Automotive rear safety checking apparatus
First Claim
1. An automotive rear safety checking apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of obstacle detectors provided for a corresponding plurality of watch areas made by dividing a rear area of the automobile into plural parts, each of said obstacle detectors emitting an ultrasonic wave to the corresponding watch area and receiving reflected waves from obstacles which exist in the area,control means for carrying out an obstacle detecting operation periodically and repeatedly, said obstacle detecting operation including activating said obstacle detectors successively in time division mode, causing the activated obstacle detector to emit an ultrasonic wave, determining whether said obstacle detector receives a reflected wave from an obstacle in the rear of the automobile after the emission of the reflected wave, and generating a distance signal, which corresponds to relative distance between the automobile and said obstacle, from the time between emission of the ultrasonic wave and receipt of a reflected wave from said obstacle, together with a position signal which corresponds to the activated obstacle detector,means for storing the distance signals which correspond to the position signals respectively,alarm sound generator means for generating an alarm sound which is proportionally varied in its rate of repetition to represent the distance of the shortest distance signal in the stored distance signals, andindication means including optical alarm elements arranged two-dimensionally such that said elements are arranged in one direction to represent each position of the watch area, and in another direction to represent the distance between each watch area and a detected obstacle, said optical elements being arranged in said another direction as positions extending from an end position indicating the farthest location from the automobile to another end position indicating the nearest location to the automobile, said optical elements being activated by the distance signal stored in said storing means such that the shorter the distance between the automobile and the obstacle, the more the optical elements are activated from the optical element at said end position toward the optical element at said another end position.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An automotive rear safety checking apparatus which comprises a plurality of obstacle detectors mounted on the rear part of the automobile for radiating ultrasonic wave on the watching areas smaller in width than the width of the automobile respectively and detecting the ultrasonic wave reflected from an obstacle. The ultrasonic wave is radiated from the obstacle detectors in time division. Pulse signals in the number associated with the distance between the obstacle detector and the obstacle are generated in response to the detection of the ultrasonic wave reflected from the obstacle, so that the relative positions of the automobile and the obstacle, are indicated two-dimensionally in accordance with the pulse signal.
50 Citations
9 Claims
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1. An automotive rear safety checking apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of obstacle detectors provided for a corresponding plurality of watch areas made by dividing a rear area of the automobile into plural parts, each of said obstacle detectors emitting an ultrasonic wave to the corresponding watch area and receiving reflected waves from obstacles which exist in the area, control means for carrying out an obstacle detecting operation periodically and repeatedly, said obstacle detecting operation including activating said obstacle detectors successively in time division mode, causing the activated obstacle detector to emit an ultrasonic wave, determining whether said obstacle detector receives a reflected wave from an obstacle in the rear of the automobile after the emission of the reflected wave, and generating a distance signal, which corresponds to relative distance between the automobile and said obstacle, from the time between emission of the ultrasonic wave and receipt of a reflected wave from said obstacle, together with a position signal which corresponds to the activated obstacle detector, means for storing the distance signals which correspond to the position signals respectively, alarm sound generator means for generating an alarm sound which is proportionally varied in its rate of repetition to represent the distance of the shortest distance signal in the stored distance signals, and indication means including optical alarm elements arranged two-dimensionally such that said elements are arranged in one direction to represent each position of the watch area, and in another direction to represent the distance between each watch area and a detected obstacle, said optical elements being arranged in said another direction as positions extending from an end position indicating the farthest location from the automobile to another end position indicating the nearest location to the automobile, said optical elements being activated by the distance signal stored in said storing means such that the shorter the distance between the automobile and the obstacle, the more the optical elements are activated from the optical element at said end position toward the optical element at said another end position. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. An automobile rear safety checking apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of obstacle detectors provided for a corresponding plurality of watch areas made by dividing a rear area of the automobile, each of said obstacle detectors emitting an ultrasonic wave to the corresponding watch area and receiving reflected waves from obstacles which exist in the area, a control means for carrying out obstacle detecting operation periodically and repeatedly, said obstacle detecting operation including activating said obstacle detectors successively in time division mode, causing the obstacle detector to emit an ultrasonic wave, determining whether said obstacle detector receives a reflected wave from an obstacle in the rear of the automobile after the emission of the reflected wave, and generating a distance signal, which corresponds to relative distance between the automobile and said obstacle, from the time between emission of the ultrasonic wave and receipt of reflected waves from said obstacle, together with a position signal which corresponds to the activated obstacle detector, means for storing the distance signals which correspond to the position signals respectively, an indication means including optical alarm elements arranged two-dimensionally such that said elements are arranged in one direction to represent the position of the watch area, and in another direction to represent that distance between each watch area and a detected obstacle, said optical elements being arranged in said another direction at positions extending from an end position indicating the farthest location from the automobile to another end position indicating the nearest location to the automobile, said optical elements being activated by the distance signal stored in said storing means such that the shorter the distance between the automobile and the obstacle, the more the optical elements are activated from the optical element at said end position toward the optical element at said another end position, alarm sound control means for receiving position signals and distance signals from said control means and comparing each distance signal to a distance signal generated one cycle previously, generating an alarm signal which corresponds to the distance signal, when it is determined by the comparison that the relative distance between the automobile and said object is becoming shorter, and storing the current distance signal for comparison during the next cycle, and an alarm sound generator means for generating an alarm sound which corresponds to the shortest distance signal. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9)
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Specification