Vehicle safety running control system

Details Vehicle safety running control system Vehicle safety running control system

1999-05-06

2001-09-25

Lefkowitz, Edward (Department: 2632)

Communications: electrical

Land vehicle alarms or indicators

Of collision or contact with external object

C340S467000, C340S903000, C340S435000, C180S167000, C180S169000, C180S282000, C701S301000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06294987

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a vehicle safety running control system, more particularly to a vehicle safety running control system which predicts or anticipates the possible decelerations of an obstacle present ahead of the vehicle to conduct contact avoidance control using the predicted decelerations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various obstacle avoidance techniques have hitherto been proposed. For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application Hei 6(1994)-298022 teaches detecting the distance (relative distance) to an obstacle (e.g., another vehicle running ahead on the road) from the vehicle and automatically operating (i.e., independently of the vehicle operator's brake pedal manipulation) the braking system (and an alarm) so as to avoid contact with the obstacle.
In this prior art technique, the actual acceleration of the other vehicle (obstacle) is detected and, based on the detected acceleration, a first threshold value (relative distance) for avoiding the other vehicle by braking is determined. At the same time, a second threshold value (relative distance) for avoiding the obstacle by steering is determined based on the assumption that the subject vehicle moves to avoid the other vehicle with a lateral acceleration b
0
after time &tgr;, measured from a certain point.
The system operates the braking system automatically only when the detected relative distance falls below the first and the second threshold values. Since the braking system is not operated at unexpected times which are not anticipated by the vehicle operator, the operator does not experience annoyance caused by operation of the automatic braking when he is intending to steer to avoid an obstacle, thereby improving the driving comfort and preventing annoyance of the vehicle operator.
In the prior art system, however, although the first threshold value is determined based on the acceleration in order that the braking system is not operated at times which are not expected or anticipated by the vehicle operator, the acceleration is that actually produced by the vehicle and is not a predicted or anticipated value.
The other vehicle running ahead on the road will behave in many ways, i.e., might accelerate to move away, might keep running at a constant speed, might decelerate suddenly to stop. The possible behavior of the other vehicle will thus have great or unlimited variance. If the obstacle avoidance control should be configured to cope with every possible behavior, the control will be extremely complicated. On the other hand, if the control should be configured in a standard or uniform fashion, its operation may sometimes not match with the driver's expectations.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Application Hei 5(1993)-181529 proposes predicting deceleration (predetermined deceleration) to use in the obstacle avoidance control. The deceleration predicted in the prior art is a single value and is only used to assist in the determination of whether obstacle avoidance operation should be effected. The prior art is thus not intended to cope with different decelerations possibly generated by the other vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is therefore to overcome the foregoing problems and to provide a vehicle safety running control system which predicts or anticipates possible decelerations in plural values generated by an obstacle such as another vehicle running ahead of the subject vehicle and, based on the predicted decelerations, conducts the obstacle avoidance control, thereby making the control relatively simple, while enabling the control to be well matched to the drever's expectations.
To achieve these objects, the invention provides a system for controlling safety running of a vehicle, comprising: obstacle detecting means for detecting an obstacle present ahead on a course of travel of the vehicle; parameter detecting means for detecting parameters indicative of motion of the vehicle including at least speed of the vehicle; relative condition detecting means for detecting condition of the obstacle, detected by the obstacle detecting means, relative to the vehicle; deceleration predicting means for predicting a plurality of decelerations which the obstacle could generate, based on the parameters detected by the parameter detecting means and the relative condition detected by the relative condition detecting means; operation determining means for determining whether at least one of alarming and contact avoidance with the obstacle should be operated based on at least the predicted decelerations; and effecting means for effecting the operation determined by the operation determination means.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5249157 (1993-09-01), Taylor
patent: 5521579 (1996-05-01), Bernhard
patent: 5530651 (1996-06-01), Uemura et al.
patent: 5558370 (1996-09-01), Behr
patent: 5680118 (1997-10-01), Cusumano et al.
patent: 5684473 (1997-11-01), Hibino et al.
patent: 5978737 (1999-11-01), Pawlowski et al.
patent: 5-181529 (1993-07-01), None
patent: 6-298022 (1994-10-01), None

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