EP1283793A1

EP1283793A1 - Method and device for co-ordinating multiple driving system devices of a vehicle

Info

Publication number: EP1283793A1
Application number: EP01933952A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Martin Moser; Reinhold Schneckenburger
Original assignee: DaimlerChrysler AG
Current assignee: Mercedes Benz Group AG
Priority date: 2000-05-23
Filing date: 2001-05-10
Publication date: 2003-02-19
Also published as: US6873891B2; DE10025493B4; JP2003534196A; US20030171865A1; WO2001089898A1; DE10025493A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and a device for co-ordinating multiple driving system devices of a vehicle by means of a co-ordination device. The driving system devices produce output signals according to the current driving state of the vehicle. In the co-ordination device, a result control signal is produced from the output signals and is used as a standard set value for directly influencing the driving state by means of the actuator devices of the vehicle and/or a parameter result signal is produced and used for influencing the regulating and/or control parameters of a driving state regulating system or driving state control system.

Description

Method and device for coordinating several driving system devices of a vehicle

The invention relates to a method and a device for coordinating several driving system devices of a vehicle.

Such a driving system device is, for example, a distance control device for controlling the distance relative to a vehicle in front (known by the applicant under the term "Distronic"), a speed control device (cruise control), a collision avoidance device, e.g. by detection of oncoming vehicles when overtaking, a tire pressure monitoring system, a corner warning device for timely warning of corners when the vehicle's longitudinal speed is too high, which in a further expansion stage can also cause braking and / or steering intervention to prevent a corner from being passed at an impermissibly high speed or any other driving system device that can be made available to the driver as an assistance device.

On the one hand, such driving system devices can only carry out a warning function in order to inform the driver of a certain driving condition, for example if the tire pressure is not in an allowed range. In addition, however, there is also the possibility that the driving system devices automatically influence the driving state, for example by a steering or braking intervention, without manual intervention by the driver. For example, a distance control device can be provided in some of the applicant's vehicles, which automatically brakes the vehicle if the distance to the vehicle in front is too short. Sol- If several driving system devices are to be integrated into a vehicle, it must be ensured that access to the actuator devices of the vehicle - e.g. the braking device or steering device - which are triggered by different driving system devices, on the one hand ensure safe driving and, on the other hand, enable the correct functions of the different driving system devices to be maintained ,

Proceeding from this, the present invention has for its object to provide a method and an apparatus for performing the method in order to enable the integration of several driving system devices in a vehicle while ensuring a safe driving condition.

This object is achieved according to the features of claims 1 and 16.

The driving system devices provided in the vehicle generate output signals depending on the driving state variables determined in each case. The output signals represent request signals for influencing the driving state or the driving state control or the driving state control. They are fed to a coordination device. Depending on the output signals present at the same time, this generates a control result signal and / or a parameter result signal. The control result signal serves as a setpoint specification for influencing the current driving state or the current vehicle movement. Depending on the control result signal, the relevant actuator devices of the vehicle are actuated in order to achieve the desired vehicle movement or the desired driving state. Depending on the parameter result signal, the control parameters for driving state control or driving state regulation, for example threshold values or parameters characterizing the vehicle, can be changed so that a control or regulation of the driving state adaptable to the current driving state can be achieved. The same time Uncoordinated access of the driving system devices to the actuator devices or the blocking of an access request from a driving system device only because of the presence of an earlier access request to the same parameters or the same actuator devices is excluded in the method according to the invention and in the device according to the invention.

At the same time, the driving system devices can also be coordinated with regard to the feedback conveyed to the driver for information about the driving state. This is the subject of the patent application filed on the same day by the applicant with the title "Method and device for reporting the driving state of a vehicle to the driver" (internal Az: P033161 / DE / 1), to which reference is made here in full.

Advantageous embodiments of the method and the device according to the invention emerge from the respective dependent claims.

The control result signal expediently corresponds to the target driving state of the vehicle, the control result signal describing the target vehicle movement in three-dimensional space. The control result signal thus defines the entire desired spatial vehicle movement.

