JPH11170939A - Corner sensor device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a corner sensor device capable of drawing the attention of a driver and improving the safety of a vehicle even when a corner part of the vehicle to which the attention must be paid is rapidly changed. SOLUTION: Ultrasonic sensors 3(3a-3d) are arranged at each corner part of a vehicle, and when the delay time to be outputted from the ultrasonic sensors 3 is below the prescribed value, a detection is made that the corner part of the vehicle is approaching an obstacle, and an alarm sound to indicate that the corner part of the vehicle is approaching the obstacle is generated by a buzzer 11, and an alarm beam is generated by an indicator 9. When it is detected that either corner part is approaching the obstacle, and another corner part is newly approaching the obstacle, a CPU 5 changes the generation pattern of the alarm sound or the alarm beam.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a corner sensor device that detects an approach of an obstacle to a corner of a vehicle and generates an alarm sound or an alarm light.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional corner sensor device, when an ultrasonic sensor detects that an obstacle has approached a corner portion of a vehicle, an alarm sound or an alarm light is generated to notify the driver. .

More specifically, a plurality of LEDs representing the outer shape and corner portions of a vehicle are arranged in an instrument panel provided in the front of the vehicle compartment, and a buzzer is arranged below the instrument panel. When a corner of the vehicle approaches an obstacle, an alarm is displayed by flashing or illuminating the LED of the corner where the obstacle is detected by the ultrasonic sensor, and an alarm sound is generated according to the distance to the nearest obstacle. The generation cycle is changed to, for example, two stages so that a buzzer sounds.

[0004]

[0005] For example, when the vehicle is retracted and parking is performed by pulling back, as shown in FIG. 5 (a), the corner portion at the left rear portion of the vehicle 101 first has a wall 103 such as a fence 103 or a fence. Since the warning sound is notified when the vehicle is closest to the obstacle, the driver gazes in the left rear direction of the vehicle 101, and
Driving backwards while listening to the alarm sound and estimating the distance to this obstacle. Here, when the rear left portion of the vehicle 101 retreats to some extent, the driver gazes at the left side surface and the front left portion of the vehicle 101 to reconfirm the vehicle orientation state and reconfirm the alarm display.

[0005] However, as shown in FIG.
When the driver 101 fails to reconfirm the warning display when the corner portion approaching the obstacle most during the backward movement of the vehicle 101 changes from the rear left portion 105 to the front left portion 107, the same driver is notified. Since the warning sound is being heard, it is conceivable that the user is not visually recognizing the corner portion in the direction of the left front portion 107 which must be watched.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a corner sensor device that can alert a driver even when a corner portion of a vehicle that requires attention is suddenly replaced, thereby contributing to an improvement in vehicle safety. It is in.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the relationship between the obstacle detection means arranged at least at each corner of the vehicle and detecting the relationship with the obstacle and the obstacle detected by the obstacle detection means has become equal to or less than a predetermined value. In such a case, approach detecting means for detecting that the corner portion of the vehicle is approaching an obstacle, and notification means for generating an alarm sound or warning light indicating that the corner portion of the vehicle is approaching the obstacle. When it is detected that one of the corners is approaching the obstacle, and another corner is newly approached, the alarm sound or the warning light generation pattern is changed. And the means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the corner sensor device according to the first aspect of the present invention, the changing means includes a repetition period for periodically repeating generation and stop of the alarm sound or the alarm light. Is changed to another repetition period.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the obstacle detecting means for detecting the relationship with the obstacle is arranged at least at each corner of the vehicle, and the obstacle detected by the obstacle detecting means is arranged. If the relationship with the object falls below the prescribed level,
It is detected that the corner portion of the vehicle is approaching the obstacle, and an alarm sound or an alarm light indicating that the corner portion of the vehicle is approaching the obstacle is generated. Here, when it is detected that one of the corners is approaching the obstacle, and another corner is newly approached, the generation pattern of the alarm sound or the alarm light is changed. Therefore, even when the corner portion of the vehicle, which requires attention, is suddenly replaced, the driver can be alerted, and the safety of the vehicle can be improved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, attention must be paid to changing the repetition cycle of periodically repeating generation and stoppage of the alarm sound or the alarm light to another repetition cycle, so that attention must be paid to the vehicle. Even when the corner portion is suddenly replaced, the driver can be alerted, which can contribute to an improvement in vehicle safety.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an ultrasonic sensor 3 mounted on a vehicle 1.
It is a figure showing signs that a-3d are attached. As shown in the figure, the ultrasonic sensors 3a to 3d are attached to the front left, front right, rear right, and rear left of the vehicle 1, respectively.

