JP2013045142A - Approach warning device, approach warning method, program, and medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an approach warning device capable of more correctly detecting an approaching vehicle and notifying a user thereof, an approach warning method, a program, and a medium.SOLUTION: The inventive approach warning device includes: object detection means 4a for detecting presence or absence of an object (adjacent vehicle) C2 positioned on a side of a vehicle C1 at a time of moving back thereof and a projection amount D of the object C2 from the rear end of the vehicle C1; determination means 4b for determining whether or not the object C2 is detected on the left or right side of the vehicle C1 and the projection amount D is not less than a predetermined value Dth; approaching vehicle detection means 4c for detecting approaching vehicles C3, C4 approaching from left and/or right sides in the rear side of the vehicle C1; and alarm means 4d for performing alarm when the approaching vehicles C3, C4 are detected. When the determination result of the determination means 4b is determined to be positive, the alarm means 4d stops alarm for either the right or left side.

Description

  The present invention mainly relates to an approach alarm device, an approach alarm method, a program, and a medium that perform an approach alarm such as a rear cross traffic alert system (RCTA).

  Conventionally, in the approach warning device as described above, when a vehicle parked mainly in a parking lot or the like retreats and re-enters the passage in the parking lot, the other approaching vehicle approaches. The driver is notified of the presence of an approaching vehicle. As such an approach warning device, for example, a technique as described in Patent Document 1 has been proposed.

  In Patent Document 1, left and right millimeter wave radars are provided at the left and right rear ends of a vehicle, and this approach is entered when another vehicle approaches from either the left or right side and enters the detectable area of the millimeter wave radar. The presence of the vehicle that has been detected is detected, and the driver is notified of the presence of the approaching vehicle from either the left or right by an instrument panel alarm for notification in the vehicle.

US Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0271237

  However, in the form where the parking space of the parking lot is arranged in a comb-teeth shape in the vehicle width direction, an adjacent vehicle is parked next to the parked vehicle, and for the vehicle in which this adjacent vehicle is parked, When the rear end protrudes, the rear end portion of the adjacent vehicle causes radio wave diffraction.

  For example, if the reflected wave of the irradiation light of the millimeter wave radar reflected from the vehicle approaching from the right side is diffracted through the rear end of the adjacent vehicle, the millimeter wave radar on the left side of the parked vehicle Upon reception, an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) constituting the above-described system may be erroneously determined as the vehicle approaches from the left. The same applies to the case where the vehicle approaches from the left side, the adjacent vehicle is located on the right side of the parked vehicle, and the rear end portion protrudes. The same inconvenience may occur when the parking lot facilities and wall surfaces other than the adjacent vehicles are located on the rear side of the parked vehicle.

  That is, in the conventional technology as described above, when there is another object including the above-described adjacent vehicle, parking facility, wall, or the like that protrudes from the rear end of the vehicle toward the rear side of the vehicle in the parking lot, the approach is performed. There has been a problem that it is difficult to detect and notify the vehicle more accurately.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an approach alarm device, an approach alarm method, a program, and a medium that can detect and notify an approaching vehicle more accurately.

In order to solve the above problem, an approach warning device according to the present invention is:
Object detection means for detecting the presence or absence of an object located on the side of the vehicle at the time of reverse and the relative position of the rear end of the object from the rear end of the vehicle;
Determining means for determining whether the object is detected on either the left or right side of the vehicle;
An approaching vehicle detection means for detecting an approaching vehicle approaching from either or both of the left and right sides of the rear side of the vehicle;
Alarm means for giving an alarm when the approaching vehicle is detected,
When the determination means determines affirmative, the warning means limits the warning on the left or right side according to the relative position.

In order to solve the above problems, an approach warning device according to the present invention is:
Object detection means for detecting the presence or absence of an object located on the side of the vehicle at the time of reverse and the amount of protrusion of the object from the rear end of the vehicle;
Determination means for determining whether the object is detected on either the left or right side of the vehicle and the protrusion amount is a predetermined value or more;
An approaching vehicle detection means for detecting an approaching vehicle approaching from either or both of the left and right sides of the rear side of the vehicle;
Warning means for giving a warning when the approaching vehicle is detected, and the warning means stops the warning on the left or right side when the determination means determines affirmative .

In order to solve the above problems, the approach warning method according to the present invention is:
An object detection step for detecting the presence / absence of an object located on the side of the vehicle when reversing and the amount of protrusion of the object from the rear end of the vehicle;
A determination step of determining whether the object is detected on either the left or right side of the vehicle and the protrusion amount is a predetermined value or more;
An approaching vehicle detection step for detecting an approaching vehicle approaching from either or both of the left and right sides of the rear side of the vehicle;
An alarm step for giving an alarm when the approaching vehicle is detected,
When it is determined affirmative in the determination step, the alarm on either the left or right side is limited in the alarm step.