As an alternative to this, there is also the possibility that the control result signal corresponds to the change in the target driving state for the vehicle, the control result signal describing the change in the target vehicle movement in three-dimensional space. Here, only the desired change in movement of the vehicle is specified as the setpoint. The change in movement is defined for all directions of movement in three-dimensional space.

The control result signal can be used to control the relevant actuator devices directly to these actuator devices. be transmitted to influence vehicle movement. It is possible to superimpose a separate driving dynamics control, which can be carried out in a known manner by a driving state control or control device (for example ESP control device) that is common today.

In another embodiment variant, the control result signal is transmitted to a driving state control or control device, in particular a driving dynamics control device, which produces actuating signals for the actuator devices to influence the vehicle movement. Thus, only an indirect transmission of the control result signal to the actuator devices is provided. The driving state control or evaluation unit evaluates the control result signal as to whether the actuator device has a sufficiently stable overall driving state when the control result signal is activated and, depending on the evaluation result, only generates actuating signals for the actuator devices which ensure an overall stable driving behavior. The driving state regulating or control device is therefore used before the actuation of the actuator devices to check whether the intended actuation according to the control result signal could result in an unstable driving state, with the actuating signals then correspondingly correcting the actuating devices.

It is also advantageous if the parameter result signal is transmitted to a driving state control or control device, in particular a vehicle dynamics controller, for influencing the control or regulation parameters of the driving state control or control device. The parameter result signal does not directly influence the actuation of the actuator devices and thus the vehicle movement, but rather serves to change the control behavior of the driving state control device by varying the control or control parameters, such as trigger threshold values or other driving behavior Vehicle characterizing parameters. An adaptive regulation or control can thus be implemented. When determining the control result signal and / or the parameter result signal, a prioritization and / or weighting of a plurality of output signals present can take place if these output signals originate from different driving system devices. This measure makes it possible to coordinate a plurality of simultaneous access requests from a plurality of driving system devices to the same actuator devices or the same parameters. The control result signal or the parameter result signal take into account the importance of the present output signals for driving safety, with a weighting or prioritization taking place in accordance with the evaluation of the importance of the output signals with regard to the current driving state of the vehicle.

In order to enable a safe driving state of the vehicle, additional sensor signals which contain information about the current driving state of the vehicle and / or input signals which correspond to the manual specifications of the driver can be taken into account when determining the control result signal and / or the parameter result signal. The prioritization or weighting of the output signals can then take into account the additional information of the sensor signals or the input signals, the information from the additional input signals or sensor signals serving as evaluation criteria for the weighting and / or prioritization of the output signals when determining the two result signals. The sensor signals can contain, for example, current data about the yaw rate and / or the vehicle acceleration and / or the vehicle speed and / or the wheel speeds and / or the steering wheel torque and / or the steering wheel angle. It goes without saying that the vehicle acceleration or the vehicle speed can be a three-dimensional vector variable in order to be able to indicate the speed or the acceleration in all directions of movement of the vehicle, for example using a Cartesian coordinate system that is usually used in vehicles. To determine the weighting of the various output signals, the driving system devices can be divided into several groups with different group priorities, the output signals of the driving system devices of a group with higher group priority being weighted more strongly than the output signals of the driving system devices when determining the control result signal and / or the parameter result signal a group with lower group priority. It is possible, for example, to assign the driving system devices requesting an automatic safety intervention to a group with high group priority and the driving system devices serving only to warn the driver to a group with low group priority.

The output signals of the driving system devices are expediently in the form of control signals for requesting actuation devices or parameter signals for requesting an influence on the control and / or control parameters of the driving state control or driving state control, the control result signal depending on the control signals and the parameter result signal depending on the parameter signals is determined.

One possibility for determining the control result signal or the parameter result signal consists in forming the sum of the control or parameter signals of the driving system devices, each weighted with a weight factor, the sum of the individual weight factors being in particular one and the weight factors being values in the range from zero to one can accept. If a pure priority evaluation of the present output signals is to take place, it is possible to set a weighting factor equal to one and all other weighting factors equal to zero when evaluating the two result signals.

The weighting factors of the output signals can be assigned as a function of one of the driving system devices in question Driving system priority can be specified. Different driving system priorities can either be assigned in relation to the driving system devices of the same group of driving system devices or in relation to all existing driving system devices.

