Automatic alerting device and automatic alerting method

• US 10,081,324 B2
• Filed: 05/28/2015
• Issued: 09/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bosch Corporation (Robert Bosch GmbH), Robert Bosch GmbH
• Original Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
• Inventors: Obuchi, Hisashi
• Primary Examiner(s): Dager, Jonathan M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Evans, Garrett F
• Application Number:
  US15/320,778
• Publication Number:
  US 20170151922A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,216 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/52 for indicating emergencies
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/525 automatically indicating risk of collision between vehicles in traffic or with pedestrians, e.g. after risk assessment using the vehicle sensor data
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 5/005 automatically actuated
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 5/006 indicating risk of collision between vehicles or with pedestrians
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0027 Post collision measures, e.g. notifying emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/01013 Means for detecting collision, impending collision or roll-over
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0104 Communication circuits for data transmission
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/00 Arrangements or fittings on vehicles for protecting or preventing injuries to occupants or pedestrians in case of accidents or other traffic risks safety belts or body harnesses in vehicles B60R22/00; devices, apparatus or methods for life-saving in general A62B; safety devices for propulsion unit control specially adapted for, or arranged in, vehicles B60K28/00; seats constructed to protect the occupant from the effect of abnormal g-forces, e.g. crash or safety seats, B60N2/42; energy-absorbing arrangements for hand wheels for steering vehicles B62D1/11; energy-absorbing arrangements for vehicle steering columns B62D1/19; harnessing in aircraft B64D25/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0132 responsive to vehicle motion parameters , e.g. to vehicle longitudinal or transversal deceleration or speed value
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0136 responsive to actual contact with an obstacle , e.g. to vehicle deformation, bumper displacement or bumper velocity relative to the vehicle monitoring crash strength in combination with passenger seat detection B60R21/01558
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/00 Alarms responsive to a single specified undesired or abnormal condition and not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental

Abstract

Provided are an automatic alerting device and an automatic alerting method capable of producing an alert indicating that there has been a vehicle accident to those nearby the site of the accident. The automatic alerting device has: a state-detecting unit for detecting a vehicle state; an accident-determining unit for determining, on the basis of the vehicle state detected by the state-detecting unit, whether or not a vehicle accident has occurred; an alerting unit for producing an alert to the outside of the vehicle; and a control unit for controlling the alerting unit. The alerting unit has: an alarm that emits a sound to the outside of the vehicle; and a hazard lamp that emits light on the outside of the vehicle. When the accident-determining unit determines that there has been a vehicle accident, the control unit makes the alarm emit a sound and the hazard lamp emit light.

Claims

1. An automatic alerting device for automatically providing an alert that a vehicle has been involved in an accident, the device comprising:

a state detection unit configured to detect a state of the vehicle;

an accident determination unit configured to determine whether the vehicle has been involved in an accident based on the state of the vehicle detected by the state detection unit;

an alert unit configured to provide an alert to outside of the vehicle; and

a control unit configured to control the alert unit,

wherein the alert unit comprises a sound-emitting unit configured to emit a sound to outside of the vehicle, and a light-emitting unit configured to emit light to outside of the vehicle, and

wherein the control unit is configured to, in response to the accident determination unit determining that the vehicle has been involved in an accident, control the sound-emitting unit to emit a sound and control the light-emitting unit to emit light,

wherein the state detection unit comprises a lateral G sensor configured to detect a vehicle lateral G, and

further comprising an assistance determination unit configured to determine whether the vehicle has been assisted after the vehicle has been involved in an accident based on an amount of change of the vehicle lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor,

wherein the control unit is configured to, in response to the assistance determination unit determining that the vehicle has been assisted, stop an alert generated by the alert unit.

2. The automatic alerting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the state detection unit further comprises a wheel speed sensor configured to detect a vehicle wheel speed, and

the accident determination unit is configured to determine whether the vehicle has been involved in an accident based on the wheel speed detected by the wheel speed sensor, an absolute value of the vehicle lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor, and an amount of change of the vehicle lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor.

3. The automatic alerting device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the accident determination unit is configured to determine that the vehicle has been in an accident in response to (i) the wheel speed detected by the wheel speed sensor being one of equal to and less than a first predetermined value for at least a predetermined time, (ii) the absolute value of the vehicle lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor being one of equal to and greater than a second predetermined value for at least the predetermined time, and (iii) the amount of change of the vehicle lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor being one of equal to and less than a third predetermined value for at least the predetermined time.

4. The automatic alerting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the alert unit comprises a communication unit configured to send a signal to outside of the vehicle, and

the control unit is configured to, in response to the accident determination unit determining that the vehicle has been involved in an accident, control the communication unit to send the signal to the outside.

5. The automatic alerting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the assistance determination unit is configured to determine that the vehicle has been assisted in response to an amount of change of the vehicle lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor being one of equal to and greater than a predetermined value.

6. An automatic alerting method for automatically providing an alert that a vehicle has been involved in an accident, the method comprising:

detecting a state of the vehicle;

determining whether the vehicle has been involved in an accident based on the detected state of the vehicle; and

sending an alert to outside of the vehicle in response to it being determined that the vehicle has been involved in an accident, the sending of the alert including controlling a sound-emitting unit to emit a sound and controlling a light-emitting unit to emit light,

wherein the detecting of the state of the vehicle comprises detecting an amount of change of a vehicle lateral G, and

further comprising;

determining whether the vehicle has been assisted based on the amount of change of the vehicle lateral G; and

stopping the alert in response to it being determined that the vehicle has been assisted.