Each of the ultrasonic sensors 3a to 3d includes an ultrasonic transducer and an ultrasonic microphone. An ultrasonic pulse signal is emitted from this ultrasonic transducer, and an echo signal reflected from an obstacle is detected by an ultrasonic microphone, and a delay time Td from the emission of the ultrasonic pulse signal to the detection is measured. Theoretically, the distance L from the ultrasonic sensor to the obstacle may be calculated by multiplying the value of の of the delay time Td by the sound speed V.

However, for example, when a multiplication process is performed by a CPU, a corresponding processing time is required. Therefore, since the delay time Td is generally proportional to the distance to the obstacle, the delay time is replaced by the delay time. Td is used to indicate how close the corner of the vehicle is to the obstacle.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a block configuration of the corner sensor device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the CPU 5 controls the entire apparatus based on a control program and control data stored therein. The timer 7 outputs a pulse signal to the ultrasonic sensors 3a to 3d, and measures a delay time Td until an echo signal from an obstacle is detected. The timer 7 has a display 9
, And the intermittent time of the alarm sound at the buzzer 11 is measured. The display 9 is mounted in the instrument panel and the vehicle 1
Ultrasonic sensors 3a to 3d arranged at corner portions of
The position of is roughly displayed. The buzzer 11 generates an alarm sound according to the distance from the vehicle to the obstacle.

Next, the operation of the corner sensor device when the ultrasonic sensor detects an obstacle will be described with reference to FIG. For simplicity, the delay time Td is used to indicate how close the corner of the vehicle is to the obstacle. First, the CPU 5 controls the ultrasonic sensors 3a to
A pulse signal is sequentially output to a 3d ultrasonic transducer, and an echo signal reflected from an obstacle is detected by an ultrasonic microphone,
The delay time Td from the output of the pulse signal to the input of the echo signal is calculated.

Here, display control and buzzer control of the corner sensor device will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3 (a), when the delay time Td calculated by the CPU 5 is 0 <Td <Trf1 with respect to the reference time Trf1, the turning-off time T2 of the LED of the display 9 is set. Then, the mute time T2 of the buzzer 11 is set to T2 = 0, and the LED of the display 9 is controlled to be in the full lighting state. Similarly, by controlling the buzzer 11 to the full sound state, the driver is notified that the vehicle is in contact with or very close to an obstacle.

Next, when the delay time Td is equal to the reference time Trf1,
When Trf1 ≦ Td <Trf2 with respect to Trf2, the turning-off time T2 of the LED of the display 9 and the mute time T2 of the buzzer 11 are set to T2 = 50 (msec), and the LED of the display 9 blinks. Control the state. Similarly, by controlling the buzzer 11 to be in the intermittent state, the driver is notified that the vehicle is in the state of closest approach to the obstacle.

The delay time Td is equal to the reference time Trf2,
When Trf2 <Td ≦ Trf3, the turn-off time T2 of the LED of the display 9 and the silence time T2 of the buzzer 11 are set to T2 = 100 (msec), and the LED of the display 9 blinks. Control the state. Similarly, by controlling the buzzer 11 in an intermittent state, the driver is notified that the vehicle is in a state of approaching an obstacle to some extent.

Further, the delay time Td is equal to the reference time Trf3.
On the other hand, when Trf3 <Td, the lighting time T1 of the LED of the display 9 and the generation time T1 of the buzzer 11 are set to T1 = 0 (msec), and the LED of the display 9 is controlled to be turned off. I do. Similarly, by controlling the buzzer 11 to the mute state, the vehicle is in a state of not approaching an obstacle.

Next, the operation of the corner sensor device when a plurality of ultrasonic sensors respectively detect an obstacle will be described with reference to a timing chart shown in FIG. First, an ultrasonic pulse signal is emitted from the ultrasonic transducer of the ultrasonic sensor 3, and a delay time Td until an echo signal reflected by an obstacle is detected is measured.

