Vehicle part control system including electronic sensors

• US 20030176959A1
• Filed: 12/27/2002
• Published: 09/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/1995
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Vehicular Sciences LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Automotive Technologies International Incorporated
• Inventors: Breed, David S.
• Granted Patent: US 6,823,244 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/36
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/02246 Electric motors therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/0276 reaction to emergency situations, e.g. crash
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/2863 backward facing
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005

Abstract

Control system for controlling a part of the vehicle including electronic sensors or sensor systems on the vehicle, each sensor system providing a measurement related to a state of the electronic sensor system or a measurement related to a state of the mounting location, and a processor coupled to the electronic sensors or sensor systems and arranged to diagnose the state of the vehicle based on the measurements of the sensor system, e.g., by the application of a pattern recognition technique. The processor controls the part based at least in part on the diagnosed state of the vehicle.

Claims

1. In a motor vehicle, a control system for controlling at least one part of the vehicle comprising:

a plurality of electronic sensors mounted at different locations on the vehicle, each of said sensors providing a measurement related to a state of said sensor or a measurement related to a state of the mounting location; and

a processor coupled to said sensors and arranged to diagnose the state of the vehicle based on the measurements of said sensors,

said processor being arranged to control the at least one part based at least in part on the diagnosed state of the vehicle.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein at least one of said sensors is a sensor selected from a group consisting of a single axis acceleration sensor, a double axis acceleration sensor, a triaxial acceleration sensor and a gyroscope.

3. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein at least one of said sensors communicates with said processor wirelessly.

4. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the state of the vehicle diagnosed by said processor includes angular motion of the vehicle.

5. The vehicle of claim 4, wherein the at least one part is a system selected from a group consisting of a steering system, a braking system or a throttle system, said processor being arranged to control the system in an attempt to maintain stability of the vehicle.

6. The vehicle of claim 4, wherein the at least one part is an occupant restraint device, said processor being arranged to control the occupant restraint device in an attempt to minimize injury to an occupant.

7. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the state of the vehicle diagnosed by said processor includes a determination of a location of an impact between the vehicle and another object.

8. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein the at least one part is an occupant restraint device, said processor being arranged to forecast the severity of the impact using the force/crush properties of the vehicle at the impact location and control the occupant restraint device based at least in part on the severity of the impact.

9. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the at least one part is an occupant restraint device

10. The vehicle of claim 9, further comprising a weight sensing system coupled to a seat in the vehicle for sensing the weight of an occupying item of the seat, said weight sensing system being coupled to said processor and said processor controlling the occupant restraint device based on the state of the vehicle and the weight of the occupying item of the seat sensed by said weight sensing system.

11. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein at least one of said sensors is mounted in a front, side or rear crush zone of the vehicle

12. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said processor includes pattern recognition means for diagnosing the state of the vehicle.

13. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a display coupled to said processor for displaying an indication of the state of the vehicle as diagnosed by said processor.

14. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a warning device coupled to said processor for relaying a warning to an occupant of the vehicle relating to the state of the vehicle as diagnosed by said processor.

15. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising a transmission device coupled to said processor for transmitting a signal to a remote site relating to the state of the vehicle as diagnosed by said processor.

16. The vehicle of claim 15, wherein the diagnosed state of the vehicle comprises the state that the vehicle has just experienced a crash.

17. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the state of the vehicle includes angular acceleration, a plurality of said sensors comprising accelerometers such that said processor determines the angular acceleration of the vehicle based on the acceleration measured by said accelerometers.

18. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein at least one of said sensors comprises a gyroscope.

19. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the state of the vehicle diagnosed by said processor includes angular velocity of the vehicle whereby angular position or orientation are derivable from the angular velocity, the at least one part being a navigation system, said processor being arranged to control said navigation system based on the angular velocity of the vehicle.

