JP2004217133A - Device and method for adapting operation auxiliary device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device and method for adapting a controller for a vehicle that is hardly affected by an operation speed of an arm and enables highly precise muscular strength determination. <P>SOLUTION: The adapting device comprises an operating means for being operated by an arm operation of an occupant, a muscular strength determining means for determining the muscular strength of the occupant's arm, an operation auxiliary means for assisting an operation of the operating means, a muscular strength determining means for determining the muscular strength of the occupant's arm, and an operation auxiliary degree changing means for changing an operation auxiliary degree by the operation auxiliary means based on the muscular strength of the arm determined by the muscular strength determining means. The muscular strength determining means are arranged on doors 2 and 2 of the vehicle, and determine the muscular strength of the occupant's arm when the doors 2 and 2 are opened or closed. Therefore, since the muscular strength of the arm is determined when the doors 2 and 2 are opened or closed, namely an effect of the operation speed of the arm is hardly given, the precise determination of the muscular strength of the arm can be performed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a device and a method for adapting an operation assisting device for a vehicle.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, occupants with various individual differences such as physique differences, gender differences, age differences, etc., ride in vehicles, so it has been desired that the vehicle be adapted to each individual difference, and various measures have been taken. ing.
For example, in Patent Document 1 below, an appropriate posture according to the physique of an occupant is calculated in accordance with a running state of a vehicle, and a sliding amount and a reclining amount of a seat are changed to conform to the calculated appropriate posture. This discloses that an appropriate driving posture suitable for the physique of the occupant and the running state of the vehicle can be taken.
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 10-324180 A
In addition, the vehicle is provided with an assist unit that assists the operation of an operating device that is operated by operating the occupant's arm, such as power steering.
Since such assist means usually has a constant assist characteristic irrespective of the individual difference of the occupant, the assist means also has the individual difference (here, the difference in the muscle strength of the occupant's arm) as described above. For example, it is desired that the stronger the strength of the occupant's arm is, the stronger the assist is.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Here, in order to determine the muscular strength of the arm, a sensor for determining the muscular strength is required, and the sensor may be installed in a place where the occupant's arm can detect the muscular strength, for example, installed in a steering wheel. Conceivable.
However, when a sensor is installed on the steering wheel, there is a possibility that erroneous determination may be made in muscle strength determination.
That is, since the arm strength determination is affected by the operation speed of the arm, it is determined that even if the same occupant changes the steering speed due to a difference in the external environment of the vehicle (for example, a difference in road surface friction coefficient). Muscle strength may also vary.
[0006]
Therefore, the present applicant has conducted intensive studies on the determination of the muscular strength of the occupant's arm. It has been found that it can be determined as arm strength.
In other words, normally, when opening and closing the door, the occupant opens and closes the door at almost the same opening and closing speed operation unless there is a very special situation, so it is possible to determine the arm strength of the arm which is not affected by the operating speed of the arm It is.
[0007]
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and has as its object to provide a vehicle operation assisting apparatus that can hardly be affected by the operation speed of the arm and that can realize high-precision muscle strength determination. An adaptation device and a method thereof are provided.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following as a solution. That is, in the first configuration of the present invention, an actuation means activated by operation of the occupant's arm;
Strength determining means for determining the strength of the occupant's arm;
Operation assisting means for assisting the operation of the operating means;
Strength determining means for determining the strength of the occupant's arm;
Operation assist degree changing means for changing the operation assist degree by the operation assist means based on the muscle strength of the arm determined by the muscle strength determining means,
The muscular strength determining means is arranged on the door of the vehicle and configured to determine the muscular strength of the occupant's arm when the door is opened or closed.
According to the first configuration of the present invention, the muscular strength judging means is provided on the door of the vehicle, and the muscular strength judging means allows the arm to be opened or closed when the door is hardly affected by the operation speed of the arm. Since muscle strength is determined, highly accurate muscle strength determination can be realized.
[0009]
In the second configuration of the present invention, there is provided occupant identification means for identifying an occupant operating the operating means, and the muscular strength determination means includes the muscular strength of the arm of the occupant identified by the occupant identification means, An average value of the muscular strength of the arm is calculated based on the determined muscular strength of the arm, and the muscular strength of the arm of the occupant is determined based on the calculated average value of the muscular strength of the arm.
According to the second configuration of the present invention, the average value of the arm muscle strength of the same occupant is calculated based on the arm muscle strength determined in the past and the arm muscle strength determined this time, and the average value is calculated based on the occupant's strength. Since the determination is made as the muscle strength of the arm, the accuracy of determining the muscle strength of the arm of the same occupant can be further improved.
