JPH04240000A - Approaching object detecting system for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize the system identifying an approaching object to an own car from multiple detected objects and raising a warning. CONSTITUTION:An ultrasonic sensor detects the multiple objects by a specified cycle. A coordinate calculation step 11 calculates the two-dimensional plane coordinates of all the objects. A still object removing step 12 judges the object which has the same coordinate as that of the precedent cycle to be a still object and removes it. Next, a vector calculation step 13 judges all the remaining objects to be the moving object and calculates speed vector between all the moving objects and all the moving objects of the precedent cycle. At last, a judging step 14 matches the vectors with the vectors of the precedent cycle and judges the object to be approaching or not at the respective vectors. When the remaining vector after the removal of the vector whose move is in concewable is the vector which is approaching the own car, warning is raised to a driver.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an approaching object detection system applied to a vehicle, and more specifically, an approaching object detection system for a vehicle that detects an object approaching a stopped vehicle and issues a warning to the driver. Regarding the system.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Systems that detect the distance to an object such as an obstacle based on information detected by an ultrasonic sensor installed at a suitable location on a vehicle body have conventionally existed. However, from the detection results over a wide area, there was nothing that could identify an object approaching the vehicle.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, at intersections with poor visibility, vehicles approaching from the side may create a blind spot from the driver's seat. In such locations, the driver must enter the intersection to a certain extent to ensure safety, and a significant portion of the front or rear of the vehicle body will protrude into the intersection. Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to determine the presence or absence of an object approaching a parked vehicle based on information detected by ultrasonic sensors installed at appropriate locations in front and rear of the vehicle, and to detect the presence or absence of an object approaching the vehicle when the vehicle is stopped. This invention relates to an approaching object detection system for a vehicle that can issue a warning to the driver.

0004

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and uses ultrasonic sensors installed at appropriate locations in front and rear of a vehicle, and detects the presence or absence of an approaching object from the information detected by the ultrasonic sensors. The control unit includes a control unit that makes a determination, and an alarm unit that operates in response to a signal that is output when the control unit determines that an approaching object exists, Based on this information, the coordinates of all detected objects are calculated for each sample in each cycle, the objects with the same coordinates as in the previous cycle are determined to be stationary objects and removed, and the objects remaining in the previous step are removed. After determining that all of them are moving objects, calculating the vectors for all of them with all the moving objects of the previous cycle, and matching the vectors of the previous cycle to determine whether or not they are approaching objects, This is an approaching object detection system for a vehicle, which is characterized by identifying objects approaching the own vehicle.

[0005]

[Operation] According to the above-mentioned means, the coordinates of all objects detected for each sample of each cycle are calculated from the information detected by the ultrasonic sensor, and objects whose coordinates are the same as those of the previous cycle are determined to be stationary objects. After removal, all the remaining objects are judged to be moving objects, and the vectors of all of them with all the moving objects of the previous cycle are calculated, and by matching with the vectors of the previous cycle, it is possible to detect movements that cannot actually occur. Vectors can be selected and deleted. If there is a vector in the direction approaching the parked vehicle among the remaining vectors, it is determined that an object is approaching, and the object approaching the vehicle can be identified from the large number of detected objects.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the approaching object detection system for a vehicle according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the approaching object detection system, in which one ultrasonic sensor 1 is built into each of the front and rear bumper corners of the vehicle body. These ultrasonic sensors 1 have the shape shown in FIG. 5, for example, and include an oscillator and a receiver that are oscillated left and right at a constant cycle by a known means. Information detected by the ultrasonic sensor 1 is input to the control section 2. Control part 2
The system uses an algorithm to be described later to identify objects approaching the vehicle, and activates the alarm unit 3 to notify the driver. The alarm unit 3 may be an audio alarm such as a buzzer or a visual alarm such as a display, or may be a combination of an audio alarm and a visual alarm. The ultrasonic sensor 1 is activated when the vehicle is stopped (however, when the ignition switch is turned on)
), for example, when the transmission gear is shifted to the forward side, the two installed on the front bumper are activated, and when the transmission gear is shifted to the reverse side, the two installed on the rear bumper are activated. should work.

