Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Vehicle subsystem or accessory control
Reexamination Certificate
1997-11-14
2001-07-17
Louis-Jacques, Jacques H. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Vehicle subsystem or accessory control
C701S023000, C701S028000, C180S167000, C180S168000, C180S169000, C340S901000, C340S937000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06263270
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a steering control apparatus for a vehicle and, more particularly, to a steering control apparatus for a vehicle which controls a steering operation so that the vehicle moves within a lane by recognizing the lane by a forward image of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in order to safely move a vehicle, a vehicle steering control apparatus has been suggested which controls a steering operation by recognizing a guide line such as a white line provided on a road surface so that the vehicle moves along the guide line without turning aside from the guide line.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No.5-294250 discloses a safety device provided on a vehicle. The safety device detects a following vehicle which is moving behind the safety device equipped vehicle when the safety device equipped vehicle is moving to the lane on which the following vehicle is moving while a direction indicating operation is performed. The safety device performs an alarm operation when the following vehicle is detected. Additionally, the safety device performs a steering control operation to maintain the safety device equipped vehicle to move along the current moving lane when a direction indicating operation is not performed.
In the above-mentioned conventional safety device, unless a direction indicating operation is performed, the safety device equipped vehicle is maintained to move along the vehicle moving lane so that the safety device equipped vehicle does not move out of the vehicle moving lane. Thus, there may be a case in which a steering operation of a driver interferes with a steering control operation of the safety device. For example, if there is an object on a road, and a driver performs a steering operation so as to avoid the object by moving out of the vehicle moving lane, the safety device performs a steering control operation so as to maintain the vehicle within the vehicle moving lane. Accordingly, in such a case, there is a problem in that the steering operation of the driver interferes with the steering control operation of the safety device.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved and useful steering control apparatus for a vehicle in which the above-mentioned problem is eliminated.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a steering control apparatus which prevents interference between a steering operation of a driver and a steering control operation of the steering control apparatus by detecting a steering operation so as to decrease an amount of steering control operation when the steering operation is performed by the driver's will.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objects, there is provided according to the present invention a steering control apparatus for a vehicle which performs a steering control operation, comprising:
guide line recognizing means for recognizing a guide line provided on a vehicle moving lane on which the vehicle is moving so as to set a target position on the vehicle moving lane based on a result of recognition of the guide line;
steering control means for performing a steering control operation so that the vehicle moves to trace the target position;
steering operation detecting means for detecting an amount of at least one component of a steering operation applied to a steering wheel; and
correcting means for correcting an amount of the steering control operation so that the amount of the steering control operation is decreased in accordance with an amount of the steering operation detected by the steering operation detecting means.
In the above-mentioned invention, referring to
FIG.1
which shows a principle of the present invention, the guide line recognizing means M
1
is provided for recognizing a guide line on the road surface. A target position on the vehicle moving lane is set based on a result of recognition of the guide line. The steering control means M
2
controls a steering operation so that the vehicle moves to trace the target position. The steering operation detecting means M
3
detects an amount of at least one component of the steering operation applied to the steering wheel so that an amount of the steering control operation is corrected by the correcting means M
4
. That is, the amount of the steering control operation is decreased in accordance with the amount of a component of the steering operation detected by the steering operation detecting means M
3
.
Thus, according to the present invention, when the driver performs a steering operation, a steering operation being performed by the driver can be known from a component of the steering operation such as a front wheel steering angle, an angular velocity of a steering operation or a steering torque. Since the amount of the steering control operation is decreased when the driver is performing the steering operation, interference between the steering operation of the driver and the steering control operation of the steering control apparatus can be prevented. Thus, if the driver attempts to move the vehicle to other lanes, the amount of control of the steering control apparatus is decreased and, thereby, the drivability is improved.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the guide line recognizing means may comprises:
a camera which takes an image of a forward view of the vehicle; and
a guide line recognizing unit which processes the image taken by the camera so as to recognize the guide line and set the target position, the guide line recognizing unit calculating a distance between the vehicle and the guide line and an amount of offset of a present position of the vehicle from the target position.
Additionally, the steering control means may include:
a steering mechanism operated by an electric motor;
steering calculating means for calculating an amount of steering to be achieved by the steering mechanism in accordance with the offset amount of the vehicle; and
a drive circuit which controls the electric motor so that the amount of steering calculated by the steering calculating means is achieved.
Additionally, in the steering control apparatus according to the present invention, the steering operation detecting means may include:
a steering angle sensor which detects a steering angle and an angular velocity generated by the steering operation applied to the steering wheel; and
a steering torque sensor which detects a steering torque generated by the steering operation applied to the steering wheel.
The correcting means may determine a factor for each of the steering angle, the angular velocity and the steering torque so as to correct the amount of the steering control operation in accordance with a value obtained from the factors.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the factor obtained from the steering angle is set to one when the steering angle is zero and is decreased to zero as the steering angle is increased; the factor obtained from the angular velocity is set to one when the angular velocity is zero and decreased to zero when the angular velocity is increased to a predetermined value; the factor obtained from the steering torque is set to one when the steering torque is zero and starts to decrease to zero when the steering torque exceeds a predetermined value.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
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patent: 56
Goto Takeshi
Kubota Yuichi
Sato Kunihito
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Louis-Jacques Jacques H.
Toyota Jidosha & Kabushiki Kaisha
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