In the case of a variant for determining the control result signal or the parameter result signal that is easy to implement, only the output signals of the driving system devices from a single group are taken into account. In particular, the group priorities of the groups of driving system devices whose driving system devices have produced output signals at the time of the calculation can be compared. The output signals of the driving system devices from the group of driving system devices with the comparatively highest group priority are then used to determine the two result signals.

In an expedient embodiment of the device according to the invention, the coordination device is embodied integrated in a central unit together with the driving system devices and / or the driving condition regulating or control device. The entire device requires little space and is also better protected against interference due to the short electrical connections between the components, e.g. against external electromagnetic fields.

Furthermore, it is advantageous if the coordination device is connected to a sensor arrangement and / or an operating arrangement, so that the sensor signals generated by the sensor arrangement and containing information about the current driving state of the vehicle and / or the manual settings of the driver correspond to input signals of the operating arrangement for consideration can be transmitted to the coordination device when determining the control result signal and / or the parameter result signal. The coordination device receives additional information or data from the sensor Order about the current driving state of the vehicle, regardless of the output signals of the driving system devices. This can further improve the guarantee of the stability of the driving state, since more information is available to the coordination device than to the individual driving system devices.

To avoid additional or redundant sensors, there is the possibility that one or more of the sensors of the sensor arrangement can also be used as a sensor for one or more of the driving system devices.

The method and the device according to the invention are explained in more detail below with reference to the attached drawing. The single figure shows a block diagram of an embodiment of the device according to the invention.

In the figure, a block diagram of the device 5 according to the invention is shown, which is used to coordinate a plurality of driving system devices β in a vehicle (not shown), in particular a motor vehicle or passenger car. The number of available driving system devices 6 is basically arbitrary and depends on the equipment of the vehicle.

According to the example, the driving system devices 6 are subdivided into safety, comfort and warning system devices and could also be referred to as driver assistance devices. They are available to support the driver in certain driving conditions or driving situations of the vehicle.

The safety system device provided in the exemplary embodiment is formed by a brake-steering assistance device 7 (so-called "advanced brake assistance") which automatically brakes or brakes depending on detected obstacles on the road. Steering interventions can be carried out to avoid a collision with the obstacle. A curve safety device ("Intelligent Predictive System ") into consideration, which detects curves via GPS in advance and, if necessary, adjusts the speed of the vehicle to the curve radius in good time before the curve, in order to prevent unstable driving conditions of the vehicle when cornering.

The comfort system device provided as an example is implemented as a distance control device 8 (known by the applicant under "Distronic") which, depending on the distance to a vehicle in front, carries out braking interventions in order to maintain a predetermined safety distance. A driving system device 6, called "Staumatic", is also possible as a comfort system device, which enables the vehicle to drive autonomously in a traffic jam, with automatic steering and braking.

The warning system device provided according to the figure is a tire pressure warning device 9, which warns the driver acoustically and / or optically and / or haptically of excessively low or too high air pressure in one of the tires of the vehicle. Instead of or in addition to the tire pressure warning device 9, a danger point warning device could also be provided, which warns the driver of bends, confusing intersections or the like if the longitudinal vehicle speed is not adapted to the relevant danger point. The danger point can e.g. can be recognized in advance using GPS.

Further safety, comfort and warning system devices are also known, which can be provided as driving system device 6 in any number and in any combination in the vehicle, deviating from the exemplary embodiment shown.

The driving system devices 6 each have one or more sensors 10, which are only shown schematically in the figure. The brake-steering assistance device 7 has, for example, at least one radar sensor 11 for detecting conditions around the vehicle. The distance control device 8 has a radar sensor 12a for determining the distance to the vehicle in front and a longitudinal vehicle speed sensor 12b. The tire pressure warning device 10 includes a plurality of tire pressure sensors 13 for measuring the tire pressure in each of the tires of the vehicle.

The driving system devices 6 furthermore each have a driving system control device 14 or 15 or 16, which is connected to a coordination device 18 via an electrical first conductor arrangement 19. Each driving system control unit 14, 15, 16 can be separately connected to the coordination device 18 or the first conductor arrangement 19 can be designed as a bus system, via which the driving system devices 6 and the coordination device 18 can communicate.

