Communications: electrical – Land vehicle alarms or indicators – Of relative distance from an obstacle
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-09
2001-02-06
Lee, Benjamin C. (Department: 2736)
Communications: electrical
Land vehicle alarms or indicators
Of relative distance from an obstacle
C340S436000, C340S588000, C340S903000, C180S167000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06184782
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rear vehicle detecting apparatus, and more particularly to a rear vehicle detecting apparatus of a vehicle which can detect another vehicle following the vehicle from oblique rear in the same direction as the vehicle runs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a vehicle such as an automobile runs on a lane indicated on a road, and the driver of the vehicle changes the lane into an adjacent lane based on the running situation. In a case to change the running lane, the driver confirms whether or not another vehicle is running on the adjacent lane, by a rearview mirror such as a door mirror, a room mirror and a fender mirror, and then the driver changes the running lane.
Conventionally, the technique is proposed, in which a transmission and reception unit for laser light or millimeter wave is arranged in the front portion of a following vehicle, and the running speed of the following vehicle is decelerated based on an output signal from the transmission and reception unit, when the distance from the following vehicle to a preceding vehicle is smaller than a predetermined value.
According to this proposal, when the preceding vehicle and the following vehicle runs on the same lane, the laser from the following vehicle is reflected in the rear of the preceding vehicle, because the rear of the preceding vehicle and the front of the following vehicle oppose. Therefore, it is possible for the reflected laser to be detected by the reception unit arranged in the front of the following vehicle.
However, when the preceding vehicle and the following vehicle are running on different lanes, the laser beam reflected by the preceding vehicle can not be sufficiently detected by the reception unit of the following vehicle, because the rear of the preceding vehicle and the front of the following vehicle do not oppose. Therefore, the detection precision of the existence of the preceding vehicle reduces remarkably.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle with a rear vehicle detecting apparatus for detecting another vehicle running on a different lane.
In order to achieve an aspect of the present invention, a rear vehicle detecting apparatus of a vehicle include an alarm unit, a temperature detecting section, a reference temperature data generating section, a comparing section, and a drive section. The temperature detecting section detects a first temperature data based on heat radiated from another vehicle which exists behind the vehicle. The reference temperature data generating section generates a second temperature data as a reference. The comparing section compares the first temperature data and the second temperature data. The driving section drives the alarm unit based on the comparing result by the comparing section.
The temperature detecting section preferably includes an optical system collecting the heat radiated from the other vehicle which exists behind the vehicle, an infrared sensor detecting the collected heat by the optical system, and a converting section converting the detected heat into the first temperature data.
In this case, when the optical system includes a lens, the temperature detecting section may include a plurality of sets of the lens and the infrared sensor. At this time, the plurality of sets are provided to have different fields of view.
Also, the optical system may include a first mirror collecting the heat radiated from the other vehicle which exists behind the vehicle, and a second mirror which reflects the collected heat by the first mirror on the infrared sensor.
Further, the optical system may include a prism collecting the heat radiated from the other vehicle on the infrared sensor when the other vehicle exists in different positions relative to the vehicle.
The temperature detecting section further includes a drive section driving the optical system and the infrared sensor to orient different fields of view, depending upon time.
The rear vehicle detecting apparatus may include two sets of the temperature detecting sections respectively provided in a rear portion of the vehicle on left and right sides.
Also, the reference temperature data generating section may include a measuring unit measuring at least an element of whether circumstance of the vehicle, and a generating unit generating the second temperature data based on the measuring result of the measuring unit.
When the temperature detecting section includes a plurality of infrared sensors detecting the radiated heat, it is preferable that the comparing section time-divisionally compares the first temperature data and the second temperature data for every infrared sensor.
Also, it is preparable that the alarm unit is driven to output an alarm auditorily, and is provided in a front portion of the vehicle.
When the temperature detecting section includes at least an infrared sensor, it is preferable that the infrared sensor is of a bolometer type, a pyroelectric type, or a thermopile type.
In order to achieve another aspect of the present invention, a vehicle includes a rear vehicle detecting apparatus which includes a heat detecting section provided in a rear portion of the vehicle to detect heat radiated from another vehicle, and an alarm unit provided to output an alarm corresponding to the detecting result by the heat detecting section.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4833469 (1989-05-01), David
patent: 5026153 (1991-06-01), Suzuki et al.
patent: 5646612 (1997-07-01), Byon
patent: 5694335 (1997-12-01), Hollenberg
patent: 5703368 (1997-12-01), Tomooka et al.
patent: 5877688 (1999-03-01), Morinaka et al.
Baba Satosi
Motoyama Junshiro
Oda Naoki
Sano Masahiko
Goins Davetta W.
Lee Benjamin C.
McGinn & Gibb PLLC
NEC Corporation
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