JP2020119183A - Vehicle control device and vehicle control method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a vehicle control device capable of reducing a load on processing of data to be transmitted from sensors.SOLUTION: A vehicle control device 10 includes: a peripheral information reception section 11 for receiving peripheral information from a peripheral information sensor 1 of an own vehicle; a vehicle information reception section 12 for receiving vehicle information from a vehicle information sensor 2 of the own vehicle; a peripheral state determination section 13 for determining a peripheral state of the own vehicle based on the peripheral information and the vehicle information; and a vehicle control section 14 for controlling an actuator 3 of the own vehicle based on a peripheral state of the own vehicle. The peripheral information reception section 11 includes: a data reception section 111 for performing reception processing of data transmitted from the peripheral information sensor 1; a data conversion section 112 for performing conversion processing to convert reception-processed data into the data of a form to be usable by the peripheral state determination section 13; and an exclusion data determination section 113 for determining data to be excluded from a reception processing object or data to be excluded from a conversion processing object based on the reception-processed data.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a vehicle control device that controls a vehicle based on information around the vehicle.

Various in-vehicle systems that control the vehicle based on the information around the vehicle received from the in-vehicle sensor have been proposed. For example, in Patent Document 1 below, the priority (danger degree) of information around the vehicle received from a sensor is determined, and detailed information (position, speed, type, It is possible to reduce the load on information processing by switching between the process of detecting (size etc.) and the process of detecting simple information of the detection target (whether it is in the detection target range or not). An in-vehicle system is disclosed.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2018-36796

In the vehicle-mounted system of Patent Document 1, the detection process of the detection target is simplified, but the reception process of all data transmitted from the sensor is performed. For example, in software platforms such as AUTOSAR (AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture), a large amount of data transmitted from sensors is handled, and therefore, only the reception processing of the data causes a heavy load, and the detection processing of the target (obstacle) and the vehicle control are performed. There is a risk that it will be difficult to perform the calculation of in a limited time.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle control device that can reduce the load on the processing of data transmitted from a sensor.

A vehicle control device according to the present invention is transmitted from a surrounding information receiving unit that receives surrounding information that is the surrounding information of the own vehicle transmitted from the surrounding information sensor of the own vehicle, and a vehicle information sensor of the own vehicle. On the basis of the vehicle information receiving unit that receives vehicle information that is information on the traveling state of the own vehicle, the surrounding information received by the surrounding information receiving unit, and the vehicle information received by the vehicle information receiving unit, And a vehicle control unit that controls an actuator of the own vehicle based on the surrounding situation of the own vehicle determined by the surrounding situation determination unit, A plurality of data forming the ambient information is periodically transmitted from the ambient information sensor, and the ambient information receiving unit includes a data receiving unit that performs a receiving process of the data transmitted from the ambient information sensor, and the receiving unit. A data conversion unit that performs a conversion process of converting the processed data into a format that can be used by the surrounding condition determination unit; and a plurality of data that configures the surrounding information based on the received processed data. An exclusion data determination unit that determines data to be excluded from the reception processing target or data to be excluded from the conversion processing target.

According to the vehicle control device of the present invention, among the plurality of pieces of data constituting the surrounding information, the data that is determined to be unnecessary is excluded from the target of the reception process or the conversion process. Such a load is reduced. As a result, the judgment process of the surroundings of the own vehicle and the calculation for controlling the own vehicle can be performed more reliably, which can contribute to the improvement of the safety of the own vehicle.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the vehicle control device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the vehicle control device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the hardware structural example of a vehicle control apparatus. It is a figure which shows the hardware structural example of a vehicle control apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the vehicle control apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation of the vehicle control device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

<Embodiment 1>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle control device 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The vehicle control device 10 is mounted on a vehicle and is connected to a surrounding information sensor 1, a vehicle information sensor 2, and an actuator 3 included in the vehicle. Hereinafter, the vehicle in which the vehicle control device 10 is mounted is referred to as “own vehicle”.

The ambient information sensor 1 is a sensor that detects ambient information that is information about the surroundings of the vehicle. Examples of the ambient information sensor 1 include a millimeter wave radar, a camera, a sonar, and LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), but any sensor may be used as long as it can detect ambient information. Further, the ambient information sensor 1 may be configured by combining a plurality of different types of sensors, or may be configured by combining the same type of sensors provided at a plurality of locations (for example, four locations on the front, rear, left, and right) of the vehicle. May be.

In the present embodiment, the ambient information detected by the ambient information sensor 1 includes information on targets existing around the vehicle and information on lane boundaries (hereinafter referred to as “white lines”). And The target information includes, for example, the presence or absence of the target, the relative position and relative speed of the target with respect to the own vehicle, the type of the target (for example, vehicle, bicycle, pedestrian, etc.), and the reliability information of the target information. Is included. Further, the white line information includes the presence/absence of a white line, the relative position of the white line with respect to the host vehicle, the type of the white line (for example, line color, solid line, broken line, etc.), reliability information of the white line information, and the like. The reliability of the target information and the white line information may be evaluated by any method, but in the present embodiment, the reliability of each sensor that constitutes the ambient information sensor 1 is set in advance, and the sensor that has detected the information. Is regarded as the reliability of the information.