A driving state control or control device 22 is electrically connected to the coordination device 18, which is formed, for example, by a driving dynamics control device 23. The vehicle dynamics control device 23 is, for example, the ESP control device already present in the applicant's vehicles.

The coordination device 18 can be integrated with the driving state control device 22 and / or the driving system control devices 14, 15, 16 of the driving system devices 6 in a central unit 24. According to the figure, in the preferred exemplary embodiment, the coordination device 18, the driving state control or control device 22 designed as a driving dynamics control device 23 and the driving system control devices 14, 15, 16 are combined as one component in the central unit 24, which is shown schematically by a broken line.

The vehicle can have a plurality of actuator devices 26 for influencing the vehicle movement in the longitudinal direction (x direction), in the transverse direction (y direction) and in the vertical direction (z direction) of the vehicle. In the embodiment form according to the figure shows the braking device 27, the steering device 28 and a motor control device 29, the controllable actuator devices 26. The braking device 27, steering device 28 and motor control device 29 are connected to the driving dynamics control device 23 for communication by means of an electrical second conductor arrangement 30.

It goes without saying that the actuator devices 26 can also have an active spring-damper device, a transmission control device or the like. Combinations of any controllable actuator devices 26 in any number come into consideration.

To determine current driving status information, a sensor arrangement 34 is provided, which, according to the example, is connected to the coordination device 18 and the driving dynamics control device 23 via an electrical third conductor arrangement 35. The sensor arrangement 34 comprises sensors for determining the yaw angular velocity, the longitudinal vehicle speed, the longitudinal vehicle acceleration, the lateral vehicle acceleration, the wheel speeds, and the steering wheel torque.

In principle, any driving state information that the coordination device 18 and / or the driving dynamics control device 23 can be determined by means of the sensor arrangement 34. For example, The vehicle acceleration in the z direction (direction of the vertical axis of the vehicle), the steering wheel angle, the vehicle transverse speed or the vehicle speed in the z direction can also be determined in the sensor arrangement 34 and transmitted to the coordination device 18 and the driving dynamics control device 23 as information about the current driving state of the vehicle become.

The sensors of the sensor arrangement 34 can at least partly also serve as sensors 10 for the driving system devices 6 or vice versa, if redundancy should not be desired for safety reasons. For example, the vehicle longitudinal Speed sensor 12b of the distance control device 8 also serve as a sensor of the sensor arrangement 34.

According to the figure, there is also an operating arrangement 36 which serves for the manual specification of driving parameters. The driver can use e.g. influence the steering behavior (degree of directness of the steering, steering ratio), the pedal characteristics, the engine control, etc. in order to be able to choose a sporty, comfortable or other vehicle design variant. The driver can be given a choice between different modes such as "Sport", "Comfort", "Standard", etc. to adjust the overall tuning of the vehicle. The operating arrangement 36 is electrically connected to the coordination device 18 and transmits input signals to the coordination device 18.

It should be pointed out at this point that instead of the electrical conductor arrangements 19, 30, 35, in a modification of the preferred exemplary embodiment, an optical conductor arrangement, e.g. can be provided by means of fiber optic cables. Another arbitrary transmission arrangement between the devices connected by the provided conductor arrangements is also possible in principle.

The driving system devices 6 generate output signals as a function of the driving state variables determined by the sensors 10 of the respective driving system device 6. The driving state variables determined by the various driving system devices 6 depend on the specific function of the respective driving system device 6, with each driving system device 6 being assigned only a partial safety aspect of the overall driving state of the vehicle for monitoring, control or regulation. For example, the distance control device 8 can determine the distance to the vehicle in front and the relative speed of the two vehicles. The tire pressure warning device determines the air pressure in all tires of the vehicle and the brake-steering assistance device 7 determines the position of obstacles and the relative speed of the vehicle relative to the detected obstacles. If one of the driving system devices 6 determines a driving state variable that is not in a correspondingly permissible range, then the driving system device 6 in question generates an output signal in order to convert this driving state variable back into a permissible value range or to take this driving state variable into account during control interventions by the driving state control, so that a stable driving condition can be guaranteed.

