on the driver's side, which normally must precede a passing maneuver, is chosen to trigger such monitoring. As is also the case in a non-assisted passing maneuver, the distance to the vehicle driving directly in front can be reduced at most until the minimum allowable distance is reached. At least upon reaching this minimum allowable distance, the evaluator checks whether, for example, based on the detected distance values of the vehicle in front and the physical operating quantities of the first vehicle, a further reduction in distance between the first vehicle and the vehicle driving ahead can cause a collision with the vehicle driving ahead. This is the cas
Andreas Peter
Bäker Wolfgang
Ruchatz Thomas
Donnelly Arthur D.
Nguyen Tan
Robert & Bosch GmbH
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