Next, the CPU 5 determines that the delay time Td output from the ultrasonic sensor is equal to the reference time Trf1 or Trf2.
In the following cases, it is detected that the corner portion of the vehicle is approaching the obstacle, and as described above, an alarm sound indicating that the corner portion of the vehicle is approaching the obstacle is generated by the buzzer 11. And an alarm light is generated from the display 9.

Here, as a first case, when it is detected that any one corner portion is approaching an obstacle, and when another corner portion is newly approached, The CPU 5 changes the alarm sound generated from the buzzer 11 or the generation pattern of the alarm light emitted from the display 9.

More specifically, when the number of the ultrasonic sensors 3 detecting an obstacle increases to a plurality, for example, the ultrasonic sensors 3a
Is detected when an obstacle is detected, and at the same time, another obstacle is also newly detected by the other ultrasonic sensor 3d.
Further, as a second case, when an obstacle is detected by the ultrasonic sensor 3d and the ultrasonic sensor 3a, for example, when the vehicle is retracted and parking is performed, the vehicle moves backward as the vehicle retreats. This is the case where the rear left part moves from near to the obstacle to the distant place, and at the same time, the front left part of the vehicle moves from far to near.

In the first or second case, as shown in FIG. 4, the intermittent cycle of the buzzer 11 is set to be equal to or less than a predetermined time T3. Since both the ON time at which the buzzer 11 generates an alarm sound and the OFF time at which the buzzer 11 silences are not the above-described normal alarm sound generation periods (T1, T2), the driver does not need to generate the alarm sound from the buzzer 11. You can recognize that it has changed from the normal one. Also, by changing the emission pattern of the warning light generated on the display 9 to a pattern as shown in FIG. 4, it is possible for the driver to visually recognize the same.

Note that the fixed time T4 (T4 {T1, T4}
T2) and T5 (T5 ≠ T1, T5 ≠ T2) may be switched using a plurality of different combination periods in the first and second cases described above.

The warning light generated on the display 9 is also used when a new obstacle is detected at a corner part closest to the obstacle or at another corner part in accordance with the movement of the vehicle. Only, as shown in FIG. 4, by blinking for a certain period of time T6 at the above-described ON time and OFF time periods of T4 and T5, it is possible to make it easier for the driver to visually recognize.

Further, by setting the predetermined time T3 as T3 <T6, it is possible to confirm the warning light displayed on the display 9 after hearing the buzzer 11 that the generation pattern of the warning sound has changed. It is possible for the driver to check the warning light more reliably with sufficient time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a state in which a plurality of ultrasonic sensors are attached to a vehicle.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a block configuration of a corner sensor device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a delay time Td and a light-off time T2 of a display, and FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating a timing chart of a light-on time T1 and a light-off time T2 of the display.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing a generation pattern of an alarm sound or an alarm light generated when a plurality of ultrasonic sensors respectively detect an obstacle.

FIG. 5A is a diagram showing a state in which a left corner portion of the vehicle 101 is closest to an obstacle such as a fence 103 or a fence.
FIG. 10B is a diagram showing a state in which the corner portion approaching the obstacle most during the backward movement has changed from the rear left portion 105 to the front left portion 107.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3a to 3d Ultrasonic sensor 5 CPU 7 Timer 9 Display 11 Buzzer

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI G08B 5/00 G08B 5/00 Q 19/00 19/00 G08G 1/16 G08G 1/16 C // G01S 15/93 G01S 15 / 93 (72) Inventor Takaaki Kurihara 2 Takaracho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An obstacle detecting unit that is disposed at least at each corner of a vehicle and detects a relationship with an obstacle, and the relationship between the obstacle detected by the obstacle detecting unit is less than a predetermined value. Is an approach detecting means for detecting that the corner portion of the vehicle is approaching an obstacle, and a notifying means for generating an alarm sound or an alarm light indicating that the corner portion of the vehicle is approaching an obstacle, Changing means for changing the generation pattern of the alarm sound or the alarm light when it is detected that one of the corners is approaching the obstacle and another another corner is newly approached. A corner sensor device comprising: 2. The corner sensor device according to claim 1, wherein the changing unit changes a repetition cycle of periodically generating and stopping the alarm sound or the alarm light to another repetition cycle.