These output signals are in the form of a control signal and / or a parameter signal. Both the parameter signal and the control signal contain an access request to one or more parameters or to one or more actuator devices 26 and also contain the values that are to be assigned to the parameters or the values for loading the relevant actuator devices 26.

The output signals present as control signals contain information on influencing the vehicle movement by means of an intervention by one or more actuator devices 26. A driving system device 6 can request the application of the braking device 27 by means of a corresponding control signal in order to reduce the longitudinal vehicle speed, or the application of the steering device can be requested by a control signal in order to set a specific steering angle. In principle, the control signals of the driving system devices 6 can be assigned to each available actuator device 26 of the vehicle and request a specific application or a specific intervention of the actuator devices 26.

The output signals present as a parameter signal represent, for example, a change request for the control parameters of the vehicle dynamics control device 23 in order to adapt the control of the vehicle dynamics state to the current driving or vehicle conditions. A parameter signal can be generated that if a driving state variable determined by one of the driving system devices 6 is not within a predeterminable permissible value range. In the exemplary embodiment, a change request for changing the control parameters of the driving dynamics control device 23 in the form of a corresponding parameter signal of the tire pressure warning device can be present, for example, if a too low or too high tire pressure in one of the tires or a very different tire pressure in two tires has been determined. This affects the driving behavior of the vehicle, so that the tire pressure warning device requests an adaptation of the parameters of the driving dynamics control device 23 for the control intervention. Any other parameter signals of other driving system devices 6 are also possible and depend on the individual case.

The output signals are transmitted to the coordination device 18 by means of the first conductor arrangement 19. The coordination device 18 serves to evaluate the output signals caused by the driving system devices 6 and to generate a control result signal or a parameter result signal.

According to the preferred embodiment, the control result signal and the parameter result signal are transmitted from the coordination device 18 to the vehicle dynamics control device 23, the vehicle dynamics control device 23 causing actuating signals for the actuator devices 26 as a function of the control result signal. The control result signal can either correspond to the target driving state and define the desired vehicle movement in three-dimensional space, or it can correspond to the target driving state change and thus define the desired vehicle movement change in three-dimensional space.

However, when the actuator devices 26 are acted upon by the driving dynamics control device 23 as a function of the target driving state or the target driving state change - which are respectively predetermined by the control result signal - the driving dynamics control is taken into account in such a way that the actuating signals for the actuator devices 26 already contain the loads required by the driving dynamics control device 23. The control signals are thus formed from the control result signal and correction signals determined by the driving dynamics control device 23 when evaluating the control result signal as a function of the driving state of the vehicle.

There are two basic cases to be distinguished. The control signals can either correspond to the control result signal if there is a stable dynamic driving state and therefore no correction of the control result signal by the driving dynamics control device 23 is necessary (correction signals of the driving dynamics control device 23 are zero). Otherwise, in the case of an unstable driving state determined by the driving dynamics control device 23, the actuating signals are generated from the superimposition of the control result signal with the determined correction signals.

The driving dynamics control device 23 serves here, so to speak, as a superordinate to the individual driving system devices 6. The driving dynamics control device 23 assesses the driving state of the vehicle as a whole, whereas the driving system devices 6 only evaluate certain driving state variables that serve as a measure of a specific partial aspect, such as the safety distance from the vehicle in front or the correct tire pressure, of the overall driving state of the vehicle.

The monitoring function of the vehicle dynamics control device 23 can at least partially already be implemented in the coordination device 18, since this is also connected to the sensor arrangement 34 according to the figure and can evaluate the sensor signals. Sufficient information about the driving state of the vehicle is therefore available to the coordination device 18. In addition to the control result signal, the coordination device 18 also produces the parameter result signal if at least one parameter signal is also present as the output signal of one of the driving system devices 6. The parameter result signal changes the control parameters of the driving dynamics control device 23.

This change in the control parameters of the driving dynamics control device 23 is provided for adaptation to the current driving state of the vehicle, e.g. reduced tire pressure. In principle, all variable control parameters of the vehicle dynamics control device 23 can be changed by means of the parameter result signal. The variable control parameters are those parameters which have a noticeable influence on the driving state and which can change during operation of the vehicle, such as the tire pressure or the spring-damper characteristic of a spring-damper device (not shown in more detail).