The vehicle information sensor 2 is a sensor that detects vehicle information that is information on the traveling state (speed, yaw rate, etc.) of the vehicle. The vehicle information sensor 2 may be a speed sensor, a yaw rate sensor, a steering angle sensor, or the like, but any sensor may be used as long as it can detect vehicle information. For example, a shift position, an engine speed, an electric power steering (power steering). A sensor that detects the steering angle of the vehicle may be used.

The actuator 3 is a device that drives, brakes, and steers the host vehicle, and includes, for example, an engine, a brake, an electric power steering, and an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) that controls them.

The vehicle control device 10 acquires the surrounding information detected by the surrounding information sensor 1 and the vehicle information detected by the vehicle information sensor 2, determines the surrounding situation of the own vehicle based on the acquired surrounding information and vehicle information, and The traveling of the host vehicle is controlled by controlling the actuator 3 according to the determination result.

The communication system between the surrounding information sensor 1 and the vehicle information sensor 2 and the vehicle control device 10 is, for example, CAN (Controller Area Network) communication, CAN-FD (CAN with Flexible Data rate) communication, Ethernet (registered trademark), Any method such as LIN (Local Interconnect Network) communication may be used. In this embodiment, CAN communication is used.

The ambient information sensor 1 periodically transmits a plurality of pieces of data constituting the ambient information, and the vehicle information sensor 2 periodically transmits a plurality of pieces of data constituting the vehicle information. To receive the data. In CAN communication, an ID is attached to each of the transmission data, but when the data amount per ID is small (8 bytes in CAN communication), the ambient information sensor 1 outputs information of one target or white line. , May be divided into a plurality of data having different IDs and transmitted. Alternatively, as in CAN TP (Transport Protocol), one ID may be attached to a plurality of pieces of data obtained by division and transmitted. The ID and transmission cycle of the data transmitted by the ambient information sensor 1 and the vehicle information sensor 2 are defined in advance design.

As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle control device 10 includes an ambient information receiving unit 11, a vehicle information receiving unit 12, an ambient condition determining unit 13, and a vehicle control unit 14.

The ambient information receiving unit 11 receives the ambient information of the own vehicle transmitted from the ambient information sensor 1, and includes a data receiving unit 111, a data converting unit 112, and an exclusion data determining unit 113.

The data receiving unit 111 performs a receiving process of receiving the ambient information data transmitted from the ambient information sensor 1. Since a general vehicle network has a configuration in which a plurality of devices such as sensors and ECUs are connected to one bus, the data receiving unit 111 transmits data from the ambient information sensor 1 from the data flowing on the bus. You need to select and receive data. In the present embodiment, the ID of the transmission data is predetermined for each device connected to the in-vehicle network, and the data receiving unit 111 selects only the data having the ID defined as the transmission data of the ambient information sensor 1. To perform reception processing. For example, when the ID of the transmission data of the ambient information sensor 1 is defined as 0x100 to 0x199, the data receiving unit 111 performs the receiving process for the data having the ID of 0x100 to 0x199, and the ID of 0x000 to 0x0FF. The reception process is not performed on the data having the ID or the data having the ID of 0x19A or later. Such ID selection processing is also performed in the conventional CAN.

The data conversion unit 112 performs a conversion process of converting the data received by the data reception unit 111 into a format that can be used by the surrounding condition determination unit 13. For example, if 8-byte data having an ID of 0x100 is data representing target information (target data), and the data is defined as data indicating the position (coordinates) and presence/absence of the target, The data conversion unit 112 converts the data into a physical value representing the X coordinate of the target by performing the factor calculation and the offset calculation on the data of the first to second bytes of the target data, and the third to fourth bytes of the target data. The data is converted into a physical value representing the Y coordinate of the target by performing the factor calculation and the offset calculation on the data, and the data is calculated by performing the factor calculation and the offset calculation on the 5th to 6th byte data of the target data. Is converted into a physical value representing the Z coordinate of the target, and the 1-bit data of the 7th byte of the target data is converted into flag information indicating the presence or absence of the target. Such data conversion processing is also performed by the conventional CAN.

The excluded data determination unit 113 performs the reception process of the data reception unit 111 from among the plurality of data forming the ambient information transmitted from the ambient information sensor 1 based on the data subjected to the reception process by the data reception unit 111. The data to be excluded from the target or the data to be excluded from the conversion processing of the data conversion unit 112 is determined.

