OBSTACLE NOTIFICATION APPARATUS

• US 20120182140A1
• Filed: 01/11/2012
• Published: 07/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Ito, Toshiyuki, Kumabe, Seigou
• Granted Patent: US 8,933,796 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/435
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/161 Decentralised systems, e.g. inter-vehicle communication

Abstract

An obstacle notification apparatus uses a sight determination unit for determining a visible area of a driver in a subject vehicle based on whether another vehicle is present around the subject vehicle and a vehicle height of the subject vehicle. After determining whether an obstacle is within the sight of the driver or not, a notification mode is selected to alert the driver of the presence of an obstacle, thereby enabling nuisance-free notification of the obstacle from the obstacle notification apparatus.

Claims

1. An obstacle notification apparatus for notifying a driver of a subject vehicle at an intersection having a crosswalk of an obstacle, the apparatus comprising:

a notification unit configured to provide at least a sound as a notification to alert the driver of the obstacle;

an obstacle information acquisition unit configured to acquire an obstacle information that includes a position of the obstacle relative to the crosswalk;

a sight determination unit configured to define a visible area of the driver of the subject vehicle; and

a notification mode determination unit configured to determine a notification mode that is provided by the notification unit, the notification mode determination unit determines the notification mode based on the obstacle information acquired by the obstacle information acquisition unit and the visible area of the driver determined by the sight determination unit.

2. The obstacle notification apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a subject vehicle position calculation unit configured to calculate a position of the subject vehicle, and

the notification mode determination unit is further configured to determine the notification mode when the position of the subject vehicle calculated by the subject vehicle position calculation unit is located at a position that is (a) outside of a road width of an intersection entering road, and that is (b) before the crosswalk.

3. The obstacle notification apparatus of claim 2 further comprising:

a travel condition detection unit configured to determine a travel condition of the subject vehicle, and

wherein when the position of the subject vehicle calculated by the subject vehicle position calculation unit is located at a position that is (a) outside of a road width of the intersection entering road, and that is (b) before the crosswalk, and when a stop condition of the subject vehicle is detected by the travel condition detection unit, the notification mode determination unit determines the notification mode of the notification unit.

4. The obstacle notification apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the notification mode determination unit is further configured to set the notification mode to a higher degree notification for an obstacle that is out of sight of the driver than for an obstacle that is in sight of an obstacle.

5. The obstacle notification apparatus of claim 3, wherein

the notification mode determination unit is further configured to set the notification mode to a higher degree notification, when the subject vehicle is determined to be moving by the travel condition detection unit than when the subject vehicle is detected to in a stopping condition.

6. The obstacle notification apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

another vehicle information acquisition unit configured to acquire information that includes information as to whether the other vehicle is present in the intersection with the subject vehicle, and

the sight determination unit is further configured to determine a visible area of the driver based on the information acquired by the other vehicle information acquisition unit.

7. The obstacle notification apparatus of claim 6, wherein

when the other vehicle exists on a left side next to the subject vehicle, the sight determination unit is further configured to determine the visible area as an area that precludes one of a part and all of the left side of the subject vehicle.

8. The obstacle notification apparatus of claim 6, wherein

when the other vehicle exists on a right side next to the subject vehicle, the sight determination unit is further configured to determine the visible area as an area that precludes one of a part and all of the right side of the subject vehicle.

9. The obstacle notification apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a memory unit configured to store a vehicle height of the subject vehicle, and

the sight determination unit is further configured to determine a frontward sight of the driver on a front side of the subject vehicle based on the vehicle height information stored in the memory unit.

10. The obstacle notification apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the obstacle information acquisition unit acquires the obstacle information including a height of the obstacle, and

the notification mode determination unit is further configured to determine a notification mode that is to be provided by the notification unit based on the height of the obstacle and the visible area of the driver determined by the sight determination unit.