OPENING AND CLOSING SYSTEM

• US 20180016835A1
• Filed: 07/13/2017
• Published: 01/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsui Kinzoku Act Corporation (Mitsui Mining and Smelting Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: Mitsui Kinzoku Act Corporation (Mitsui Mining and Smelting Company Limited)
• Inventors: ICHINOSE, Mikio
• Granted Patent: US 10,655,379 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60J 5/0472 the door having a hinge axis in horizontal direction transverse to vehicle longitudinal axis
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 15/73 responsive to movement or presence of persons or objects
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 2015/767 using cameras
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2400/44 Sensors not directly associated with the wing movement
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2900/50 for vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2900/531 Doors

Abstract

An opening and closing system includes a drive unit which drives a closing openable member of a vehicle to be opened or closed, an opening and closing control unit which controls the drive unit to open or close the closing openable member, an image capturing unit which captures an image of a periphery of the closing openable member, and a detecting unit which detects an obstacle proximity to the closing openable member based on an image captured by the image capturing unit. When the detecting unit detects an obstacle, the opening and closing unit stops the closing openable member before it comes into contact with the obstacle.

Claims

1. An opening and closing system, comprising:

a drive unit configured to drive a closing openable member to be opened or closed, the closing openable member being provided in an opening portion of a vehicle;

an opening and closing control unit configured to control the drive unit to open or close the closing openable member;

an image capturing unit configured to capture an image of a periphery of the closing openable member; and

a detecting unit configured to detect an obstacle proximity to the closing openable member based on an image captured by the image capturing unit,

wherein in response to the obstacle being detected by the detecting unit, the opening and closing control unit is configured to stop the closing openable member before the closing openable member comes into contact with the obstacle.

2. The opening and closing system according to claim 1, further comprising:

an identifying unit configured to identify whether or not the obstacle detected by the detecting unit is a human body,

wherein in response to the obstacle being detected by the detecting unit and the detected obstacle being identified as a human body by the identifying unit, the opening and closing control unit is configured to stop the closing openable member before the closing openable member comes into contact with the obstacle.

3. The opening and closing system according to claim 1, wherein the opening and closing control unit is configured to stop the closing openable member moving in a first direction before the closing openable member comes into contact with the obstacle and to cause the closing openable member to move in a second direction after the opening and closing control unit has stopped the closing openable member, the second direction being opposite to the first direction in which the closing openable member moved before the closing openable member was stopped.

4. The opening and closing system according to claim 3, wherein when the second direction is an opening direction, the opening and closing control unit is configured to fully open the closing openable member.

5. The opening and closing system according to claim 1, wherein the detecting unit is configured to:

extract an object from the image captured by the image capturing unit;

determine whether or not the object is positioned on a track of the closing openable member;

calculate a distance between the object, which is positioned on the track of the closing openable member, and the closing openable member; and

when it is determined that the object is positioned on the track of the record and the distance between the object and the closing openable member is less than a threshold, detect said object as the obstacle proximity to the closing openable member.

6. An opening and closing system, comprising:

a drive device configured to drive a closing openable member to be opened or closed, the closing openable member being provided in an opening portion of a vehicle;

an image capturing device configured to capture an image of a periphery of the closing openable member;

a controller configured to;

control the drive device to open or close the closing openable member; and

detect an obstacle proximity to the closing openable member based on an image captured by the image capturing device,

wherein the controller is configured to, in response to the obstacle being detected by the detecting device, stop the closing openable member before the closing openable member comes into contact with the obstacle.

7. The opening and closing system according to claim 6,

wherein the controller is further configured to identify whether or not the obstacle detected by the detecting unit is a human body,

wherein in response to the obstacle being detected and the detected obstacle being identified as a human body, the controller is configured to stop the closing openable member before the closing openable member comes into contact with the obstacle.

8. The opening and closing system according to claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to stop the closing openable member moving in a first direction before the closing openable member comes into contact with the obstacle and to cause the closing openable member to move in a second direction after the controller has stopped the closing openable member, the second direction being opposite to the first direction in which the closing openable member moved before the closing openable member was stopped.

9. The opening and closing system according to claim 8, wherein when the second direction is an opening direction, the controller is configured to fully open the closing openable member.

10. The opening and closing system according to claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to:

extract an object from the image captured by the image capturing device;

determine whether or not the object is positioned on a track of the closing openable member;

calculate a distance between the object, which is positioned on the track of the closing openable member, and the closing openable member; and

when it is determined that the object is positioned on the track of the record and the distance between the object and the closing openable member is less than a threshold, detect said object as the obstacle proximity to the closing openable member.