METHOD FOR DETERMINING OBJECT SENSOR MISALIGNMENT
First Claim
1. A method for use with an object sensor located on a host vehicle, comprising the steps of:
- (a) determining if the host vehicle is traveling in a generally straight line;
(b) when the host vehicle is traveling in a generally straight line, tracking an object with the object sensor as it moves through the object sensor field-of-view so that a sensed object path is established; and
(c) comparing the sensed object path with an expected object path in order to determine if the object sensor is misaligned.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A vehicle system and method that can determine object sensor misalignment while a host vehicle is being driven, and can do so without requiring multiple sensors with overlapping fields-of-view. In an exemplary embodiment where the host vehicle is traveling in generally a straight line, the present method uses an object sensor to track the path of a stationary object as it moves through the sensor'"'"'s field-of-view and compares the sensed object path to an expected object path. If the sensed and expected paths of the stationary object deviate by more than some amount, then the method determines that the object sensor is skewed or otherwise misaligned.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method for use with an object sensor located on a host vehicle, comprising the steps of:
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(a) determining if the host vehicle is traveling in a generally straight line; (b) when the host vehicle is traveling in a generally straight line, tracking an object with the object sensor as it moves through the object sensor field-of-view so that a sensed object path is established; and (c) comparing the sensed object path with an expected object path in order to determine if the object sensor is misaligned. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for use with an object sensor located on a host vehicle, comprising the steps of:
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(a) determining if the host vehicle is traveling in a generally straight line; (b) when the host vehicle is traveling in a generally straight line, tracking an object with the object sensor by determining an object entry point where the object enters an object sensor field-of-view and an object exit point where the object exits the object sensor field-of-view; (c) using the object entry point and the object exit point to determine if the object is stationary; (d) when the object is stationary, evaluating a sensed object path that extends from the object entry point to the object exit point by determining a sensed object angle (θ
s) corresponding to the sensed object path and an expected object angle (θ
e) corresponding to an expected object path; and(e) using the sensed object angle (θ
s) and the expected object angle (θ
e) to determine if the object sensor is misaligned.
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19. A vehicle system on a host vehicle, comprising:
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one or more vehicle sensors providing sensor readings, the vehicle sensor readings indicate whether or not the host vehicle is traveling in a generally straight line; one or more object sensors providing sensor readings, the object sensor readings establish a sensed object path for an object as it moves through an object sensor field-of-view; and a control module being coupled to the one or more vehicle sensors for receiving the vehicle sensor readings and being coupled to the one or more object sensors for receiving the object sensor readings, wherein the control module is configured to compare the sensed object path with an expected object path in order to determine if the object sensor is misaligned when the host vehicle is traveling in a generally straight line.
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Specification