  The program according to the present invention is a program for executing the approach warning method, and the medium according to the present invention is a medium storing the program.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to detect and notify an approaching vehicle more accurately even under conditions where there are adjacent vehicles and facilities adjacent to the vehicle in the parking lot.

It is a block diagram showing one embodiment of approach warning device 1 of the example concerning the present invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the arrangement | positioning aspect in the vehicle C1 of the millimeter wave radar 2 of the left side, the millimeter wave radar 3 of the right side, and approach warning ECU4 in one Embodiment of the approach warning apparatus 1 of an Example. The relative positional relationship between the detectable ranges A2 and A3 of the vehicle C1, the adjacent vehicle C2 (object), the approaching vehicle C3, the approaching vehicle C4, and the millimeter wave radars 2 and 3 in the parking lot to which the approach warning device 1 of the embodiment is applied. It is a schematic diagram shown. It is a schematic diagram which shows the protrusion amount D with respect to the rear end of the vehicle C1 of the adjacent vehicle C2 in the approach warning apparatus 1 of an Example. It is a schematic diagram which shows the aspect which detects the protrusion amount D of the adjacent vehicle C2 in the approach warning apparatus 1 of an Example based on angular resolution. It is a schematic diagram which shows the aspect which detects the protrusion amount D of the adjacent vehicle C2 in the approach warning apparatus 1 of an Example based on angular resolution. It is a schematic diagram which shows the generation | occurrence | production aspect of the ghost based on the diffraction of the transmission wave by the back side surface of the adjacent vehicle 2 which 1 embodiment of the approach warning apparatus 1 of an Example makes object. It is a flowchart which shows the control content of one Embodiment of the approach warning apparatus 1 of an Example.

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the approach warning device 1 of this embodiment includes a millimeter wave radar 2 (left), a millimeter wave radar 3 (right), an approach warning ECU 4, an indicator 5 (left), and an indicator 6 ( Right) and a buzzer 7.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the millimeter wave radar 2 is provided at the left end portion in the rear bumper at the rear end of the vehicle, and is adjacent to the left rear side of the vehicle as shown in FIG. 3. By irradiating the substantially fan-shaped irradiation angle range A2 including the approaching vehicle C3 approaching from the left and detecting the reflected reflected wave, the scan image including these detection objects is recognized. The recognition result is output to the approach warning ECU 4. Here, the irradiation angle range A2 has an angular resolution divided in the sector-shaped circumferential direction.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the millimeter wave radar 3 is provided at the right end portion in the rear bumper at the rear end of the vehicle, and is substantially fan including an approaching vehicle C4 that is located on the right rear side of the vehicle and approaches from the right. By irradiating a transmission wave to the shape irradiation angle range A3 and detecting the reflected wave reflected, the scan image including these detection objects is recognized, and the recognition result is output to the proximity alarm ECU 4. Similarly to A2, the irradiation angle range A3 has an angular resolution divided in the sector-shaped circumferential direction.

  The approach alarm ECU 4 is composed of, for example, a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a data bus connecting them, and an input / output interface. The CPU performs predetermined processing according to a program stored in the ROM. The object detection means 4a to perform, the determination means 4b, the approaching vehicle detection means 4c, and the warning means 4d are comprised.

  In the situation shown in FIG. 4, the object detection unit 4a calculates the presence / absence of the adjacent vehicle C2 (object) located on the side of the vehicle C1 when reversing and the protrusion amount D of the adjacent vehicle C2 from the rear end of the vehicle C1. To detect. Here, since the adjacent vehicle C2 is located on the left side of the vehicle C1 in FIG. 4, the detection mode of the protrusion amount D based on the resolution of the irradiation angle range A2 of the millimeter wave radar 2 will be described below.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the resolution of the irradiation angle range A2 is distributed in the circumferential direction. Of the boundary lines indicated by broken lines, for example, four lines on the front side extend from the rear end of the vehicle C1 in the vehicle width direction. It is assumed that there are 5 detection units and there are 5 detection units on the rear side. The numbers here are for convenience of illustration, and the actual numbers are larger than this.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 5, when the adjacent vehicle C2 is detected by the front four detection units, the protrusion amount D = 0 is detected. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, when the adjacent vehicle C2 is detected by the four detection units on the rear side in addition to the four detection units on the front side, the protrusion amount D is the number of the detection units on the rear side. Is detected as the protrusion amount D = D1. These detection modes are the same in the irradiation angle range A3. In addition, about the protrusion amount D = D1 of the adjacent vehicle 2 shown in FIG. 6, the case where it changes from the parking state to the state shown in FIG. Some cases are included.

