Motor vehicles – With means for controlling operation responsive to... – Having controlling means adapted to interact with stationary...
Reexamination Certificate
1998-07-17
2001-08-07
Mai, Lanna (Department: 3619)
Motor vehicles
With means for controlling operation responsive to...
Having controlling means adapted to interact with stationary...
C340S439000, C701S023000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06269897
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a steering control device for controlling a steering action of a vehicle making use of magnetic forces on the basis of a magnetic signal given by each magnetic nail buried in a road at intervals.
2. Description of the Related Background Art
Steering control devices are known (for example, in Laid-open Japanese Patent Publication No. 8-314541) which make use of a magnetic force generated from each magnetic nail buried in a road at intervals to control steering of a vehicle to enable automatic traveling. Such steering control devices normally detect a magnetic signal given by each magnetic nail, making use of a magnetic sensor provided on a vehicle, calculate an amount of steering control such that the magnetic signal is increased in level, and drive a steering actuator in accordance with the calculated amount of steering control.
Such conventional steering control devices, however, have problems in finding difficulty in precisely calculating an amount of steering control in accordance with a magnetic signal given by each magnetic nail in the case where a magnetic sensor itself does not work well due to malfunction or the like, magnetic nails are buried at non-uniform intervals, or a vehicle enters a road in which any magnetic nail is not buried, since the magnetic sensor detects a level of a magnetic signal given by each magnetic nail and an amount of steering control is calculated relying on only an output signal of the magnetic sensor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to provide a steering control device capable of appropriately keeping a steering control even when a magnetic signal given by a magnetic nail cannot be detected.
A steering control device according to the invention comprises magnetism detecting means provided on a vehicle for detecting a level of a magnetic signal given by each magnetic nail buried in a road at intervals, steering control means for controlling an operation of a vehicle steering in accordance with the magnetic signal level detected by the magnetism detecting means, no-magnetism detecting means for generating a no-magnetism detecting signal when any magnetic signal level is not detected by the magnetism detecting means, and vehicle position and attitude angle detecting means for detecting a present vehicle position and attitude angle of the vehicle, and wherein the steering control means controls an operation of the vehicle steering in accordance with the vehicle position and attitude angle detected by the vehicle position and attitude angle detecting means in response to the no-magnetism detecting signal.
Accordingly, it is possible to maintain the steering control in accordance with the detected output of the vehicle position and attitude angle detecting means even when a magnetic signal given by a magnetic nail cannot be detected.
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Jitsukata Eishi
Kobayashi Sachio
Tamura Kazuya
Arent Fox Kintner & Plotkin & Kahn, PLLC
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Mai Lanna
Restifo Jeffrey J.
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