For example, data having IDs 0x100 to 0x109 is target data, of which 0x100 is data indicating the position and presence of the target, 0x101 is data indicating the relative speed of the target, and 0x102 is the target. It is assumed that the information of the first target is defined by being divided into data of a plurality of IDs, such as data indicating the type of data, 0x103 is data indicating the reliability of the target data. In this case, the exclusion data determination unit 113 can determine the presence or absence of the target by checking the 1st bit of the 7th byte of the 0x100th data. When the target does not exist, the data of 0x100 to 0x109 is unnecessary data that is not used by the surrounding condition determination unit 13 or the vehicle control unit 14 even if the reception process or the conversion process is performed. Therefore, the exclusion data determination unit 113 confirms the 1st bit of the 7th byte of the 0x100 data, and if it is found that the target does not exist, the 0x101 to 0x109 data thereafter is excluded from the reception processing target. Alternatively, the received data 0x100 to 0x109 is excluded from the conversion processing target.

In an on-vehicle network or the like that uses CAN, by its nature, the target information data is transmitted from the ambient information sensor 1 at regular intervals regardless of the presence or absence of the target. With platform software that performs CAN reception processing, such as AUTOSAR, the data reception processing and conversion processing alone impose a considerable processing load. Therefore, if all the data transmitted from the surrounding information sensor 1 is subjected to the receiving process in the data receiving unit 111 and the converting process in the data converting unit 112, the processes of the surrounding condition judging unit 13 and the vehicle control unit 14 are performed. It may not be possible to do it in a proper cycle. In the present embodiment, the exclusion data determination unit 113 reduces the processing load of the surrounding information reception unit 11 by determining that the data of the nonexistent target object is unnecessary data and excluding it from the target of the reception process or the conversion process. be able to.

In the present embodiment, the exclusion data determination unit 113 sets the target data of the target that does not exist as the data to be excluded from the target of the reception process or the conversion process (hereinafter also referred to as “excluded data”). The data determination method is not limited to this. For example, the exclusion data determination unit 113 may determine the exclusion data based on the reliability of the target data (data having ID 0x103 in the above example). For example, when the reliability of the target data is defined as three levels, "high", "medium", and "low", only the target data with high or medium reliability is the target of the reception process and the conversion process, Data with low reliability may be excluded data.

Further, the data having the ID of 0x100 to 0x109 shows the data of the first target, the data having the ID of 0x110 to 0x119 shows the information of the second target,... If the data having IDs 0x190 to 0x199 is defined as the data indicating the information of the 10th target, only 5 targets exist (the 1st to 5th targets). Exists), the data of the sixth and subsequent targets is unnecessary data that is not used by the surrounding condition determination unit 13 or the vehicle control unit 14 even if the reception process or the conversion process is performed. Therefore, in that case, the exclusion data determination unit 113 confirms the 1st bit of the 7th byte of the 0x150th data, which is the data of the 6th target, and if it is determined that the 6th target does not exist, Subsequent data of 0x151 to 0x199, which are target data of the same cycle, may be set as exclusion data. In this way, when the exclusion data is generated, the exclusion data determination unit 113 may determine that other data transmitted from the same sensor as the exclusion data in the same cycle is also exclusion data.

It should be noted that any method may be used to determine whether or not each data is transmitted in the same cycle. For example, a method may be considered in which the data received from the reception of the data of the first ID (for example, 0x100) to the elapse of a predetermined threshold time is regarded as the data transmitted in the same cycle. Alternatively, a method may be used in which a sensor that transmits data adds a counter or a time stamp to each data and determines whether or not the data is transmitted in the same cycle based on the information of the counter and the checksum.

The vehicle information receiving unit 12 receives the vehicle information of the own vehicle transmitted from the vehicle information sensor 2. Although not shown, the vehicle information receiving unit 12 can use the data receiving unit that selectively receives the data transmitted by the vehicle information sensor 2 and the reception processing data in the surrounding condition determining unit 13. And a data conversion unit that performs a conversion process for converting to any format. Since these are similar to the conventional CAN reception process, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The surrounding condition determining unit 13 acquires the surrounding information data that has been subjected to the receiving process and the converting process in the surrounding information receiving unit 11 and the vehicle information data that has undergone the receiving process and the converting process in the vehicle information receiving unit 12. Then, the situation around the own vehicle is judged by considering those data in an integrated manner. The situation around the host vehicle determined by the ambient condition determination unit 13 is, for example, what kind of target or white line exists at which position around the host vehicle.

For example, when the ambient information sensor 1 is composed of a plurality of sensors, even when there is only one target around the host vehicle, the distance measurement timing of each sensor and the data transmission timing shift, distance measurement error, etc. As a result, the data of the target information included in the surrounding information received by the surrounding information receiving unit 11 may vary, and a plurality of positions (coordinates) of the target may be detected. The surrounding situation determination unit 13 organizes the target information in consideration of the motion of the own vehicle, which is known from the vehicle information, the distance measurement timing of each sensor, the transmission timing, the distance measurement error, and the like, and the arranged target information is stored in the vehicle. Input to the control unit 14.