  The determination unit 4b determines whether the adjacent vehicle C2 is detected on either the left or right side of the vehicle C1 and the protrusion amount D is equal to or greater than a predetermined value Dth. Here, when the projection amount D is equal to or greater than this value, the predetermined value Dth is, as shown in FIG. 7, the transmitted wave reaches the approaching vehicle C4 due to diffraction by the right rear surface of the adjacent vehicle C2, and approaches the approaching vehicle. It is a threshold value that occurs when the reflected wave reflected by C4 is also diffracted by the rear side surface and the object detection means 4a determines that the approaching vehicle C4 has approached from the left side based on the recognition result from the millimeter wave radar 2. This phenomenon is called the mirror effect or ghost. Similarly, when the adjacent vehicle C2 is located on the right side of the vehicle C1, it is determined that the approaching vehicle C3 has approached from the right side due to the mirror effect on the left side of the left side of the adjacent vehicle C2.

  The approaching vehicle detection means 4c detects approaching vehicles C3 and C4 approaching from either the left or right side on the rear side based on the recognition result of the millimeter wave radars 2 and 3 of the vehicle C1. The alarm means 4d outputs an alarm command to the indicators 5, 6 and the buzzer 7 when an approaching vehicle C3, C4 is detected, and issues an alarm. When the determination unit 4b determines affirmative, that is, when the adjacent vehicle C2 is detected on either the left or right side of the vehicle C1 and the protrusion amount D is equal to or greater than the predetermined value Dth, the warning unit 4d Stop the alarm. In other words, the protrusion amount D is a relative position of the rear end of the adjacent vehicle C2 with respect to the rear end of the vehicle C1, and the alarm unit 4d of the present embodiment limits the alarm according to this relative position.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the indicator 5 (left) is installed anywhere in the front of the vehicle C1 room, for example, on an instrument panel (not shown), and from left to right (not shown) based on an alarm command from the alarm means 4d. The directional arrow-shaped lamp is turned on to visually notify the driver of the approaching vehicle C3 from the left and warn.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the indicator 6 (right) is installed on the same instrument panel as the indicator 5 and lights up an arrow-shaped lamp directed from right to left (not shown) based on an alarm command of the alarm means 4d. The driver is visually notified of the approaching vehicle C4 approaching from the right and warned.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the buzzer 7 is installed on the instrument panel where the indicators 5 and 6 are installed, and audibly reports the approach of the approaching vehicle C3 or C4 or both based on the alarm designation of the alarm means 4d. And alarm.

  Hereinafter, the control content of the approach warning device 1 of a present Example is demonstrated in detail using a flowchart and a specific scene.

  In step S1 shown in FIG. 7, the object detection means 4a detects the presence or absence of the adjacent vehicle C2 based on the recognition result of the millimeter wave radars 2 and 3, and in step S2, the vehicle C1 when the adjacent vehicle C2 exists. The amount of protrusion D from the rear end is detected. In step S3, the approaching vehicle detection means 4c detects the presence or absence of approaching vehicles C3 and C4.

  In step S4, the determination unit 4b determines whether or not the adjacent vehicle C2 has been detected. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S5. If the determination is negative, the determination means 4b returns to the position before step S1. In step S5, the determination unit 4b determines whether or not the approaching vehicles C2 and C3 have been detected. If the result is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S6, and if the result is negative, the process proceeds to END.

  In step S6, the determination unit 4b determines whether or not the protrusion amount D is equal to or greater than the predetermined value Dth. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S7, and if the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step S10. In step S7, the determination unit 4b determines whether or not the detection of the adjacent vehicle C2 is on the left side. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S8, and if the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step S9.

  In step S8, the alarm unit 4d stops the left alarm by the indicator 5 and the buzzer 7, and in step S9, the alarm unit 4d stops the right alarm by the indicator 6 and the buzzer 7. In step S10, the alarm unit 4d performs a normal alarm.

  The approach warning method of the present invention is executed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. The medium of the present invention is stored in the approach warning ECU 4, and the program of the present invention is stored in this medium.

  According to the approach warning device 1 of the present embodiment realized by the control contents described above, the following operational effects can be obtained. That is, if the adjacent vehicle C2 has a rearward protrusion amount D1 with respect to the vehicle C1 that is equal to or greater than the predetermined value Dth and the ghost due to the above-described mirror effect occurs, the alarm is stopped and is opposite to the actual approaching vehicles C3 and C4. It is possible to prevent an alarm from being issued to a ghost located on the side. That is, false alarms due to ghosts can be avoided.