7. The automatic alerting method as claimed in claim 6, wherein:

the detecting of the state of the vehicle further comprises detecting a wheel speed of the vehicle and an absolute value of the vehicle lateral G, and

the determining of whether the vehicle has been in an accident further comprises determining whether the vehicle has been involved in an accident based on the wheel speed, the absolute value of the lateral G and the amount of change of the lateral G.

8. The automatic alerting method as claimed in claim 7, the determining of whether the vehicle has been in an accident further comprising:

determining that the vehicle has been in an accident in response to (i) the wheel speed detected by the wheel speed sensor being one of equal to and less than a first predetermined value for at least a predetermined time, (ii) the absolute value of the vehicle lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor being one of equal to and greater than a second predetermined value for at least the predetermined time, and (iii) the amount of change of the vehicle lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor being one of equal to and less than a third predetermined value for at least the predetermined time.

9. The automatic alerting method as claimed in claim 6, the sending of the alert further comprising:

sending a signal to the outside in response to it being determined that the vehicle has been involved in an accident.

10. The automatic alerting method as claimed in claim 6, the determining of whether the vehicle has been assisted further comprising:

determining that the vehicle has been assisted in response to the amount of change of the vehicle lateral G being one of equal to and greater than a predetermined value.

11. An automatic alerting device for automatically providing an alert that a vehicle has been involved in an accident, the device comprising:

a wheel speed sensor configured to detect a vehicle wheel speed;

a lateral G sensor configured to detect a vehicle lateral G;

an alert unit for configured to provide an alert to outside of the vehicle;

a control unit configured to control the alert unit;

an accident determination unit configured to determine whether the vehicle has been involved in an accident based on the wheel speed detected by the wheel speed sensor, an absolute value of the vehicle lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor, and an amount of change of the vehicle lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor; and

an assistance determination unit configured to determine whether the vehicle has been assisted after the vehicle has been involved in an accident based on the amount of change of the vehicle lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor,

wherein the control unit is configured to control the alert unit to provide an alert to the outside in response to the accident determination unit determining that the vehicle has been involved in an accident, and

wherein the control unit is configured to, in response to the assistance determination unit determining that the vehicle has been assisted, stop an alert of the alert unit.

12. The automatic alerting device as claimed in claim 11, wherein:

the assistance determination unit is configured to determine that the vehicle has been assisted in response to whether an amount of change of the vehicle lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor is one of equal to and greater than a predetermined value.

13. An automatic alerting device for automatically providing an alert that a vehicle has been involved in an accident, the device comprising:

a wheel speed sensor configured to detect a vehicle wheel speed;

a lateral G sensor configured to detect a vehicle lateral G;

an alert unit for configured to provide an alert to outside of the vehicle;

a control unit configured to control the alert unit;

an accident determination unit configured to determine whether the vehicle has been involved in an accident based on the wheel speed detected by the wheel speed sensor, an absolute value of the vehicle lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor, and an amount of change of the vehicle lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor; and

wherein the accident determination unit is configured to determine that the vehicle has been in an accident in response to (i) the wheel speed detected by the wheel speed sensor being one of equal to and less than a first predetermined value for at least a predetermined time, (ii) the absolute value of the vehicle lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor being one of equal to and greater than a second predetermined value for at least the predetermined time, and (iii) the amount of change of the vehicle lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor being one of equal to and less than a third predetermined value for at least the predetermined time.

14. An automatic alerting method for automatically providing an alert that a vehicle has been involved in an accident, said method comprising:

detecting a wheel speed of the vehicle, an absolute value of a vehicle lateral G and an amount of change of the vehicle lateral G;

determining whether or not the vehicle has been involved in an accident based on the wheel speed, the absolute value of the lateral G and the amount of change of the lateral G; and

sending an alert to outside of the vehicle in response to a determination that the vehicle has been involved in an accident,

wherein an accident determination unit is configured to determine that the vehicle has been in an accident in response to (i) the wheel speed detected by the wheel speed sensor being one of equal to and less than a first predetermined value for at least a predetermined time, (ii) the absolute value of the vehicle lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor being one of equal to and greater than a second predetermined value for at least the predetermined time, and (iii) the amount of change of the vehicle lateral G detected by the lateral G sensor being one of equal to and less than a third predetermined value for at least the predetermined time.

16. The automatic alerting method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the determination of whether the vehicle has been assisted further comprises:

determining whether the amount of change of the vehicle lateral G is equal to or greater than a predetermined value; and

determining that the vehicle has been assisted when the amount of change of the vehicle lateral G is equal to or greater than the predetermined value.

15. An automatic alerting method for automatically providing an alert that a vehicle has been involved in an accident, said method comprising the following steps:

detecting a wheel speed of the vehicle, an absolute value of a vehicle lateral G and an amount of change of the vehicle lateral G are detected;

determining whether or not the vehicle has been involved in an accident based on the wheel speed, the absolute value of the lateral G and the amount of change of the lateral G;

sending an alert to outside of the vehicle in response to a determination that the vehicle has been involved in an accident;

determining whether the vehicle has been assisted based on the amount of change of the vehicle lateral G; and

stopping the alert when the amount of change of the vehicle lateral G indicates that the vehicle has been assisted.