For example, when a plurality of target object coordinates are detected at positions close to each other, the surrounding condition determination unit 13 determines them as one target object coordinate, and determines the coordinates obtained from the information of the sensor with the highest reliability. It is adopted as the position of the target. Alternatively, the coordinate obtained by averaging a plurality of coordinates may be regarded as the position of the target, or the coordinate obtained by weighting and averaging the plurality of coordinates according to the reliability may be regarded as the position of the target. In addition, the surrounding condition determination unit 13 estimates the coordinates of the current target based on the movements of the own vehicle and the target and the time difference from the distance measurement timing to the present time, and calculates the estimated coordinates of the current target. The target information including the target information may be input to the vehicle control unit 14.

When the ambient information sensor 1 is composed of a plurality of sensors, the white line information (position of white line, curvature, number of lines, etc.) also varies, and therefore the ambient situation determination unit 13 organizes the target information. The white line information is also organized by the same method, and the organized white line information is input to the vehicle control unit 14.

The vehicle control unit 14 calculates a control instruction to the actuator 3 based on the surrounding condition of the own vehicle judged by the surrounding condition judging unit 13 and outputs the calculation result to the actuator 3 to drive the own vehicle. Control. Specifically, the vehicle control unit 14 performs preventive safety control of the vehicle such as automatic braking and lane keeping. For example, when the host vehicle is likely to hit the target, the vehicle control unit 14 outputs a braking instruction to the brake ECU of the actuator 3, outputs a deceleration instruction to the engine ECU, and avoids the target to the electric power steering. It outputs a steering instruction to do so. At that time, the vehicle control unit 14 may display a warning sign on the instrument panel of the own vehicle or may output a warning sound from the speaker of the own vehicle.

In addition, the vehicle control unit 14 outputs a steering instruction for lane keeping to the electric power steering of the actuator 3 when the host vehicle is about to deviate from the lane over the white line. In addition, the vehicle control unit 14 may issue any control instruction related to preventive safety, such as a control instruction for preventing accidental depression of the accelerator and the brake. In addition, the vehicle control unit 14 searches for a route on which the host vehicle can safely travel based on the target information and the white line information, and calculates a control instruction for automatic driving to drive the host vehicle along the detected route. , It may be output to the actuator 3.

Here, the vehicle control unit 14 is configured to calculate the control instruction for controlling the traveling of the own vehicle only based on the judgment result of the surrounding situation by the surrounding situation judging unit 13, but, for example, from the vehicle information receiving unit 12 The vehicle information such as the output speed, yaw rate, and steering angle may be input to the vehicle control unit 14, and the vehicle control unit 14 may calculate the control instruction in consideration of the vehicle information. The vehicle control unit 14 calculates the control instruction in consideration of the vehicle information, so that highly accurate vehicle control in which the vehicle information is fed back can be performed.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the exclusion data determination unit 113 reduces the processing load of the surrounding information reception unit 11 by excluding unnecessary target object data from the target of the reception process or the conversion process. be able to. As a result, the amount of data input to the surrounding situation determining unit 13 is also reduced, so that the processing load on the surrounding situation determining unit 13 can also be reduced. As a result, the processes of the surrounding condition determination unit 13 and the vehicle control unit 14 can be performed more reliably, which can contribute to the improvement of the safety of the own vehicle.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of vehicle control device 10 according to the first embodiment. Hereinafter, the operation of the vehicle control device 10 according to the first embodiment will be described based on the flowchart of FIG.

When the vehicle control device 10 is activated, first, the excluded data determination unit 113 of the surrounding information receiving unit 11 determines whether the surrounding information data transmitted from the surrounding information sensor 1 is the target of the reception process (step S101). .. The excluded data determination unit 113 targets all the data transmitted from the ambient information sensor 1 in the initial state, but after the data receiving process is started, the excluded data determining unit 113 is based on the data subjected to the receiving process. Then, of the subsequent data, the data to be excluded from the reception processing target is determined. Further, the exclusion data determination unit 113 is reset to the initial state each time a new transmission cycle of the ambient information sensor 1 is entered.

When the data transmitted from the ambient information sensor 1 is the target of the reception process (YES in step S101), the data reception unit 111 performs the reception process of the data (step S102). Then, the data receiving unit 111 feeds back the received data to the excluded data determining unit 113 (step S103).

Then, the data conversion unit 112 of the surrounding information reception unit 11 determines whether the data received by the data reception unit 111 is subject to conversion processing (step S104). In the initial state, the excluded data determination unit 113 targets all the data that has been subjected to the reception processing, but after the reception processing of the data is started, the excluded data determination unit 113 is based on the data subjected to the reception processing and then The data to be excluded from the conversion process among the data is determined. The data conversion unit 112 is also reset to the initial state each time a new transmission cycle of the ambient information sensor 1 is entered.