  When the protrusion amount D1 is equal to or greater than the predetermined value Dth, in the first place, in FIG. 3, the adjacent vehicle C2 approaches the approaching vehicle C3 approaching from the side where the left millimeter wave radar 2 where the adjacent vehicle C2 exists is present. Since it is a transmission wave shield and is difficult to detect, even if the alarm caused by the ghost due to the mirror effect described above is prohibited, there is no inconvenience associated with stopping the alarm. This is the case that is opposite to that shown in FIG. 3, and the same applies to the millimeter-wave radar 3 on the right side when the adjacent vehicle C2 is located on the right side of the vehicle C1. There is no inconvenience.

  Further, when the adjacent vehicle C2 is located on the left side of the vehicle C1 and the protrusion amount D is equal to or greater than the predetermined value Dth, the actual approaching vehicle C4 can be detected by the millimeter wave radar 3, and the adjacent vehicle C2 is detected on the right side of the vehicle C1. Even when the protrusion amount D is greater than or equal to the predetermined value Dth, the actual approaching vehicle C3 can be detected by the millimeter wave radar 2, so that no inconvenience occurs in this sense.

  Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and substitutions are made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. be able to.

  For example, the millimeter wave radars 2 and 3 are provided on the rear bumper in the above-described embodiment, but may be provided on a side mirror or a fender body. In this case, the irradiable ranges A2 and A3 are appropriately corrected.

  Moreover, although the case where the object detected by the object detection means 4a is the adjacent vehicle C2 has been described in the above-described embodiment, for example, a vehicle such as a parking fee settlement machine, a wall, a pillar in an underground parking lot, etc. The object located on the rear side can also be detected in the same manner as the adjacent vehicle C2, and the protrusion amount D or the relative position from the rear end of the vehicle C1 can be detected to appropriately stop or limit the alarm.

  The predetermined value Dth can be set as appropriate through experiments or simulations, and can be set to a smaller value. That is, when an object including the adjacent vehicle C2 protrudes rearward even slightly from the rear end of the vehicle C1, it is possible to appropriately select to stop the alarm.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the object detection means 4a and the approaching vehicle detection means 4c are realized by the same functional block of the approach warning ECU 4. For example, the rear side such as BGM (Back Ground Monitor) is provided. In a vehicle equipped with a system having a camera to be monitored, the function of the object detection means 4a may be provided on the BGM side. Further, when both the vehicle C1 and the adjacent vehicle C2 have a highly accurate GPS function and can perform vehicle-to-vehicle communication, the information may be used.

  The present invention relates to an approach warning device, and can improve detection accuracy and prevent false alarms as much as possible. Therefore, the present invention is useful when applied to various vehicles such as passenger cars, trucks, buses, etc. when leaving a parking lot. It is a thing.

1 Approach warning device 2 Millimeter wave radar (left)
3 Millimeter wave radar (right)
4 Approach warning ECU
4a Object detection means 4b Determination means 4c Approaching vehicle detection means 4d Alarm means 5 Indicator (left)
6 Indicator (right)
7 Buzzer

Claims (7)

  Object detection means for detecting the presence / absence of an object located on the side of the vehicle when reversing and the relative position of the rear end of the object from the rear end of the vehicle, and the object is detected on either the left or right side of the vehicle Determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle is approaching, approaching vehicle detection means for detecting an approaching vehicle approaching from one or both of the left and right sides of the rear side of the vehicle, and an alarm when the approaching vehicle is detected. An approach warning device, wherein the warning means limits the warning on the left or right side according to the relative position when the determination means determines affirmative.   Object detection means for detecting the presence / absence of an object located on the side of the vehicle at the time of reverse and the amount of protrusion of the object from the rear end of the vehicle, and the object is detected on either the left or right side of the vehicle and the protrusion Determining means for determining whether or not the amount is greater than or equal to a predetermined value; approaching vehicle detection means for detecting an approaching vehicle approaching from either the left or right side of the rear side of the vehicle; and the approaching vehicle is detected. An approach warning device, wherein the warning means stops the warning on either the left or right side when the determination means determines affirmative.   3. The approach warning device according to claim 2, wherein the object detection unit detects the protrusion amount based on a reflection signal for each angle range determined by an angular resolution in an irradiation angle range of the millimeter wave radar.   The approach alarm device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the object is an adjacent vehicle located adjacent to the vehicle.   An object detection step of detecting the presence or absence of an object located on the side of the vehicle when reversing and the amount of protrusion of the object from the rear end of the vehicle; and the object is detected on either the left or right side of the vehicle and the protrusion A determination step of determining whether the amount is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, an approaching vehicle detection step of detecting an approaching vehicle approaching from either the left or right side of the rear side of the vehicle, and the approaching vehicle being detected An approach warning method, comprising: a warning step that issues a warning when the determination step is positive, wherein the warning step limits the warning on either the left or right side in the warning step.   A program for executing the approach warning method according to claim 5.   A medium storing the program according to claim 6.

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