[0010]
In the third configuration of the present invention, an inclination state detecting means for detecting an inclination state of the vehicle,
When the lean state detecting means detects that the vehicle is leaning, a regulating means for regulating a muscle strength judgment by the muscle strength judging means or a change of the actuation assist degree by the actuation assist degree changing means is provided. It is composed.
When the vehicle is inclined, such as on an uphill road, the door is affected by gravity, so even for the same occupant, the muscular strength of the arm required for opening and closing the door on a flat road is different, and the muscular strength determined is also different. Will be.
According to the third configuration of the present invention, when it is detected that the vehicle is leaning, in order to restrict the muscle strength determination by the muscle strength determination unit or to restrict the change in the operation assistance degree by the operation assistance degree change unit, It is possible to prevent erroneous determination of muscular strength due to the inclination of the vehicle or inappropriate change in the degree of operation assistance due to erroneous determination of muscular strength.
[0011]
In a fourth configuration of the present invention, the operating means is a steering,
The operation assist degree changing means is configured to change the steering assist degree of the wheel with respect to the steering operation of the occupant.
According to the fourth configuration of the present invention, it is possible to perform appropriate steering assist according to the difference in the muscle strength of the occupant's arm.
[0012]
In the fifth configuration of the present invention, a vehicle operation for determining the strength of the occupant's arm and changing the degree of operation assistance of the operating means operated by operating the occupant's arm based on the determined strength of the occupant's arm A method of adapting an auxiliary device,
The determination of the strength of the occupant's arm is performed when the door is opened or closed.
According to the fifth configuration of the present invention, it is possible to determine the muscular strength of the arm at the time of opening or closing the door, which is hardly affected by the operating speed of the arm, thereby realizing highly accurate muscular strength determination.
[0013]
【The invention's effect】
ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the influence of the operation speed of an arm is hardly affected, and highly accurate muscular strength determination can be realized.
[0014]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration diagram of a vehicle according to the present invention. The vehicle 1 includes side doors 2 and 2 provided on both sides of the vehicle 1, a rear door 3 provided on a rear portion of the vehicle 1, and a steering wheel 4, respectively. Is provided.
The side doors 2, 2 and the rear door 3 are provided with side door assist means 5, 5, and rear door assist means 6 for assisting an opening / closing operation force of the occupant by the electric motor or the like on the side doors 2, 2, rear door 3. Is provided with a steering assist means (so-called power steering) 7 for assisting the steering force of the occupant by an electric motor or the like.
Each of these assist means 5, 6, 7 is configured so that the control degree is controlled by the control unit 20 as described later.
An acceleration sensor 8 for determining the muscular strength of the occupant's arm is provided in the driver's seat side door 2 among the side doors 2 and 2.
Reference numeral 9 denotes an inclination sensor for detecting an inclination state of the vehicle, and reference numeral 10 denotes a personal authentication device including a keyless or the like owned by an occupant of the vehicle 1.
[0015]
FIG. 2 shows a control block diagram according to the present invention. The control unit 20 includes an acceleration signal detected by the acceleration sensor 8, a tilt signal detected by the tilt sensor 9, and a signal from the keyless 10 owned by the occupant. Various signals such as a personal identification signal are input.
The control unit 20 calculates an occupant identification unit 20a that identifies an occupant based on a personal identification signal from the keyless 10, and calculates an average value of acceleration detected by an acceleration sensor for each occupant identified by the occupant identification unit 20a. The relationship between the acceleration averaging means 20b and the acceleration detected when the occupant closes the side door 2 and the muscular strength of the arm is obtained in advance by an experiment, and indicates the time series change of the acceleration during the side door 2 closing operation. The strength data storage means 20c in which a plurality of data are stored in correspondence with the magnitude of the strength, and the assist degree of each of the assist means 5, 6, 7 according to the strength determined based on the strength data storage means 20c. The operation gain storage means 20d for setting the operation gain for determination and the muscle strength determined based on the muscle strength data storage means 20a are set to different powers. When the inclination sensor 9 detects that the vehicle is leaning, the personal characteristic data storage means 20e which stores the vehicle power for each time and the muscle strength is determined based on the muscle power data storage means 20c, and the operation gain is determined based on the operation gain storage means 20d. And regulation means 20f for regulating the setting of.
[0016]
Here, a supplementary explanation of the muscular strength data storage means 20c will be given based on FIG.
FIG. 3 shows the acceleration characteristics of the side door 2 with respect to the opening degree of the side door 2 when the side door 2 is closed (corresponding to the elapsed time from the start of the closing operation of the side door 2), and FIG. FIG. 3B shows acceleration characteristics of an occupant having a strong muscular strength.
