Vehicle longitudinal spacing controller
First Claim
1. A vehicle longitudinal spacing controller for controlling a travel of a group of vehicles traveling in a line, each of said vehicles having a travel speed varying mechanism for varying a travel speed of said vehicle, said controller comprising:
- means for setting a virtual cell for each vehicle allowing a predetermined distance in front of and behind said vehicle,first transmitting means for transmitting a signal indicative of a virtual cell front end position of a frontmost vehicle in the group to said frontmost vehicle,means for calculating a virtual cell front end position of a (i+1)th vehicle from said frontmost vehicle, from a virtual cell front end position and a virtual cell of a ith vehicle, where i ranges from 1 to the total number of vehicles in said group,second transmitting means for transmitting a signal indicative of the virtual cell front end position of said (i+1)th vehicle to said (i+1)th vehicle,means for setting a target position of each vehicle in said virtual cell,means for detecting a real position of each vehicle in said virtual cell, andmeans for controlling said travel speed varying mechanism such that said real position coincides with said target position of each vehicle.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A frontmost vehicle and a plurality of following vehicles are driven together in a line as a group. A virtual cell is set for each vehicle, allowing a predetermined distance in front of and behind the vehicle, and a virtual cell front end position of the frontmost vehicle is indicated from outside. A value obtained by adding the length of the virtual cell to the virtual cell front end position is transmitted to the following vehicle as the virtual cell front end position of the following vehicle. A relative position in the virtual cell of each vehicle is detected, and by controlling this relative position to a preset target position, the inter-vehicle distance is reduced and the generation of dilatational waves between the vehicles is prevented.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A vehicle longitudinal spacing controller for controlling a travel of a group of vehicles traveling in a line, each of said vehicles having a travel speed varying mechanism for varying a travel speed of said vehicle, said controller comprising:
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means for setting a virtual cell for each vehicle allowing a predetermined distance in front of and behind said vehicle, first transmitting means for transmitting a signal indicative of a virtual cell front end position of a frontmost vehicle in the group to said frontmost vehicle, means for calculating a virtual cell front end position of a (i+1)th vehicle from said frontmost vehicle, from a virtual cell front end position and a virtual cell of a ith vehicle, where i ranges from 1 to the total number of vehicles in said group, second transmitting means for transmitting a signal indicative of the virtual cell front end position of said (i+1)th vehicle to said (i+1)th vehicle, means for setting a target position of each vehicle in said virtual cell, means for detecting a real position of each vehicle in said virtual cell, and means for controlling said travel speed varying mechanism such that said real position coincides with said target position of each vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification