JPH06258426A - Auxiliary device for safety confirmation - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To assist a driver for confirming the safety of his vehicle at the time of merging or lane changing and improve the running safety. CONSTITUTION:A rader system 1 including a sending/receiving means 11 and a calculation circuit 12 is mounted on a vehicle and the directional range of radio wave sent/received by the means 11 is set in a manner to cover other vehicles running on a merging lane that is located obliquely backward on the passing lane side. Then the signal data sent/received by the circuit 12 is fetched and the relative velocity of the vehicle that has generated the reflected wave as a receiving signal and the means 11 is calculated, thereby indicating an alarming output to the driver seat according to the calculated relative velocity.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is used as a radar device mounted on an automobile to calculate the relative speed with respect to another vehicle traveling. The present invention can be realized by utilizing any radar pulse of ultrasonic waves, electromagnetic waves, and light waves.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A signal which is mounted on a vehicle and which modulates electromagnetic waves and the like by radar pulses is transmitted, a reflected wave generated when the transmitted signal is reflected by an object is received, and the Doppler effect is obtained from the information of the transmitted signal and the received signal. There is known a radar device that detects a relative velocity with respect to an object that has generated a reflected wave by executing a logical operation that is used.

On the other hand, when an automobile enters the highway from its ramp and tries to merge into the highway, the driver instantaneously measures the relative speed with another vehicle traveling in the highway to see if the vehicle can merge. It is necessary to judge.

[0004]

Problems such as the situation for merging or changing the lane from the driving lane to the overtaking lane are based on the driving judgment that the driver surely visually confirms the rear safety. If there is fog or the like, the driver is required to make a particularly careful judgment on the vehicle approaching from behind.

The present invention uses an on-vehicle radar as a supplementary device for safety confirmation in such a situation judgment for merging or changing lanes. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide an auxiliary device for a driver to confirm the safety of a traveling state at the time of merging or changing lanes.

It is a general rule that the driver confirms the safety of running by visual inspection, and this device is only an auxiliary device for assisting the judgment.

[0007]

According to the present invention, a transmitting / receiving means for transmitting a radar pulse and receiving a reflected wave thereof, a signal transmitted from the transmitting / receiving means and information of the received signal are taken in to generate the reflected wave. A radar apparatus including an object and a calculation circuit for calculating the relative speed of the transmitting / receiving means is mounted on a vehicle, and the transmitting / receiving means has a directivity range of its transmitted and / or received radio waves diagonally rearward of the passing lane side of the vehicle. It is characterized in that it is provided with display means for displaying an alarm output on the driver's seat according to the relative speed calculated by the arithmetic circuit, so that it is set to be another vehicle traveling in the lane.

The display means displays positive, negative, and
It is desirable to include a means for displaying in three steps according to and zero.

A circuit that activates this device is provided only when the right blinker (the right blinker in Japan, but, for example, the left blinker in Eurasia and the Americas) is lit in conjunction with the direction indicator switch. It is desirable to install it.

[0010]

The direction of the radio wave transmitted / received by the transmitting / receiving means of the radar device is set so as to be another vehicle traveling in the lane diagonally rearward of the passing lane of the vehicle, and the radar pulse is transmitted to reflect the reflected wave. To receive. The arithmetic circuit takes in the information of the signal transmitted and received by the transmitting and receiving means, calculates the relative speed between the vehicle that generated the reflected wave of the transmitted signal and the transmitting and receiving means from the Doppler effect, and operates according to the calculated relative speed Display the alarm output on the seat.

As a result, when the vehicle merges or changes lanes, the situation can be surely confirmed by visual judgment and whether or not there is an alarm output display, and safe driving can be performed.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the embodiment of the present invention.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the transmitting / receiving means 11 for transmitting the radar pulse and receiving the reflected wave thereof, the signal transmitted from the transmitting / receiving means 11 and the information of the received signal are taken in to detect the reflected wave. A radar apparatus 1 including an object 2 and a calculation circuit 12 for calculating a relative speed between the object 2 and the transmitting / receiving means 11 is mounted on an automobile, and the transmitting / receiving means 11 has a directivity range of its transmitted and / or received radio waves on the side of an overtaking lane of the vehicle. The display means 3 is set to be another vehicle traveling in the lane diagonally rearward of the vehicle and displays an alarm output on the driver's seat according to the relative speed calculated by the arithmetic circuit 12. The display means 3 is the relative speed. Includes means for displaying in three stages according to positive, negative, and near zero.

The radar pulse transmitting / receiving section 1 for generating and transmitting radar pulses and transmitting the received radar pulses to the arithmetic circuit 12 is transmitted to the transmitting / receiving means 11 of the radar device 1.
1a, a transmitter 11b for transmitting the radar pulse from the radar pulse transmitter / receiver 11a to the outside, and a reflected wave returned by the radar pulse transmitted by the transmitter 11b being reflected by the object 2 to be detected. Radar pulse transceiver 1
A transmission unit 11c for sending to 1a is included.

In the three-stage display of the display means 3, for example, "blue" is displayed when the speed of the host vehicle is high, and is substantially equal, depending on the relative speed between the speed of the host vehicle and the speed of the vehicle traveling from behind. By displaying "yellow" sometimes and displaying "red" when the speed of the host vehicle is low, the driver can easily confirm.

Between the main switch 5 for opening and closing the power source 4 and the radar device 1, there is arranged a merging switch 6 which can be opened and closed by a driver's operation when merging or changing lanes.
The output side of the direction indicator switch 8 for switching the right turn signal lamp 7a and the left turn signal lamp 7b to light is connected to the radar pulse transmitting / receiving section 11a.

Further, the transmitter 11b and the receiver 11c.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, in Japan, on the right side of the mirror part on the right side in the traveling direction, or on the right side of the rear part of the vehicle,
It is arranged so that the direction of the transmitted and received radio waves is diagonally rearward.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention thus constructed will be described. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the flow of operation in the embodiment of the present invention.

For example, when attempting to join the main line of a highway, the driver operates the merge switch 6 to close it, and subsequently, the right blinker lamp 7 is displayed as an indication of the intention of the merge.
Operate the direction switch 8 so that a blinks (in Japan). When the confluence switch 6 is closed, the power source 4 is supplied to the radar pulse transmitting / receiving unit 11a of the radar device 1, and the direction indicator switch 8 transmits the radar pulse transmitting / receiving unit 11a.
A start signal is sent to a.

The radar pulse transmission / reception unit 11a receiving this activation signal generates a radar pulse and sends it to the transmission unit 11b. The transmitter 11b transmits a radar pulse in a predetermined direction in the rear right. When the receiving section 11c receives the opposite wave and gives it to the radar pulse transmitting / receiving section 11a, the radar pulse transmitting / receiving section 11a sends out the transmitted signal and the signal information received as the reflected wave to the arithmetic circuit 12.

The arithmetic circuit 12 receives this signal information,
The relative speed between the detected object 2 that has generated the reflected wave and the transmitting / receiving means 11 is calculated. If the speed of the host vehicle is V ₁ and the speed of the vehicle traveling from the rear is V _2, and the result of the calculation is V ₁ > V ₂ , then the speed of the host vehicle is higher. "Blue" is displayed to indicate that the device 3 is in a safe state for joining.

The driver confirms the state of the main line by this display and his / her own visual observation, and then merges the direction indicator switch 8
To the neutral position. When the direction indicating switch 8 is returned to the neutral position, the radar pulse transmitting / receiving unit 11a of the radar device 1
The transmission of the start signal to the radar pulse transmission / reception unit 11a is stopped, and the radar pulse transmission / reception unit 11a stops the generation of the radar pulse. If the merging switch 6 is normally closed when the vehicle is running and the radar pulse transmitting / receiving unit 11a is activated only by operating the direction indicating switch 8, there is no need to operate the merging switch 6 each time merging or overtaking.

If the calculation result of the calculation circuit 12 is V ₁ ≉V ₂ , the speed of the host vehicle and the speed of the vehicle traveling from the rear are substantially equal to each other. "Yellow" is displayed on the display unit 3. When the driver recognizes this alarm and merges, and returns the direction indicating switch 8 to the middle position, the above-described operation is performed and the radar pulse transmitting / receiving unit 11a stops the generation of radar.

When the driver weights the merging by this "yellow" display, and the calculation result of the calculation circuit 12 is V ₁ <V ₂
When the speed of the host vehicle is slower than the speed of the vehicle traveling from the rear and "red" indicating the prohibition of merging is displayed on the display means 3, the driver turns the direction indicator switch 8 to the right blinker. The vehicle is decelerated and the overtaking vehicle is spent while the lamp 7a continues to blink. Meanwhile, the radar pulse is transmitted from the transmission unit 11b, received by the reception unit 11c, and the signal information thereof is transmitted to the arithmetic circuit 12 until the speed V _{1 of the} own vehicle becomes higher than the speed V ₂ of the vehicle from behind. The display means 3 continues to display "yellow" or "red".

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, when merging a vehicle or changing lanes, it is possible to display whether or not the distance to another vehicle is within a safe range, in addition to visual judgment. Therefore, there is an effect that the situation can be confirmed surely and safe driving can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing mounting positions of a transmitter and a receiver in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a rear perspective view showing mounting positions of a transmitter and a receiver in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of operations in the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 radar device 2 detected object 3 display means 4 power supply 5 main switch 6 merge switch 7a right blinker lamp 7b left blinker lamp 8 direction indicator switch 11 transmitter / receiver 11a radar pulse transmitter / receiver 11b transmitter 11c receiver 12 arithmetic circuit

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location G08B 13/18 4234-5G G08G 1/16 C 2105-3H

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A transmission / reception means for transmitting a radar pulse and receiving a reflected wave thereof, and a relative relation between an object which has taken in information of a signal transmitted from the transmission / reception means and a received signal and has generated the reflected wave and the transmission / reception means. A radar device including a calculation circuit for calculating a speed is mounted on an automobile, and the transmitting / receiving means has a directivity range of its transmission and / or reception radio waves in another vehicle traveling in an obliquely rear lane on the overtaking lane side of the automobile. The safety confirmation assisting device is provided with a display unit configured to display an alarm output on the driver's seat according to the relative speed calculated by the arithmetic circuit. 2. The display means displays a positive value of the relative speed,
The safety confirmation assisting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for displaying in three steps according to negative and substantially zero.