As shown in FIG. 3 (a), a person with weak muscular strength tries to close the side door 2 by applying a large operating force at the beginning of closing the side door 2, so that the maximum acceleration A detected at that time is large. In addition, the degree of acceleration increase B until reaching the maximum acceleration A also increases.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), a person with strong muscular strength needs a smaller operating force to start closing the side door 2 than a person with weak muscular strength, and the maximum acceleration A detected at that time is small. In addition, the degree of increase B of the acceleration until reaching the maximum acceleration A also becomes small.
As described above, it is possible to determine the muscular strength based on the magnitude of the maximum acceleration A at the start of closing the side door 2 and the degree of acceleration B until the maximum acceleration A is reached.
In other words, the muscular strength data storage unit 20c stores a plurality of time-series data of the acceleration including the maximum acceleration A and the degree of increase B of the acceleration according to the difference in the muscular strength. The muscular strength corresponding to the time series data in which the time series data is closest to the stored time series data can be determined as the muscle strength of the occupant.
[0017]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart according to the present invention, and shows a flowchart relating to the control of the steering assist means 7 among the assist means 5, 6, 7.
In step S1 in FIG. 4, it is determined whether a signal from the keyless 10 has been input.
When it is determined YES in step S1, the process proceeds to step S2, and it is determined whether the vehicle is on an inclined road and the vehicle is inclined.
When NO is determined in step S2, that is, when the keyless signal is input and the vehicle is located on a flat road, the occupant can be identified, and there is no risk of erroneous determination in muscle strength determination. Proceed to step S3.
If the determination in step S1 is NO or the determination in step S2 is YES, the process proceeds to step S3 because the occupant cannot be identified or there is a risk of erroneous determination of muscle strength due to the inclination. Return without.
[0018]
In step S3, the occupant who gets on the vehicle 1 this time is specified based on the personal identification signal input from the keyless 10.
Subsequently, in step S4, it is determined whether or not the muscle strength data of the individual specified in step S3 has already been stored in the personal characteristic data storage unit 20e.
When NO is determined in step S4, that is, when the occupant who gets on this time is the first ride and the past muscular strength has not been determined, the process proceeds to step S5.
In step S5, the acceleration signal detected by the acceleration sensor 8 during the operation of closing the side door 2 of the occupant who has boarded this time is read, and in step S6, the muscular strength is obtained based on the time-series data of the acceleration signal read in step S5. The muscle strength of the occupant is determined from the data storage means 20c.
[0019]
In step S7, the operation gain k1 is set from the operation gain storage means 20d based on the muscle strength determined in step S6. The operation gain k1 is corrected so that, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, the basic operation gain k1 set according to the vehicle speed increases as the estimated muscle strength decreases. In other words, the lower the strength of the occupant, the greater the degree of assist.
In step S8, the operation gain k1 set in step S7 is multiplied by a correction value that increases the degree of reflection of the operation gain k1 as the average count increases, as shown in FIG. decide. Here, the reason why the degree of reflection of the operation gain k1 is increased as the average number is increased is that the number of muscle force samples is increased as the average number is increased, and the muscle strength estimation error is reduced.
Then, in step S9, assist control by the steering assist means 7 is executed based on the final gain K determined in step S8.
As a result, it is possible to appropriately assist the steering 4 according to the muscular strength of the occupant's arm.
[0020]
If the determination is YES in step S4, the process proceeds to step S10, and it is determined whether or not highly accurate personal data (muscle strength) is already stored in the personal characteristic data storage unit 20e. Whether or not highly accurate personal data (muscle strength) is stored depends on whether or not the muscle strength obtained at the average number of times that the degree of reflection of the correction value is 1 is stored as shown in FIG. Judge based on.
When NO is determined in the step S10, the process proceeds to a step S11 to read an acceleration signal detected by the acceleration sensor 8 during the opening operation of the side door 2 of the occupant who has got on this time.
Subsequently, in step S12, the acceleration signal detected and stored in the past and the acceleration signal detected this time in step S11 are averaged. In step S13, time-series data of the acceleration signal averaged in step S12 is obtained. Is determined from the strength data storage means 20a.
Thereafter, as described above, the process proceeds to steps S7 to S9, and the same processing is performed.
[0021]
When the determination in step S10 is NO, that is, when the highly accurate personal data (muscle strength) has already been calculated and stored, it is not necessary to newly perform the averaging process. The personal data (muscle strength) already stored in the characteristic data storage unit 20e is read.
Thereafter, as described above, the process proceeds to steps S7 to S9, and the same processing is performed.
[0022]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, the muscular strength of the occupant is determined based on the time-series data of the acceleration signal detected during the closing operation of the side door 2, so that the occupant's muscular strength is hardly affected by the occupant's operation speed. Muscular strength can be determined.
Further, since the muscle strength of the same occupant is determined based on the average value of the determined muscle strength, the muscle strength accuracy can be further improved.