When the data subjected to the reception process is the target of the conversion process (YES in step S104), the data conversion unit 112 performs the conversion process of the data (step S105).

If the data transmitted from the ambient information sensor 1 is not the target of the reception process (NO in step S101), the processes of steps S102 to S105 are not performed. If the received data is not the target of the conversion process (NO in step S104), the process of step S105 is not performed. As a result, the processing load on the surrounding information receiving unit 11 is suppressed.

Next, the vehicle information receiving unit 12 performs a receiving process and a converting process of the vehicle information data transmitted from the vehicle information sensor 2 (step S106).

Then, based on the data of the surrounding information that has been subjected to the receiving process and the conversion process in the surrounding information receiving unit 11 and the data of the vehicle information that has been subjected to the receiving process and the conversion process in the vehicle information receiving unit 12, The situation around the host vehicle is determined (step S107). Then, the vehicle control unit 14 calculates a control instruction to the actuator 3 based on the surrounding situation of the own vehicle determined by the surrounding situation determination unit 13, and outputs the calculation result to the actuator 3 to output the result of the own vehicle. The traveling is controlled (step S108). The vehicle control device 10 repeatedly executes the above flow.

In the flow of FIG. 2, a process of excluding a part of the ambient information data from the reception process (step S101) and a process of excluding a part of the reception data from the conversion process (step S104). Both are performed, but only one of them may be performed. If at least one of the both is performed, the effect of reducing the processing load of the surrounding information receiving unit 11 can be obtained. Further, whichever of the reception process and conversion process (steps S101 to S105) in the surrounding information receiving unit 11 and the reception process and conversion process (step S106) in the vehicle information receiving unit 12 may be performed first.

3 and 4 are diagrams each showing an example of the hardware configuration of the vehicle control device 10. Each function of the components of the vehicle control device 10 shown in FIG. 1 is realized by the processing circuit 50 shown in FIG. 3, for example. That is, the vehicle control device 10 receives the surrounding information which is the surrounding information of the own vehicle transmitted from the surrounding information sensor 1 of the own vehicle, and the running state of the own vehicle transmitted from the vehicle information sensor 2 of the own vehicle. A processing circuit for receiving vehicle information, which is information, determining the surroundings of the own vehicle based on the surrounding information and the vehicle information, and controlling the actuator 3 of the own vehicle based on the surroundings of the own vehicle. Equipped with 50. Here, the ambient information sensor 1 periodically transmits a plurality of pieces of data constituting the ambient information, and the process of receiving the ambient information is performed by the reception process of the data transmitted from the ambient information sensor 1 and the reception process. Data conversion process that converts the data into a format that can be used for the surrounding condition determination process, and the data that is excluded from the reception process among the multiple data that make up the surrounding information based on the received data. The exclusion data determination process of determining the data to be excluded from the processing target is included.

The processing circuit 50 may be dedicated hardware, or may be a processor (Central Processing Unit (CPU), a processing device, an arithmetic device, a microprocessor, a microcomputer, a computer) that executes a program stored in a memory. It may be configured by using a DSP (also called a Digital Signal Processor).

When the processing circuit 50 is dedicated hardware, the processing circuit 50 is, for example, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, a parallel programmed processor, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or an FPGA (Field-Programmable). Gate Array), or a combination of these. Each function of the constituent elements of the vehicle control device 10 may be realized by an individual processing circuit, or those functions may be collectively realized by one processing circuit.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the hardware configuration of the vehicle control device 10 when the processing circuit 50 is configured using the processor 51 that executes a program. In this case, the functions of the constituent elements of the vehicle control device 10 are realized by software (software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware). The software and the like are written as a program and stored in the memory 52. The processor 51 realizes the function of each unit by reading and executing the program stored in the memory 52. That is, the vehicle control device 10, when executed by the processor 51, receives the surrounding information that is the surrounding information of the own vehicle transmitted from the surrounding information sensor 1 of the own vehicle, and the vehicle information sensor of the own vehicle. The process of receiving the vehicle information, which is the information on the traveling state of the own vehicle transmitted from 2, the process of determining the surrounding condition of the own vehicle based on the surrounding information and the vehicle information, and the surrounding condition of the own vehicle. On the basis of the above, the processing for controlling the actuator 3 of the own vehicle and the memory 52 for storing the program to be executed as a result are provided. In other words, it can be said that this program causes a computer to execute the procedure and method of the operation of the components of the vehicle control device 10. Here, the ambient information sensor 1 periodically transmits a plurality of pieces of data constituting the ambient information, and the process of receiving the ambient information is performed by the reception process of the data transmitted from the ambient information sensor 1 and the reception process. Data conversion process that converts the data into a format that can be used for the surrounding condition determination process, and the data that is excluded from the reception process among the multiple data that make up the surrounding information based on the received data. The exclusion data determination process of determining the data to be excluded from the processing target is included.

