Adaptive mitigation of ultrasonic emission in vehicular object detection systems
First Claim
1. Object detection apparatus in an automotive vehicle, comprising:
- an ultrasonic range sensor having at least one ultrasonic transducer for generating ultrasonic bursts at a controllable rate; and
a controller for tracking at least one object which reflects the ultrasonic bursts to the sensor, wherein the controller provides a command signal to the sensor to adaptively set the controllable rate according to a result of the tracked object, wherein the controller sets the controllable rate to a standard rate, except for setting the controllable rate to a reduced rate which is less than the standard rate when the tracked object is maintaining a stable relative position, and wherein the stable relative position is comprised of the tracked object having a relative velocity less than a threshold.
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Abstract
Remote object detection in an automotive vehicle includes an ultrasonic sensor for emitting ultrasonic bursts from an ultrasonic transducer at a standard rate. At least one object is tracked which reflects the ultrasonic bursts to the sensor. The transducer is adaptively set to emit ultrasonic bursts at a reduced rate which is less than the standard rate based on a result of the object tracking. In one embodiment, the ultrasonic bursts are set at the reduced rate when the tracked object is maintaining a stable relative position. The stable relative position may be comprised of the tracked object having a relative velocity less than a threshold. In another embodiment, extrinsic ultrasonic bursts originating from the tracked object and subsequent echoes between the automotive vehicle and the tracked object can be used by the vehicle to monitor the tracked object while emission of bursts from the vehicle are switched off.
20 Citations
10 Claims
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1. Object detection apparatus in an automotive vehicle, comprising:
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an ultrasonic range sensor having at least one ultrasonic transducer for generating ultrasonic bursts at a controllable rate; and a controller for tracking at least one object which reflects the ultrasonic bursts to the sensor, wherein the controller provides a command signal to the sensor to adaptively set the controllable rate according to a result of the tracked object, wherein the controller sets the controllable rate to a standard rate, except for setting the controllable rate to a reduced rate which is less than the standard rate when the tracked object is maintaining a stable relative position, and wherein the stable relative position is comprised of the tracked object having a relative velocity less than a threshold.
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2. Object detection apparatus in an automotive vehicle, comprising:
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an ultrasonic range sensor having at least one ultrasonic transducer for generating ultrasonic bursts at a controllable rate; and a controller for tracking at least one object which reflects the ultrasonic bursts to the sensor, wherein the controller provides a command signal to the sensor to adaptively set the controllable rate according to a result of the tracked object; wherein the result of the tracked object includes a calculated distance to the tracked object, wherein the controller is configured to identify extrinsic ultrasonic bursts originating from the tracked object that were not generated by the ultrasonic range sensor and echoes of the extrinsic ultrasonic bursts resulting from multiple reflections between the automotive vehicle and the tracked object, wherein the controller is configured to calculate an extrinsic distance to the tracked object using the extrinsic ultrasonic bursts and the echoes, and wherein the ultrasonic bursts generated by the ultrasonic range sensor are temporarily switched off if the calculated distance and the extrinsic distance are matching. - View Dependent Claims (3, 9)
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4. A method of object detection in an automotive vehicle, comprising the steps of:
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emitting intrinsic ultrasonic bursts from an ultrasonic transducer at a standard rate; tracking at least one object which reflects the intrinsic ultrasonic bursts to the transducer; calculating a distance to the tracked object in response to the reflected intrinsic ultrasonic bursts; adaptively setting the transducer to emit the intrinsic ultrasonic bursts at a reduced rate which is less than the standard rate according to a result of the tracked object; identifying extrinsic ultrasonic bursts originating from the tracked object that were not generated by the ultrasonic transducer and echoes of the extrinsic ultrasonic bursts resulting from multiple reflections between the automotive vehicle and the tracked object; calculating an extrinsic distance to the tracked object using the extrinsic ultrasonic bursts and the echoes; temporarily switching off the intrinsic ultrasonic bursts emitted by the transducer if the calculated distance and the extrinsic distance are matching; and continuing to calculate the extrinsic distance while the intrinsic ultrasonic bursts are switched off. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8)
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10. Object detection apparatus in an automotive vehicle, comprising:
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an ultrasonic range sensor having at least one ultrasonic transducer for generating ultrasonic bursts at a controllable rate; a controller for tracking at least one object which reflects the ultrasonic bursts to the sensor, wherein the controller provides a command signal to the sensor to adaptively set the controllable rate according to a result of the tracked object, wherein the result of the tracked object includes a sonar distance to the tracked object; and a camera-based tracking system for using image analysis to determine a visually-determined distance to the tracked object; wherein a difference between the sonar distance and the visually-determined distance is used to determine a calibration factor for adjusting the visually-determined distance; wherein after determining the calibration factor, the ultrasonic bursts generated by the ultrasonic range sensor are switched off while the visually-determined distance continues to be monitored; and wherein the ultrasonic bursts generated by the ultrasonic range sensor are switched back on when the camera-based tracking system no longer tracks the tracked object.
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Specification