Vehicle-surroundings monitor apparatus

• US 20060009883A1
• Filed: 06/16/2005
• Published: 01/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Sato, Yoshihisa, Takeichi, Masakazu
• Granted Patent: US 7,376,493 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/523 Details of pulse systems short-range imaging G01S7/52017; methods or devices for transmitting, conducting or directing sound G10K11/18

Abstract

A vehicle-surroundings monitor apparatus according is provided with a sensor having a transmission/reception means for transmitting an ultrasonic wave to surroundings of a vehicle and receiving a reflected ultrasonic wave from the surroundings, a transmission circuit for generating an ultrasonic wave to be transmitted from the transmission/reception means, and a reception-processing means for processing an ultrasonic wave received by the transmission/reception means, and a control means for supplying a power-supply voltage to the sensor. A power-supply voltage supplied by the control means to the sensor is split into a power-supply voltage to be supplied to the transmission circuit and a power-supply voltage to be supplied to the reception-processing means.

Claims

1. A vehicle-surroundings monitor apparatus having:

a sensor comprising;

a transmission/reception means for transmitting an ultrasonic wave to surroundings of a vehicle and receiving a reflected ultrasonic wave from the surroundings;

a transmission circuit for generating an ultrasonic wave to be transmitted from the transmission/reception means; and

a reception-processing means for processing an ultrasonic wave received by the transmission/reception means; and

a control means for supplying a power-supply voltage to the sensor, wherein the vehicle-surroundings monitor apparatus is used for measuring a distance to a body existing in the vicinity of a vehicle employing the vehicle-surroundings monitor apparatus based on a period of time between transmission of the ultrasonic wave from the transmission/reception means and reception of the reflected ultrasonic wave by the transmission/reception means and is characterized in that a power-supply voltage supplied by the control means to the sensor is split into a power-supply voltage to be supplied to the transmission circuit and a power-supply voltage to be supplied to the reception-processing means, and the power-supply voltage to be supplied to the transmission circuit and the power-supply voltage to be supplied to the reception-processing means are supplied to the transmission circuit and the reception-processing means respectively.

2. A vehicle-surroundings monitor apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the sensor comprises:

a first constant-voltage circuit for converting the power-supply voltage received from the control means into a constant voltage determined in advance and outputting the constant voltage to the reception-processing means; and

a filter for absorbing voltage variations in power-supply voltage, which results in the transmission circuit while the transmission circuit is generating an ultrasonic wave, wherein;

a power-supply voltage generated by the control means is supplied to the first constant-voltage circuit employed in the sensor and converted by the first constant-voltage circuit into a constant power-supply voltage to be supplied to the reception-processing means and the filter; and

a power-supply voltage supplied to the filter is fed to the transmission circuit.

3. A vehicle-surroundings monitor apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the sensor comprises:

a first constant-voltage circuit for converting the power-supply voltage received from the control means into a constant voltage determined in advance and outputting the constant voltage to the reception-processing means and a second constant-voltage circuit wherein;

the power-supply voltage supplied from the control means to the sensor is fed to the first constant-voltage circuit and the second constant-voltage circuit;

the power-supply voltage fed to the first constant-voltage circuit is converted into the constant voltage to be supplied to the reception-processing means; and

the power-supply voltage fed to the second constant-voltage circuit is converted into a constant voltage to be supplied to the transmission circuit.

4. A vehicle-surroundings monitor apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that:

the control means supplies a power-supply voltage to the sensor through a first power-supply wire and a power-supply voltage to the sensor through a second power-supply wire electrically separated from the first power-supply wire;

the reception-processing means directly receives the power-supply voltage supplied by the control means through the first power-supply wire; and

the transmission circuit directly receives the power-supply voltage supplied by the control means through the second power-supply wire.

5. A vehicle-surroundings monitor apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the sensor comprises a first constant-voltage circuit for converting the power-supply voltage received from the control means into a constant voltage determined in advance and outputting the constant voltage to the reception-processing means wherein:

the power-supply voltage supplied by the control means to the sensor is fed to the transmission circuit and the first constant-voltage circuit; and

the power-supply voltage fed to the first constant-voltage circuit is converted into the constant voltage before being supplied to the reception-processing means.

6. A vehicle-surroundings monitor apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the control means is connected to a plurality of sensors by a communication line and the power-supply voltage is supplied from the control means to each of the sensors in a daisy-chain method.