Situation Awareness Assistant For Vehicle Control

• US 20150314783A1
• Filed: 03/26/2015
• Published: 11/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Denso International America Incorporated (DENSO Corporation)
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Denso International America Incorporated (DENSO Corporation)
• Inventors: NESPOLO, Martin, GOLSCH, Kyle, VARUGHESE, Sibu, UPMANUE, Vikas, ZHANG, Yu, MCBRIDE, Justin, DAMAN, Laith, HORVATH, Cary, KRZYZAK, Thomas Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 9,522,676 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/143 Alarm means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/146 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/095 Predicting travel path or likelihood of collision
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/0953 the prediction being responsive to vehicle dynamic parameters
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/0956 the prediction being responsive to traffic or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention

Abstract

A system for informing a driver of a vehicle of a surrounding hazard and road position of the vehicle. The system includes at least one sensor configured to identify location of the hazard relative to the vehicle. A controller is configured to: receive inputs from the at least one sensor regarding location of the hazard; determine a threat potential of the hazard based on at least one of location of the hazard relative to the vehicle, speed of the vehicle, and heading of the vehicle; and send commands to a display for visually displaying the hazard to the driver based on the determined threat potential of the hazard.

Claims

1. A system for informing a driver of a vehicle of a surrounding hazard and road position of the vehicle comprising:

at least one sensor configured to identify location of the hazard relative to the vehicle; and

a controller configured to;

receive inputs from the at least one sensor regarding location of the hazard;

determine a threat potential of the hazard based on at least one of location of the hazard relative to the vehicle, speed of the vehicle, and heading of the vehicle; and

send commands to a display for visually displaying the hazard to the driver based on the determined threat potential of the hazard.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to send commands to the display for visually displaying location of the vehicle relative to lane lines of the roadway.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor includes at least one of the following:

a proximity sensor, a vehicle-to-vehicle sensor, a lane departure detection sensor, a vehicle position sensor, a heading sensor, and a speed sensor.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a receiver configured to receive at least one of road conditions, traffic conditions, or data representing location of at least one of the hazard or the driver'"'"'s vehicle;

and

wherein the controller is further configured to determine the threat potential of the hazard based on inputs from the receiver.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to determine position of the hazard relative to a first zone defined about the vehicle by the controller and a second zone defined about the vehicle by the controller, the second zone between the first zone and the vehicle;

and

wherein the controller is configured to display the hazard on the display relative to the first zone and the second zone.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to highlight areas of the display with at least one of a color code or graphic icon based on location and determined threat potential of the hazard.

7. A system for informing a driver of a vehicle of a surrounding hazard and road position of the vehicle comprising:

a plurality of sensors configured to sense at least one of hazards or location of the vehicle on a roadway;

a receiver configured to receive at least one of road conditions, traffic conditions, or data representing location of at least one of the hazard or the driver'"'"'s vehicle; and

a controller configured to;

receive inputs from at least one of the plurality of sensors or the receiver;

determine a threat potential of the hazard based on at least one of location of the hazard relative to the vehicle, speed of the vehicle, and heading of the vehicle;

send commands to a display for visually displaying the hazard to the driver based on the determined threat potential of the hazard; and

send commands to the display to visually display location of the vehicle relative to lane lines on the roadway.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the plurality of sensors include at least one of the following:

a proximity sensor, a vehicle-to-vehicle sensor, a lane departure detection sensor, a vehicle position sensor, a heading sensor, and a speed sensor.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the receiver is at least one of a satellite radio receiver, a GPS receiver, or a ground-based radio receiver.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the display is an integrated situation awareness display.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the controller is configured to monitor driving habits of the driver for use in determining the threat potential.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the display includes graphics representing:

the driver'"'"'s vehicle, lane markers, blind spots, a comfort zone about the vehicle, and a safety zone about the vehicle between the graphic representing the driver'"'"'s vehicle and the comfort zone.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the display is at least one of a dashboard display and a heads-up display.

14. The system of claim 7, wherein the display is included with a mobile device.

15. The system of claim 7, wherein the controller is configured to highlight areas of the display with at least one of a color code or graphic icon based on location and determined threat potential of the hazard.

16. The system of claim 7, wherein the controller is configured to command the display to display a colored alert when the hazard is in a potentially unsafe location relative to the vehicle.

17. The system of claim 7, wherein the controller is configured to command the display to display a colored alert inside a safety circle or oval when the hazard enters a safety zone of the driver and presents a high safety threat to the vehicle, including when a gap between the driver'"'"'s vehicle and a vehicle ahead of the driver'"'"'s vehicle is smaller than a critical value.

18. The system of claim 7, wherein the controller is configured to command the display to display a colored alert inside a blind spot zone when a hazard appears in the driver'"'"'s blind spot and presents a safety threat to the driver.

19. The system of claim 7, wherein the controller is configured to command the display to display a colored alert representing a change in position of the vehicle relative to lane lines on the roadway.

20. A method for displaying surrounding hazards to a driver of a vehicle and a threat potential of the surrounding hazards, the method comprising:

determining locations of the surrounding hazards relative to the vehicle;

determining a threat potential of each of the surrounding hazards to the driver;

filtering the surrounding hazards based on threat potential;

displaying only the surrounding hazard or hazards that have the greatest threat potential to the driver on a display; and

highlighting areas of the display with at least one of a color code or a graphic icon based on location and determined threat potential of the surrounding hazard or hazards.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising displaying a first alert at a first position inside a circle or oval surrounding a graphic of the vehicle when a hazard enters a first predetermined zone defined about the vehicle, the first alert displayed at a first intensity or color keyed to a threat level of the hazard, the first alert located at a location about the graphic of the vehicle corresponding to location of the hazard.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising displaying a second alert closer to the graphic of the vehicle than the first alert when the hazard enters a second predetermined zone defined about the vehicle that is closer to the vehicle than the first predetermined zone, the second alert displayed at a second intensity greater than the first intensity or a second color different than the first color keyed to a threat level of the hazard, the second alert located at a location about the graphic of the vehicle corresponding to location of the hazard.