An algorithm for identifying an object approaching the vehicle based on information detected by the ultrasonic sensor 1 will be explained with reference to FIG. This identification is performed by the control section 2, to which information detected in a predetermined cycle is input. This information is stored in coordinate calculation step 1 for each sample in each cycle.
The coordinates (two-dimensional plane coordinates) of all objects detected in step 1 are calculated. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the coordinates (distance L and direction θ) of each object are calculated with respect to the position of the own vehicle. The coordinates of each object thus calculated are compared with those of the previous cycle in the next stationary object removal step 12, and objects existing at the same coordinates are determined to be stationary objects without movement and removed. All remaining objects are determined to be moving objects, and in vector calculation step 13, vectors with all moving objects of the previous cycle are calculated. This will be explained with reference to FIG. Here, a case where sampling is performed three times in a cycle of Δt will be exemplified and explained. (a) in Figure 3 is the first
Moving objects A and B remaining after the second sampling (Δt1)
, C, similarly (b) shows the moving objects D, E, F remaining after the second sampling (Δt2), and similarly (c) shows the moving objects remaining after the third sampling (Δt3). Objects G, H, and I are shown respectively. Calculate velocity vectors for all moving objects in each of these samples. That is, point A of sampling (Δt1) moves to D, E, or F of sampling (Δt2) as time passes, and further moves to G, E, or F of sampling (Δt3) as time passes.
It can be inferred that it moved to either H or I. Therefore, the velocity vector (hereinafter VAD
G), and VADH, VADI, VAEG...
Calculate VAFI. Similarly, for point B, VBD
G, VBDH... VBFI, also VCD for point C
G, VCDH... VCFI is calculated respectively. All these velocity vectors are determined in the next decision step 14 by
Vectors with movements that cannot actually occur, such as vectors with abnormally fast speeds or sudden angle changes, are deleted.

[0008] Each of these steps 11, 12, 13, 1
The remaining velocity vector after step 4 is judged whether its direction component is approaching the own vehicle, and if the result is approaching, it is determined that there is an object approaching the own vehicle. Then, the alarm device 3 is activated to warn the driver. In this way, an approaching object detection system for a vehicle is realized which can identify the presence or absence of an object approaching the own vehicle from a large number of objects detected by the ultrasonic sensor 1 in a predetermined cycle, and can warn the driver.

[0009]

[Effects of the Invention] Therefore, according to the approaching object detection system of the present invention described above, an object approaching the own vehicle can be identified from among a large number of objects detected by the ultrasonic sensor, and a warning can be issued to the driver. By slightly protruding the front or rear end of the vehicle even at intersections with poor visibility, the driver's seat can see if there are objects approaching from the side, which would otherwise be in the driver's blind spot. play.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an example of an algorithm for identifying an approaching object from a large number of detected objects in a vehicle approaching object detection system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a coordinate calculation step in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a vector calculation step in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an approaching object detection system for a vehicle.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of the shape of an ultrasonic sensor.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Ultrasonic sensor 2 Control section 3 Alarm section 11 Coordinate calculation step 12. Stationary object removal step 13 Vector calculation step 14 Judgment step

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: An ultrasonic sensor installed at a suitable location in front and rear of a vehicle, a control unit that determines the presence or absence of an approaching object based on information detected by the ultrasonic sensor, and a control unit that determines whether an approaching object exists. and an alarm unit that operates in response to a signal output when a judgment is made, and the control unit is configured to detect all objects detected for each sample in each cycle based on information detected by the ultrasonic sensor in a predetermined cycle. A step of calculating the coordinates, a step of determining that the object with the same coordinates as the previous cycle is a stationary object and removing it, and a step of determining that all the objects remaining in the previous step are moving objects, and calculating all the movements of the previous cycle for all of them. The system is characterized in that an object approaching the own vehicle is identified through a step of calculating a vector with the object and a step of matching with the vector of the previous cycle to determine whether the object is approaching. approaching object detection system for vehicles.