As an alternative to the embodiment described above, there is also the possibility of transmitting the control result signal directly from the coordination device 18 to the actuator devices 26 with the aid of an electrical fourth conductor arrangement 38 shown in broken lines in the figure. The fourth conductor arrangement, like the other conductor arrangements 19, 30 or 35, can also be designed as a bus or in the form of several individual connections, as an electrical or optical transmission link.

The control result signal is determined as a function of the control signals of the driving system devices 6 present at the time of calculation and the parameter result signal is determined as a function of the parameter signals of the driving system devices 6 present at the time of calculation in the coordination device 18.

If there is only one control signal or parameter signal from one of the driving system devices 6, the control result corresponds to nal or the parameter result signal of this control or parameter signal. A weighting and / or prioritization of the output signals present at the same time is only necessary if these output signals come from different driving system devices 6.

If at the same time there is an access request from several driving system devices 6 to the same actuator device 26 with different exposure values (several colliding control signals), the control signals are weighted, for example. For example, the distance control device 8 can request a braking operation with only a small braking force in order to correct the vehicle distance from the vehicle in front, while the brake-steering assistance device 7 requests a braking operation with the maximum possible braking force on the basis of a detected obstacle on the road. The coordination device 18 uss evaluate the different control signals and form a control result signal for the corresponding application of the braking device 27.

Furthermore, weighting and / or prioritization of the output signals may be necessary if there are control signals from different driving system devices 6 that request the actuation of different actuator devices 26. This is the case if a simultaneous application of different actuator devices 26 with the application values according to the control signals would lead to an unstable driving state of the vehicle. It is possible, for example, that the brake-steering assistance device 7 requests a large steering angle in order to avoid an obstacle, while the distance control device 8 requests a braking operation with maximum braking force due to another vehicle appearing in front of the vehicle. In this case too, the control signals must be prioritized and / or weighted in order to maintain the stable driving state. Although a single control signal from a single driving system device 6 can request the application of different actuator devices 26, the corresponding application values are already coordinated with one another, so that a further evaluation can be omitted.

A collision of parameter signals can be analogous to the collisions of the control signals described above, e.g. then occur when the parameter signals of different driving system devices 6 request a correction of the same control parameters of the driving dynamics control device 23 or if the change requests relate to different control parameters, but this could result in an unstable driving state because the control parameters would no longer be coordinated with one another after the required change. Such collisions are avoided by prioritizing or weighting the parameter signals, as is also the case for the control signals.

According to the example, the control result signal is determined in the coordination device 18 by forming the sum of the weighted control signals of the driving system devices 6 according to the formula:

n

^S ERG = Σk / ^S ι ' ^WO at ι = l

S _ERG the control result signal, n the number of available driving system devices 6, n ki the weighting factors with k _l e [θ; l] and k, = 1 and

Si are the control signals of the driving system devices 6.

If there is no control signal from a driving system device 6, the corresponding value is from

Analogous to the calculation of the control result signal, the parameter result signal is also determined: ^F ERG = Σk ^P '' ^obei

(= 1

PERG the parameter result signal, n the number of available driving system devices 6, n ki the weight factors with k _t s [θ; l] and k _l = 1 and ι = l

Po. are the parameter signals of the driving system devices 6.

If there is no parameter signal from a driving system device 6, the corresponding value of P _x = 0.

To prioritize the output signals when determining a control or result signal, there is the possibility of dividing the driving system devices 6 into groups, with different priorities being assigned to the different groups of driving system devices 6. When determining the two result signals, the output signals of the driving system devices 6 of a group of driving system devices with a high group priority are weighted more strongly than the output signals which come from the driving system devices 6 of a group of driving system devices with a low group priority.