Further, when it is detected that the vehicle is leaning, the muscular strength determination and the setting of the operation gain k1 are prohibited, so that erroneous determination of the muscular strength can be prevented.
In addition, since the degree of reflection of the operation gain k1 is increased as the average number of muscular strengths increases, the erroneous determination of muscle strength determination when the average number of times is small is suppressed, and the accuracy of muscle strength determination when the average number of times is large is improved. Can be improved.
[0023]
According to the present embodiment, an example has been described in which the muscular strength of the occupant's arm is determined based on the acceleration during the closing operation of the side door 2, but the acceleration during the opening operation of the side door 2 or the acceleration of the side door 2 is determined. The muscular strength of the occupant's arm may be determined based on the acceleration during both the opening and closing operations.
[0024]
Further, according to the present embodiment, an example has been described in which the muscular strength of the occupant's arm is determined based on the time-series data of the acceleration signal, but the maximum acceleration A during the closing operation of the side door 2 or the degree of acceleration B The determination may be made based on only one of them.
[0025]
Further, in the present embodiment, when the vehicle is tilted, the example in which the determination of the muscle power based on the muscle power data storage unit 20c and the setting of the operation gain k1 based on the operation gain storage unit 20d are both prohibited, but only one of them is prohibited. You may make it.
[0026]
Further, in the present embodiment, an example has been described in which the determination of the muscle strength based on the muscle power data storage unit 20c and the setting of the operation gain k1 based on the operation gain storage unit 20d are completely prohibited when the vehicle is tilted. Even if there is a determination of muscle strength, the setting of the operation gain is allowed, and at this time, the degree of reflection of the acceleration signal detected at the time of inclination to the muscle strength determination, the change degree of the operation gain based on the muscle strength determined at the time of inclination, The size may be made smaller than when the vehicle is not tilted, and the influence of the tilt may be suppressed.
[0027]
Further, according to the present embodiment, the example has been described in which the assist degree of the steering assist means 7 is changed based on the determined muscular strength of the occupant's arm, but in addition, the side door assist means 5, 5 and the rear door assist means 6 May be changed.
In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be applied to a modification of the above embodiment without departing from the scope of the gist of the invention.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a vehicle according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a control block diagram according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing acceleration characteristics during a door closing operation according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a control flowchart of a steering assist unit according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an operation gain characteristic of the steering assist means according to the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a correction value characteristic of a steering assist unit according to the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
1: vehicle 2, 2: side door (operating means)
3: Rear door (actuation means)
4: Steering (actuation means)
5: Side door assist means (operation assist means)
6: Rear door assist means (operation assist means)
7: Steering assist means (operation assist means)
8: acceleration sensor (muscle strength determination means)
9: Tilt sensor (tilt state detecting means)
10: keyless 20: control unit 20a: occupant identification means 20b: averaging means 20c: muscle strength data storage means (muscle strength determination means)
20d: operation gain storage means (operation auxiliary degree changing means)
20e: personal characteristic data storage means 20f: regulating means

Claims (5)

Actuating means activated by operation of the occupant's arm;
Operation assisting means for assisting the operation of the operating means;
Strength determining means for determining the strength of the occupant's arm;
Operation assist degree changing means for changing the operation assist degree by the operation assist means based on the muscle strength of the arm determined by the muscle strength determining means,
The adaptation device for a vehicle operation assisting device, wherein the muscle strength determining means is arranged on a door of the vehicle and configured to determine a muscle strength of an occupant's arm when the door is opened or closed. Occupant identification means for identifying an occupant operating the operating means,
The muscular strength determining means calculates an average value of the muscular strength of the arm based on the muscular strength of the arm of the occupant specified by the occupant specifying means and the muscular strength of the arm determined this time, and calculates the muscular strength of the calculated arm. 2. The adaptation device for an operation assisting device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the muscular strength of the occupant's arm is determined based on the average value of the occupant's arm. Inclination state detection means for detecting the inclination state of the vehicle,
Regulating means for regulating the muscle strength judgment by the muscle strength judging means or the change of the operation assist degree by the actuation assist degree changing means when the inclination state detecting means detects that the vehicle is inclined. The adaptation device for a vehicle operation assist device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The operating means is a steering,
The operation assisting device for a vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the operation assisting degree changing means is configured to change a steering assisting degree of a wheel with respect to a steering operation of an occupant. Adaptation device. A method for adapting an operation assisting device for a vehicle, which determines a muscle strength of an occupant's arm, and changes an operation assisting degree of an operating means operated by operating the occupant's arm based on the determined muscle strength of the occupant's arm, ,
A method for adapting an operation assisting device for a vehicle, wherein the determination of the muscle strength of the occupant's arm is performed when the door is opened or closed.

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