Here, the memory 52 is a nonvolatile memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a flash memory, an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), or an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory). It is a volatile semiconductor memory, a hard disk drive (HDD), a magnetic disk, a flexible disk, an optical disk, a compact disk, a mini disk, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) and its drive device, or any storage medium used in the future. May be.

Heretofore, the configuration in which the functions of the components of the vehicle control device 10 are realized by either hardware or software has been described. However, the configuration is not limited to this, and a configuration in which some of the components of the vehicle control device 10 are implemented by dedicated hardware and another of the other components is implemented by software or the like may be used. For example, for some of the constituent elements, the function is realized by the processing circuit 50 as dedicated hardware, and for some of the other constituent elements, the processing circuit 50 as the processor 51 executes a program stored in the memory 52. The function can be realized by reading and executing.

As described above, the vehicle control device 10 can realize each function described above by hardware, software, or the like, or a combination thereof.

<Second Embodiment>
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of vehicle control device 10 according to the second embodiment. The configuration of the vehicle control device 10 of FIG. 5 differs from the configuration of FIG. 1 in that the exclusion data determination unit 113 includes not only the output of the data reception unit 111 but also the vehicle information reception unit 12, the surrounding condition determination unit 13, and the vehicle control unit. Each output of 14 is also input.

The excluded data determination unit 113 according to the second embodiment includes not only the data of the surrounding information received and processed by the data receiving unit 111, but also the vehicle information received by the vehicle information receiving unit 12 and the information regarding the determination of the surrounding condition determining unit 13. Further, in consideration of the control instruction to the actuator 3 calculated by the vehicle control unit 14, the data excluded from the reception processing target of the data reception unit 111 or the data excluded from the conversion processing target of the data conversion unit 112 (excluded data). ) Is determined.

For example, the exclusion data determination unit 113 determines whether the host vehicle is moving forward or backward based on the information about the wheel speed of the host vehicle received by the vehicle information receiving unit 12, and the risk that the host vehicle collides in consideration of the traveling direction. The output data of the sensor that detects a target in a direction with less property (backward when the vehicle is moving forward and forward when the vehicle is moving backward) may be used as exclusion data. At that time, the surrounding condition determination unit 13 may take into account the speed of the host vehicle obtained from the shift position of the host vehicle, the engine speed, the wheel speed, and the like. When determining exclusion data based on a plurality of vehicle information, priority may be set for each vehicle information and exclusion data may be determined based on information with high priority. Also, a combination of a plurality of pieces of vehicle information may be treated as one determination factor.

Further, for example, the exclusion data determination unit 113 determines the traveling direction (straight, right turn, left turn, etc.) of the own vehicle from the steering angle and the yaw rate of the own vehicle received by the vehicle information reception unit 12, and considers from the traveling direction. The output data of the sensor that detects the target in the direction in which the risk of collision of the vehicle is low (when the vehicle is turning right, left, when the vehicle is turning left) may be excluded data. ..

Further, for example, the exclusion data determination unit 113 may determine the exclusion data based on the information related to the determination by the surrounding condition determination unit 13. Specifically, the exclusion data determination unit 113 may use the output data of the sensor, which outputs the target data that the surrounding condition determination unit 13 did not adopt as the data of the position of the target, as the exclusion data.

Further, for example, the exclusion data determination unit 113 may determine the exclusion data based on the information of the control instruction to the actuator 3 calculated by the vehicle control unit 14. Specifically, in the exclusion data determination unit 113, the vehicle control unit 14 controls the actuator 3 to activate the emergency automatic braking for avoiding a collision with an obstacle in front of the own vehicle (or, activation). When there is a sign that the target is to be output), the output data of the sensor that detects the target behind the host vehicle may be used as the exclusion data.

In addition, for example, the exclusion data determination unit 113 may determine the exclusion data based on a control instruction for preventing the accelerator and the brake from being misstepped when starting. When starting, the speed is low and the distance to the target that may collide is short, so the output data of the sensor that detects a distant target is excluded while the control to prevent misstepping is being performed. It may be data.

Further, for example, the exclusion data determination unit 113 may determine exclusion data based on a lane keep control instruction. Specifically, the output data of the sensor that determines which of the left and right sides the own vehicle is likely to deviate from the lane and detects the target on the side opposite to the deviating side may be used as the exclusion data.

In addition, the exclusion data determination unit 113 sets a priority for each information of the data reception unit 111, the vehicle information reception unit 12, the surrounding condition determination unit 13, and the vehicle control unit 14, and excludes the information based on the high priority information. The data may be determined. In addition, the exclusion data determination unit 113 maps a combination of each information output by the data reception unit 111, the vehicle information reception unit 12, the surrounding condition determination unit 13, and the vehicle control unit 14, and identifies the own vehicle determined from the map. The exclusion data may be determined depending on the situation.