The number of groups of driving system devices formed is in principle arbitrary. For example, the driving system devices 6 could be divided into three groups: a safety system device group to which all safety-relevant driving system devices 6 are assigned, a comfort system device group to which the driving system devices 6 that only concern the comfort of the driver and a warning system device group to which the driving system devices 6 are assigned, which do not request actuation of actuator devices 26 influencing the vehicle movement, but rather warn the driver of a current impermissible driving state and, if necessary, request the control parameters to be adapted to this driving state with the aid of parameter signals. The security system facilities can the highest group priority and the warning devices the lowest group priority. In a modification of this, the driving system devices 6 can also be divided into different groups, or a different priority assignment is possible.

Both when determining the control result signal and when calculating the parameter result signal, it is possible to consider only the output signals of the driving system devices 6 which belong to a common group of driving system devices. In a preferred embodiment of the method, the group priority of the groups of driving system devices whose driving system devices have generated at least one non-zero control signal is compared and only the control signals that are assigned to the driving system devices 6 of the group with the comparatively highest group priority are taken into account when determining the control result signal. The determination of the parameter result signal as a function of the parameter signals of the driving system devices 6 can take place in a corresponding application of the determination of the control result signal.

In combination or as an alternative to the group priorities, 6 driving system priorities can be assigned to the driving system devices. As already explained in connection with the group priorities, the driving system priorities also serve to weight the output signals of the driving system devices 6 differently depending on the driving system priority when determining the control result signal and the parameter result signal. The driving system devices 6 can be assigned different driving system priorities to a common group of driving system devices his. If the driving system devices 6 are not subdivided into different groups, a driving system priority can be assigned to each individual driving system device 6. The output signals of the driving system devices 6 with the same driving system priority equally weighted when calculating the parameter result signal or the control result signal.

In addition, it is provided according to the example that the coordination device 18 takes further information into account for determining the two result signals. In the present case, the coordination device 18 receives this information in the form of sensor signals from the sensor arrangement 34 and in the form of input signals from the operating arrangement 36. The information from the input and the sensor signals can serve as additional evaluation criteria when determining the weight factors. However, they can also be included directly in the calculation of the control result signal and / or the parameter result signal by means of the coordination device 18 and can therefore be treated by the coordination device 18 as an output signal of the driving system devices 6.

From the input signals of the operating arrangement 34, the coordination of the vehicle currently selected by the driver and the resulting setting values of the vehicle devices such as steering device 28, braking device 27, engine control device 29, etc. can be determined in the coordination device 18. For example, From this, the "steering gear ratio", which is variably adjustable in an electronic steering device, or the damping factor of a spring-damper device (not shown in more detail) that is currently set can be determined. Since these setting values influence the driving behavior of the vehicle, they must be known when assessing the driving condition (stability or instability). To maintain or regain a stable driving state, certain output signals can therefore be weighted more or less, taking into account the setting values of the vehicle devices that are manually influenced by the driver using the operating arrangement.

The sensor signals of the sensor arrangement 34 contain information about the overall driving state of the vehicle. For its stability In order to maintain or achieve the quality, the output signals are weighted in accordance with the example when determining the control result signal or the parameter result signal as a function of the sensor signals of the sensor arrangement 34. Which of the output signals is weighted stronger and which is weighted less depends on the individual case, i.e. on the specific driving state. Like the driving dynamics control device 23, the coordination device 18 can also serve as a superordinate guard to the driving system devices 6 in order to coordinate the individual access requests of the driving system devices 6 with regard to a stable overall driving state.

If the coordination device 18 has determined that the yaw angle speed is too high, for example by means of the sensor signals from the sensor arrangement 34, and the brake-Lemk assistance device requests the steering device 28 to be acted upon by a steering angle which would further increase the already determined, inadmissible yaw behavior, then the problem becomes Control signal of the brake-steering assistance device is not taken into account when calculating the control result signal or is only taken into account with a small weight factor. (Weight factor ki = 0). It goes without saying that any other case studies are conceivable.

Claims

claims

Procedure for coordinating several driving system devices

(6) of a vehicle, a control result signal being generated from output signals of the driving system devices (6) which are produced as a function of current driving state variables of the vehicle and which serves as a setpoint specification for influencing the driving state by means of at least one actuator device (26) of the vehicle and / or a parameter result signal is generated to influence the regulation and / or control parameters of a driving state control or driving state control.