20. A method for controlling at least one part of a vehicle, comprising the steps of:

mounting a plurality of electronic sensors at different locations on the vehicle;

measuring a state of the sensors or a state of the respective mounting location of the sensor;

diagnosing the state of the vehicle based on the measurements of the state of the sensors or the state of the mounting locations of the sensors, and

controlling the at least one part based at least in part on the diagnosed state of the vehicle.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the state of the sensor is the acceleration, angular acceleration, angular velocity or angular orientation of the sensor.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein at least one of the sensors communicates with the processor wirelessly.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of diagnosing the state of the vehicle comprises the step of determining whether the vehicle is stable or is about to rollover or skid.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least one part is a system selected from a group consisting of a steering system, a braking system or a throttle system, the step of controlling the at least one part comprising the step of controlling the system in an attempt to maintain stability of the vehicle.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the at least one part is an occupant restraint device, the step of controlling the at least one part comprising the steps of controlling the system in an attempt to minimize injury to an occupant in the event of a crash.

26. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of diagnosing the state of the vehicle comprises the step of determining a location of an impact between the vehicle and another object.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the at least one part is an occupant restraint device, further comprising the step of forecasting the severity of the impact using the force/crush properties of the vehicle at the impact location, the step of controlling the at least one part comprising the step of controlling the occupant restraint device based at least in part on the severity of the impact.

28. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least one part is an occupant restraint device, further comprising the step of sensing the weight of an occupying item of a seat of the vehicle, the step of controlling the at least one part comprising the step of controlling the occupant restraint device based at least in part on the weight of the occupying item of the seat.

29. The method of claim 20, further comprising the step of displaying an indication of the state of the vehicle.

30. The method of claim 20, further comprising the step of relaying a warning to an occupant of the vehicle relating to the state of the vehicle.

31. The method of claim 20, further comprising the step of transmitting a signal to a remote site relating to the state of the vehicle.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising the step of determining that the state of the vehicle is that the vehicle is experiencing or has just experienced a crash.

33. The method of claim 20, wherein a plurality of the sensors comprises accelerometers, the step of diagnosing the state of the vehicle comprises the step of determining angular acceleration of the vehicle based on the acceleration measured by the accelerometers.

34. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of diagnosing the state of the vehicle comprises the step of determining angular velocity of the vehicle whereby the angular position or orientation is derivable from the angular velocity, the at least one part being a navigation system, the step of controlling the at least one part comprising the controlling the navigation system based on the angular acceleration of the vehicle.

35. In a motor vehicle, a control system for controlling at least one part of the vehicle comprising:

a plurality of electronic sensors mounted on the vehicle, each of said sensors providing a measurement of a state of said sensor or a state of the mounting location of said sensor and generating a signal representative of the measurement; and

a pattern recognition system for receiving the signals from said sensors and diagnosing the state of the vehicle based on the measurements of said sensors,

said pattern recognition system being arranged to generate a control signal for controlling the at least one part based at least in part on the diagnosed state of the vehicle.

36. The vehicle of claim 35, wherein said plurality of sensors comprise an inertial measurement unit.

37. The vehicle of claim 35, wherein said pattern recognition system comprises at least one neural network.

38. The vehicle of claim 35, wherein at least one of said sensors is a sensor selected from a group consisting of a single axis acceleration sensor, a double axis acceleration sensor, a triaxial acceleration sensor and a gyroscope.

39. The vehicle of claim 35, wherein the state of the vehicle diagnosed by said processor includes angular orientation, velocity or acceleration of the vehicle.

40. The vehicle of claim 39, wherein the at least one part is a system selected from a group consisting of a steering system, a braking system or a throttle system, said processor being arranged to control the system in an attempt to maintain stability of the vehicle.

41. The vehicle of claim 39, wherein the at least one part is an occupant restraint device, said processor being arranged to control the occupant restraint device in an attempt to minimize injury to an occupant.

42. The vehicle of claim 35, wherein the state of the vehicle diagnosed by said pattern recognition system includes a determination of a location on the vehicle of an impact between the vehicle and another object.

43. The vehicle of claim 42, wherein the at least one part is an occupant restraint device, said pattern recognition system being arranged to forecast the severity of the impact using the force/crush properties of the vehicle at the impact location and generate the control signal for controlling the occupant restraint device based at least in part on the severity of the impact.

