VEHICULAR DRIVING SUPPORT APPARATUS AND METHOD AND VEHICLE EQUIPPED WITH VEHICULAR DRIVING SUPPORT APPARATUS

• US 20100318254A1
• Filed: 06/13/2008
• Published: 12/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Kondoh, Takayuki, Satou, Kazuto, Yamamura, Tomohiro
• Granted Patent: US 8,315,757 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/29
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/12 related to parameters of the vehicle itself , e.g. tyre models

Abstract

In vehicular driving support apparatus and method and a vehicle equipped with the vehicular driving support apparatus, a running state of a vehicle is detected, a plurality of running state distributions is calculated on a basis of the detected running state data, a difference quantity between the plurality of running state distributions is calculated, and an unstable driving state is detected from a magnitude of the difference quantity. If the unstable driving state is detected, an alarming is issued to call attention to a vehicle driver.

Claims

1. A vehicular driving support apparatus, comprising:

a running state detecting section configured to detect a running state of a vehicle;

a running state distribution calculating section configured to calculate a plurality of running state distributions on a basis of the running state detected by the running state detecting section;

a distribution difference quantity calculating section configured to calculate a difference quantity between the plurality of running state distributions by the running state distribution calculating section; and

an unstable driving state detecting section configured to detect an unstable driving state from a magnitude of the difference quantity calculated by the distribution difference quantity calculating section.

2. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the running state distribution calculating section calculates the plurality of running state distributions different in range of time in a form of the plurality of running state distributions.

3. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vehicular driving support apparatus further comprises a randomness calculating section configured to calculate a degree of randomness for each of the plurality of running state distributions and wherein the unstable driving state detecting section detects the unstable driving state on a basis of a magnitude relationship in randomness of each of the plurality of running state distributions calculated at the randomness calculating section in addition to the magnitude of the difference quantity between the plurality of running state distributions.

4. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the running state distribution calculating section calculates the running state distributions corresponding to a predetermined range of time in a recursive manner.

5. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the vehicular driving support apparatus further comprises:

a running scene estimating section configured to estimate a running scene of the vehicle; and

a time range correcting section configured to correct the range of time used in the running state distribution calculating section in accordance with the running scene estimated by the running scene estimating section.

6. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the running state distribution calculating section partitions data of the running state detected by the running state detecting section into a predetermined number of partitions to calculate the plurality of running state distributions and the distribution difference quantity calculating section calculates the difference quantity between the plurality of running state distributions with a weight given to each of the partitions.

7. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the vehicular driving support apparatus further comprises:

a running state cumulative frequency distribution calculating section configured to calculate a running state cumulative frequency distribution from the running state distributions calculated by the running state distribution calculating section and wherein the distribution difference quantity calculating section uses the running state cumulative frequency distribution calculated by the running state cumulative frequency distribution calculating section in the form of a weight for each of the partitions.

8. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the running state distribution calculating section calculates the running state distribution partitions data of the running state into a predetermined number of partitions to calculate the plurality of running state distributions and wherein the vehicular driving support apparatus further comprises a partition width correcting section configured to correct a width of each of the partitions in accordance with the data of the running state detected by the running state detecting section.

9. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the partition width correcting section uses a vehicle speed which is the data of the running state to correct the width for each of the partitions.

10. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the vehicular driving support apparatus further comprises a partition width correction quantity learning section configured to learn a correction quantity of the width of each of the partitions in the partition width correcting section and wherein the partition width correcting section corrects the width of each of the partitions in accordance with the correction quantity learned by the partition width correction quantity learning section.

11. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the running state detecting section obtains a steering angle prediction error in a form of data of the running state.

12. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the running state detecting section detects an accelerator pedal manipulated variable and a brake pedal manipulated variable in a form of data of the running state.

13. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the running state detecting section detects a yaw rate developed on the vehicle in a form of data of the running state.

14. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the running state detecting section detects a lateral position within a traffic lane in a form of data of the running state.

15. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the running state detecting section obtains an inter-vehicle time between the vehicle and a forwardly present obstacle in a form of the detected running state.

16. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the running state detecting section detects a vehicle speed of the vehicle in a form of data of the running state.

17. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the vehicular driving support apparatus further comprises a running state data correcting section configured to correct data of the detected running state in accordance with a vehicle speed of the vehicle.

18. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the distribution difference quantity calculating section calculates a relative entropy in a form of the difference quantity between the plurality of running state distributions.

19. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein data of the running state comprises at least one of a vehicular dynamical motion, on a vehicular surrounding environment, and on a driving manipulated variable for the vehicle of a vehicle driver.

20. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein the distribution difference quantity calculating section calculates a difference of absolute entropy values in a form of the difference quantity between the plurality of running state distribution in addition to the relative entropy.

21. The vehicular driving support apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vehicular driving support apparatus further comprises an alarm device configured to issue an alarming to call attention to a vehicle driver when the unstable state detecting section detects the unstable driving state.

22. A vehicular driving support method, comprising:

detecting a running state of a vehicle;

calculating a plurality of running state distributions on a basis of the detected running state data;

calculating a difference quantity between the calculated plurality of running state distributions; and

detecting an unstable driving state from a magnitude of the calculated difference quantity.

23. A vehicle equipped with a vehicular driving support apparatus comprising:

a running state detecting section configured to detect a running state of a vehicle;

a running state distribution calculating section configured to calculate a plurality of running state distributions on a basis of the running state detected by the running state detecting section;

a distribution difference quantity calculating section configured to calculate a difference quantity between the plurality of running state distributions calculated by the running state distribution calculating section; and

an unstable driving state detecting section configured to detect an unstable driving state from a magnitude of the difference quantity calculated by the distribution difference quantity calculating section.

24. A vehicular driving support apparatus, comprising:

running state detecting means for detecting a running state of a vehicle;

running state distribution calculating means for calculating a plurality of running state distributions on a basis of the running state detected by the running state detecting means;

distribution difference quantity calculating means for calculating a difference quantity between the plurality of running state distributions by the running state distribution calculating means; and

unstable driving state detecting means for detecting an unstable driving state from a magnitude of the difference quantity calculated by the distribution difference quantity calculating means.