Here, the exclusion data determination unit 113 considers all the information obtained from the vehicle information reception unit 12, the surrounding condition determination unit 13, and the vehicle control unit 14 in addition to the data received by the data reception unit 111. The data determination unit 113 may add any one or more of these pieces of information.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of vehicle control device 10 according to the second embodiment. Hereinafter, the operation of the vehicle control device 10 according to the second embodiment will be described based on the flowchart of FIG.

When the vehicle control device 10 is activated, first, the exclusion data determination unit 113 of the surrounding information receiving unit 11 determines whether or not the surrounding information data transmitted from the surrounding information sensor 1 is the target of the reception process (step S201). .. The excluded data determination unit 113 targets all the data transmitted from the ambient information sensor 1 in the initial state, but the reception process is performed after the data reception unit 111 starts the data reception process. Received data, the vehicle information received by the vehicle information receiving unit 12, the information regarding the judgment of the surrounding condition judging unit 13, and a control instruction to the actuator 3 calculated by the vehicle control unit 14 Decide which data to exclude from processing. Further, the exclusion data determination unit 113 is reset to the initial state each time a new transmission cycle of the ambient information sensor 1 is entered.

If the data transmitted from the ambient information sensor 1 is the target of the receiving process (YES in step S201), the data receiving unit 111 performs the receiving process of the data (step S202). After that, the data receiving unit 111 feeds back the received data to the excluded data determining unit 113 (step S203).

Then, the data conversion unit 112 of the surrounding information reception unit 11 determines whether or not the data received by the data reception unit 111 is subject to conversion processing (step S204). In the initial state, the excluded data determination unit 113 targets all the data that has been subjected to the reception processing, but after the data reception unit 111 has started the data reception processing, the data that has undergone the reception processing, Based on the vehicle information received by the vehicle information receiving unit 12, the information regarding the determination by the surrounding condition determining unit 13, and the control instruction to the actuator 3 calculated by the vehicle control unit 14, the data to be converted from the target of the conversion process thereafter. Decide what data to exclude. The data conversion unit 112 is also reset to the initial state each time a new transmission cycle of the ambient information sensor 1 is entered.

When the received data is the target of the conversion process (YES in step S204), the data conversion unit 112 performs the conversion process of the data (step S205).

When the data transmitted from the ambient information sensor 1 is not the target of the reception process (NO in step S201), the processes of steps S202 to S205 are not performed. If the received data is not the target of the conversion process (NO in step S204), the process of step S205 is not performed. As a result, the processing load on the surrounding information receiving unit 11 is suppressed.

Next, the vehicle information receiving unit 12 performs a receiving process and a converting process of the vehicle information data transmitted from the vehicle information sensor 2 (step S206). Then, the vehicle information receiving unit 12 feeds back the received vehicle information to the exclusion data determining unit 113 (step S207).

Then, based on the data of the surrounding information that has been subjected to the receiving process and the conversion process in the surrounding information receiving unit 11 and the data of the vehicle information that has been subjected to the receiving process and the conversion process in the vehicle information receiving unit 12, The situation around the host vehicle is determined (step S208). Then, the surrounding situation determination unit 13 feeds back information regarding the determination to the excluded data determination unit 113 (step S209).

Next, the vehicle control unit 14 calculates a control instruction to the actuator 3 based on the surrounding situation of the own vehicle judged by the surrounding condition judging unit 13 and outputs the calculation result to the actuator 3 to output the own vehicle. The traveling of the vehicle is controlled (step S210). Then, the vehicle control unit 14 feeds back the calculation result to the exclusion data determination unit 113 (step S211). The vehicle control device 10 repeatedly executes the above flow.

In the flow of FIG. 6, a process of excluding a part of the ambient information data from the reception process (step S201) and a process of excluding a part of the reception processed data from the conversion process (step S204). Both are performed, but only one of them may be performed. If at least one of the both is performed, the effect of reducing the processing load of the surrounding information receiving unit 11 can be obtained. Further, whichever of the reception process and conversion process (steps S201 to S205) in the surrounding information receiving unit 11 and the reception process and conversion process (step S206) in the vehicle information receiving unit 12 may be performed first.

It should be noted that, in the present invention, the respective embodiments can be freely combined, or the respective embodiments can be appropriately modified or omitted within the scope of the invention.

1 Surrounding Information Sensor, 2 Vehicle Information Sensor, 3 Actuator, 10 Vehicle Control Device, 11 Surrounding Information Receiving Section, 12 Vehicle Information Receiving Section, 13 Surrounding Condition Determining Section, 14 Vehicle Control Section, 111 Data Receiving Section, 112 Data Converting Section , 113 exclusion data determination unit, 50 processing circuit, 51 processor, 52 memory.