Method according to claim 1, so that the control result signal corresponds to the target driving state of the vehicle, the control result signal describing the target vehicle movement in three-dimensional space.

Method according to Claim 1, that the control result signal corresponds to the change in the target driving state for the vehicle, the control result signal describing the change in the target vehicle movement in three-dimensional space.

Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the control result signal directly to the actuator devices (26) for influencing the vehicle movement is transmitted.

Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the control result signal is transmitted to a driving state control or control unit (22), in particular driving dynamics controller (23), which produces control signals for the actuator devices (26) to influence the vehicle movement ,

Method according to one of Claims 1 to 5, that the parameter result signal is transmitted to a driving state control or control device (22), in particular driving dynamics controller (23), for influencing its control or control parameters.

Method according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that when determining the control result signal and / or the parameter result signal, a prioritization and / or weighting of a plurality of output signals present takes place if these output signals originate from different driving system devices (6) and in particular the same actuator devices (26 ) assigned.

Method according to one of claims 1 to 7, so that when determining the control result signal and / or the parameter result signal, sensor signals which contain information about the current driving state of the vehicle and / or input signals which correspond to the manual settings of the driver are taken into account when determining the control result signal and / or the parameter result signal.

A method according to claim 8, characterized in that the sensor signals information about the yaw angle speed and / or the vehicle acceleration and / or the vehicle speed and / or the wheel speeds and / or the steering wheel torque and / or the steering wheel angle.

Method according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the driving system devices (6) are divided into several groups with different group priorities, the output signals of the driving system devices (6) of a group with higher group priority when determining the control result signal and / or the parameter result signal are weighted more than the output signals of the driving system devices (6) of a group with a lower group priority.

Method according to one of claims 1 to 10, so that the output signals of the driving system devices (6) are present in the form of control signals or parameter signals, the control result signal being determined as a function of the control signals and the parameter result signal as a function of the parameter signals.

Method according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the control result signal and / or the parameter result signal is formed from the sum of the relevant output signals of the driving system devices (6), each weighted by a weight factor, the sum of the individual weight factors being in particular one and the weight factors can assume values in the range from zero to one.

Method according to claim 12, characterized in that the weighting factors of the output signals are dependent on speed of a driving system priority (6) assigned to the driving system device in question.

Method according to one of Claims 11 to 13 in conjunction with Claim 10, that a d u r c h g e k e n n e e c h n e t that only the output signals of the driving system devices (6) of a single group of driving system devices are taken into account when determining the control result signal and / or the parameter result signal. Device for carrying out the method according to one of claims 1 to 14, with a coordination device (18) provided for generating the control result signal and the parameter result signal as a function of the output signals, which is indirectly or directly connected to the actuator devices (26) of the vehicle in order to influence the driving state is.

Apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that the coordination device (18) for transmitting the control result signal to the actuator devices (26) are directly connected to them. Apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that the coordination device (18) for transmitting the control result signal and / or the parameter control signal is connected to a driving state control or control device (22), in particular driving dynamics control device (23), which is used for control and / or regulation the vehicle movement is connected to the actuator devices as a function of the control result signal. Device according to claim 17, characterized in that that the driving state regulating or control device (22) and the coordination device (18) are integrated in a central unit (24). Device according to one of claims 15 to 18, characterized in that the driving system devices (6) have driving system control devices (14, 15, 16) which are integrated with the coordination device (18) in a central unit (24). Apparatus according to claim 19 in conjunction with claim 17 or 18, characterized in that the driving system control units (14, 15, 16), the driving state control or control unit (22) and the coordination device (18) are integrated in the central unit (24). Device according to one of claims 15 to 20, characterized in that the coordination device (18) is connected to a sensor arrangement (34) and / or an operating arrangement (36), so that the information generated by the sensor arrangement (34) about the current driving state sensor signals of the vehicle and / or input signals of the operating arrangement (36) corresponding to the manual settings of the driver can be transmitted to the coordination device (18) for consideration in determining the control result signal and / or the parameter result signal. Device according to claim 21, characterized in that the sensor arrangement (34) has at least one sensor, the sensor signal of which is simultaneously used by one of the driving system devices (6).