Device for monitoring surroundings of vehicle

• US 6,243,024 B1
• Filed: 10/15/1999
• Issued: 06/05/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamabuchi, Hiroshi, Honma, Shinichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Benjamin C.
• Application Number:
  US09/418,836
• Time in Patent Office: 599 Days
• Field of Search: 340/903, 343/872, 343/873, 342/70, 361/600, 701/301
• US Class Current: 340/903
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2001/1223 with sensors or transducers
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2001/1261 with antennae
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2001/1284 with communication systems other than radio-receivers, e.g. keyless entry systems, navigation systems; with anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9315 Monitoring blind spots
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93274 on the side of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/032 Constructional details for solid-state radar subsystems
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/161 Decentralised systems, e.g. inter-vehicle communication

Abstract

A radar system 100 is integrally accommodated in, for example, a door mounted exterior mirror case, wherein electromagnetic waves are emitted from a transmitting antenna 4 to an area of a right side and a backside of a driver'"'"'s own vehicle; the electromagnetic waves reflected by objects are received by a receiving antenna 5; thus received waves are amplified by a receiving circuit 6; a Doppler frequency is measured; a situation of danger or safety is judged along with calculations of ranges and relative velocities from the objects in an operating circuit 2; a result of the judgement is displayed by LED7, 8; and a predetermined alarm and control is performed by a control circuit 9, equipped in a body of the own vehicle, based on information from the operating circuit 2, whereby detection of vehicles especially existing in an area being difficult for a driver to observe from a door mounted exterior mirror, for example that on a right back side of the own vehicle, are aided to detect.

Claims

1. A device for monitoring surroundings of vehicle comprising:

a transmitting antenna having a predetermined directivity;

an oscillator for generating electromagnetic waves emitted from said receiving antenna;

a receiving antenna for catching the electromagnetic waves reflected by an object;

a means for receiving signals from said transmitting and receiving antennas and measuring a range from the object based on a time difference between the transmitting and receiving signals and a relative velocity based on a Doppler frequency of the caught electromagnetic waves;

an operating means for judging a degree of risk of colliding with the object based on a result of the measurements obtained by said means for receiving and measuring;

an alarm for notifying a driver the risk based on the degree of the risk judged by said operating means; and

a radome arranged in a front of said transmitting and receiving antennas, wherein at least one of intervals between an electromagnetic wave receiving surface of said receiving antenna and an inside of said radome has a size corresponding to about one wavelength or a half wavelength of a period of the oscillated electromagnetic waves.

2. The device for monitoring surroundings of vehicle according to claim 1, wherein

a single antenna is commonly used in place of said transmitting and receiving antennas, or said transmitting antenna and said receiving antenna are separate and independent.

3. The device for monitoring surroundings of vehicle according to claim 2, wherein

all constitutional elements of the device are integrated.

4. The device for monitoring surroundings of vehicle according to claim 3, wherein

the all constitutional elements or at least said transmitting and receiving antennas among the all constitutional elements of the device are equipped in an inside of a door mounted exterior mirror or a peripheral portion of the mirror of a vehicle, in which the device is installed.

5. The device for monitoring surroundings of vehicle according to claim 4, wherein

an area of emitting the electromagnetic waves by said transmitting antenna and of receiving the electromagnetic waves reflected by the object by said receiving antenna include a blind spot in a relatively point-blank range, being invisible through said door mounted exterior mirror by the driver in detecting the object approaching from back side to a driver'"'"'s own vehicle from a relatively far range.

6. The device for monitoring surroundings of vehicle according to claim 2, wherein

all constitutional elements or at least said transmitting and receiving antennas among the all constitutional elements of the device are equipped in an inside of a door mounted exterior mirror or a peripheral portion of the mirror of a vehicle, in which the device is installed.

7. The device for monitoring surroundings of vehicle according to 6, wherein

an area of emitting the electromagnetic waves by said transmitting antenna and of receiving the electromagnetic waves reflected by the object by said receiving antenna include a blind spot in a relatively point-blank range, being invisible through said door mounted exterior mirror by the driver in detecting the object approaching from a back side to a driver'"'"'s own vehicle from a relatively far range.

8. The device for monitoring surroundings of vehicle according to claim 1, wherein

all constitutional elements of the device are integrated.

9. The device for monitoring surroundings of vehicle according to claim 8, wherein

the all constitutional elements or at least said transmitting and receiving antennas among the all constitutional elements of the device are equipped in an inside of a door mounted exterior mirror or a peripheral portion of the mirror of a vehicle, in which the device is installed.

10. The device for monitoring surroundings of vehicle according to claim 9, wherein

an area of emitting the electromagnetic waves by said transmitting antenna and of receiving the electromagnetic waves reflected by the object by said receiving antenna include a blind spot in a relatively point-blank range, being invisible through said door mounted exterior mirror by the driver in detecting the object approaching from a back side to a driver'"'"'s own vehicle from a relatively far range.

11. The device for monitoring surroundings of vehicle according to claim 1, wherein

all constitutional elements or at least said transmitting and receiving antennas among the all constitutional elements of the device are equipped in an inside of a door mounted exterior mirror or a peripheral portion of the mirror of a vehicle, in which the device is installed.

12. The device for monitoring surroundings of vehicle according to claim 11, wherein

an area of emitting the electromagnetic waves by said transmitting antenna and of receiving the electromagnetic waves reflected by the object by said receiving antenna include a blind spot in a relatively point-blank range, being invisible through said door mounted exterior mirror by the driver in detecting the object approaching from back side to a driver'"'"'s own vehicle from a relatively far range.