A vehicle control device according to the present invention is transmitted from a surrounding information receiving unit that receives surrounding information that is the surrounding information of the own vehicle transmitted from the surrounding information sensor of the own vehicle, and a vehicle information sensor of the own vehicle. On the basis of the vehicle information receiving unit that receives vehicle information that is information on the traveling state of the own vehicle, the surrounding information received by the surrounding information receiving unit, and the vehicle information received by the vehicle information receiving unit, And a vehicle control unit that controls an actuator of the own vehicle based on the surrounding situation of the own vehicle determined by the surrounding situation determination unit, A plurality of data forming the ambient information is periodically transmitted from the ambient information sensor, and the ambient information receiving unit includes a data receiving unit that performs a receiving process of the data transmitted from the ambient information sensor, and the receiving unit. A data conversion unit that performs a conversion process of converting the processed data into a format that can be used by the surrounding condition determination unit; and a plurality of data that configures the surrounding information based on the received processed data. An exclusion data determination unit that determines data to be excluded from the reception processing target or data to be excluded from the conversion processing target , wherein the ambient condition determination unit is one of a plurality of data constituting the ambient information, The data that has undergone the reception process and the conversion process is acquired .

Claims (8)

A surrounding information receiving unit that receives surrounding information that is information about the surroundings of the own vehicle transmitted from a surrounding information sensor of the own vehicle,
A vehicle information receiving unit that receives vehicle information that is information on the traveling state of the own vehicle transmitted from the vehicle information sensor of the own vehicle;
Based on the vehicle information received by the vehicle information receiving unit and the ambient information received by the ambient information receiving unit, a surrounding situation determining unit that determines the situation around the host vehicle,
A vehicle control unit that controls an actuator of the own vehicle, based on a situation around the own vehicle that is determined by the surrounding situation determination unit,
Equipped with
From the ambient information sensor, a plurality of data constituting the ambient information is periodically transmitted,
The surrounding information receiving unit,
A data receiving unit for receiving data transmitted from the ambient information sensor;
A data conversion unit that performs conversion processing for converting the received data into a format that can be used by the surrounding condition determination unit;
An exclusion data determination unit that determines data to be excluded from the reception processing target or data to be excluded from the conversion processing target out of a plurality of data forming the ambient information based on the reception processed data,
A vehicle control device including. The plurality of data forming the surrounding information includes target data defined as data representing the information of the target surrounding the own vehicle,
The target data includes data on the reliability of the target data,
The exclusion data determination unit excludes target data whose reliability is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value from the target of the reception process or the conversion process,
The vehicle control device according to claim 1. The plurality of data forming the surrounding information includes target data defined as data representing the information of the target surrounding the own vehicle,
The target data includes data representing the presence or absence of a target,
The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the exclusion data determination unit excludes target data of a target that does not exist from the target of the reception process or the conversion process. When the excluded data determination unit generates data to be excluded from the reception processing or the conversion processing, other data having the same cycle as the data is also excluded from the reception processing or the conversion processing. The vehicle control device according to claim 3. The exclusion data determination unit determines the data to be excluded from the target of the reception process or the data to be excluded from the target of the conversion process in consideration of the vehicle information. The vehicle control device described. The exclusion data determination unit determines data to be excluded from the reception processing target or data to be converted from the conversion processing target, in consideration of information about the determination of the surrounding condition determination unit. The vehicle control device according to claim 1. The exclusion data determination unit determines data to be excluded from the target of the reception process or data to be excluded from the target of the conversion process, in consideration of a control instruction to the actuator calculated by the vehicle control unit. 7. The vehicle control device according to claim 6. A surrounding information receiving unit of the vehicle control device receives the surrounding information which is the surrounding information of the own vehicle transmitted from the surrounding information sensor of the own vehicle,
A vehicle information receiving unit of the vehicle control device receives vehicle information, which is information on a traveling state of the own vehicle transmitted from a vehicle information sensor of the own vehicle,
A surrounding condition judging unit of the vehicle control device judges a surrounding condition of the own vehicle based on the surrounding information received by the surrounding information receiving unit and the vehicle information received by the vehicle information receiving unit; ,
A vehicle control unit of the vehicle control device controls an actuator of the own vehicle based on a situation around the own vehicle determined by the surrounding situation determination unit,
Including
From the ambient information sensor, a plurality of data constituting the ambient information is periodically transmitted,
The step of receiving the ambient information by the ambient information receiving unit,
Reception processing of data transmitted from the ambient information sensor,
A conversion process for converting the received data into a format that can be used by the surrounding condition determination unit;
An exclusion data determination process of determining data to be excluded from the reception process or data to be excluded from the conversion process among a plurality of data forming the surrounding information based on the reception processed data,
And a vehicle control method.

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