44. The vehicle of claim 35, wherein the at least one part is an occupant restraint device, further comprising a weight sensing system coupled to a seat in the vehicle for sensing the weight of an occupying item of the seat, said pattern recognition system generating the control signal for controlling the occupant restraint device based on the state of the vehicle and the weight of the occupying item of the seat sensed by said weight sensing system.

45. The vehicle of claim 35, further comprising a warning device for relaying a warning to an occupant of the vehicle relating to the state of the vehicle as diagnosed by said pattern recognition system.

46. The vehicle of claim 35, further comprising a transmission device for transmitting a signal to a remote site relating to the state of the vehicle as diagnosed by said pattern recognition system.

47. The vehicle of claim 35, wherein at least one of said sensors in mounted in the front, side or rear crush zone of the vehicle.

48. The vehicle of claim 35, further comprising a GPS receiver for use in calibrating a location of the vehicle.

49. The vehicle of claim 35, further comprising an IMU coupled to said pattern recognition system for determining a location of the vehicle.

50. The vehicle of claim 35, further comprising a Kalman Filter for use in calibrating a location of the vehicle.

51. The vehicle of claim 35, wherein said sensors are mounted at different locations on the vehicle.

52. A method for controlling at least one part of the vehicle, comprising the steps of

mounting a plurality of sensors on the vehicle;

measuring a state of the sensor or a state of the respective mounting location of the sensor;

generating signals representative of the measurements of the sensors;

inputting the signals into a pattern recognition system to obtain a diagnosis of the state of the vehicle; and

controlling the at least one part based at least in part on the diagnosis of the state of the vehicle.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein the pattern recognition system comprises at least one neural network.

54. The method of claim 52, wherein the diagnosis of the state of the vehicle includes the angular orientation, angular velocity or angular acceleration of the vehicle.

55. The method of claim 52, wherein the at least one part is a system selected from a group consisting of a steering system, a braking system or a throttle system, the step of controlling the at least one part comprising the step of controlling the system in an attempt to maintain stability of the vehicle.

56. The method of claim 52, wherein the at least one part is an occupant restraint device, the step of controlling the at least one part comprising the steps of controlling the system in an attempt to minimize injury to an occupant in the event of a crash.

57. The method of claim 52, wherein the diagnosis of the state of the vehicle includes a determination of a location on the vehicle of an impact between the vehicle and another object.

58. The method of claim 57, wherein the at least one part is an occupant restraint device, further comprising the step of forecasting the severity of the impact using the force/crush properties of the vehicle at the impact location and generating control signals by the pattern recognition system for controlling the occupant restraint device based at least in part on the severity of the impact.

59. The method of claim 52, wherein the at least one part is an occupant restraint device, further comprising the steps of:

sensing the weight of an occupying item of a seat of the vehicle; and

generating control signals by the pattern recognition system for controlling the occupant restraint device based on the diagnosis of the state of the vehicle and the weight of the occupying item of the seat.

60. The method of claim 52, further comprising the steps of:

obtaining location information from a GPS receiver; and

inputting the location information from the GPS receiver to the pattern recognition system.

61. The method of claim 52, further comprising the steps of:

obtaining position information from an IMU; and

inputting the position information from the IMU into the pattern recognition system.

62. The method of claim 52, further comprising the steps of:

obtaining location information from at least one GPS receiver;

obtaining position information from an IMU; and

improving a location determination by the at least one GPS receiver and IMU using a Kalman filter in conjunction with the pattern recognition system to diagnose the state of the vehicle.

63. The method of claim 52, further comprising the step of mounting the sensors at different locations on the vehicle.

64. A vehicle for high-speed travel on highways comprising an accurate location determination system, comprising:

an IMU for determining the location of the vehicle;

at least one GPS receiver; and

a processor embodying a Kalman filter and coupled to said IMU and said at least one GPS receiver for periodically calibrating the location of the vehicle as determined by said IMU using data from said at least one GPS receiver and said Kalman filter.

65. The vehicle of claim 64, further comprising a DGPS receiver coupled to said processor, said processor being arranged to receive information from said DGPS receiver and correct the determination of the location of the vehicle as determined by said at least one GPS receiver or said IMU.