Vehicle with active door zone

• US 10,738,524 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2018
• Issued: 08/11/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Gomez Melchor, Jorge, Marini Parissi, Jesus, Saavedra, Oscar
• Primary Examiner(s): Trivedi, Atul
• Application Number:
  US16/110,789
• Publication Number:
  US 20180363352A1
• Time in Patent Office: 719 Days
• Field of Search: 701 49
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 5/0493 Appurtenances
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 15/40 Safety devices, e.g. detection of obstructions or end positions
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 5/00 Braking devices, e.g. checks; Stops; Buffers construction of pneumatic or liquid braking devices E05F3/00; braking devices, buffers or end stops on drawers for tables, cabinets or like furniture A47B88/473; combined with devices for holding wings open E05C17/00; devices for limiting opening of wings or for holding wings open by a movable member extending between frame and wing E05C17/04
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/21 Brakes
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/232 by automatically acting means
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/246 by auxiliary motors, magnets, springs or weights
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2400/20 of brakes, disengaging means, holders or stops
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2400/44 Sensors not directly associated with the wing movement
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2900/531 Doors

Abstract

A vehicle includes: a frame, a rotatable door; an inhibitor comprising: an arm extending through a selective gate including: upper and lower springs respectively biasing upper and lower rollers against the arm; upper and lower stoppers configured to, upon activation, compress the upper and lower rollers against the arm, thus stopping rotation of the door; sensors, processor(s) configured to: activate and deactivate the stoppers based on sensed events.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a vehicle door, the method comprising:

in response to predicting that the vehicle door will open, detecting, with sensors, an object approaching a vehicle;

determining whether to ignore the object;

when a determination is made not to ignore the object, determining whether a trajectory of the object will intersect a sweeping arc of the vehicle door; and

in response to determining that the trajectory of the object will intersect the sweeping arc of the vehicle door, preventing movement of the vehicle door;

wherein preventing the movement of the vehicle door includes compressing upper and lower rollers of the vehicle door against an arm of the vehicle door that has a plurality of valleys, and wherein the arm is configured to slide through the upper and lower rollers biased against the arm when the door rotates.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether to ignore the object includes ignoring the object when a surface area of the object is below a dimensional threshold.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether to ignore the object includes ignoring the object when acceleration of the object is below an acceleration threshold.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the acceleration threshold is based on (a) current distance of the object from the sweeping arc of the vehicle door that intersects the trajectory of the object, and (b) current velocity of the object.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the sweeping arc of the vehicle door includes a closed position of the vehicle door, a fully open position of the vehicle door and intermediate position of the vehicle door.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein preventing movement of the vehicle door includes compressing the upper and lower rollers into one of the plurality of valleys wherein the one of the plurality of valleys corresponds to the intermediate position when the vehicle door rotates.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein predicting that the vehicle door will open includes monitoring a seatbelt sensor associated with a seat corresponding to the vehicle door.

8. The method of claim 7, including predicting that the vehicle door will open when the seatbelt sensor associated with the seat corresponding to vehicle door transitions from engaged to disengaged within a threshold time period after the vehicle is placed in park.

9. The method of claim 1, including predicting that the vehicle door will open when a seat belt sensor associated with a seat corresponding to vehicle door transitions from engaged to disengaged within a threshold time period prior to the vehicle reaching a velocity of zero.

10. The method of claim 1, including deactivating the upper and lower rollers in response to receiving a user command via a user interface.

11. The method of claim 1, including:

detecting attempts to open the vehicle door while the upper and lower rollers are activated; and

deactivating the deactivating the upper and lower rollers in response to a threshold number of attempts to open the vehicle door.