Method and apparatus for pre-crash threat assessment using spheroidal partitioning
First Claim
1. A method for operating a pre-crash sensing system for a vehicle having an object detecting system and an associated data storage, the method comprising:
- partitioning the vehicle operating environment into a plurality of zones wherein each zone represents a different area surrounding the vehicle;
in response to detecting an object within any one of said zones, activating said zone; and
modifying an operating state of said object detection system and the contents of said data storage as a function of said active zone.
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Abstract
A method for operating a pre-crash sensing system for a vehicle having an object detecting system and an associated data storage. The method includes partitioning the vehicle operating environment into a plurality of zones wherein each zone represents a different area surrounding the vehicle. In response to detecting an object within any one of the zones, the method activates the zone, and modifies an state of the object detection system and the contents of,the data storage as a function. the active zone. In one embodiment, three zones are disclosed wherein each zone represents a spheroidal area surrounding the vehicle. When the furthest zone is active, all data within the data storage is given approximately equal processing priority. When the middle zone is active, the content of the data storage is modified to prioritize data regarding the detected object for processing. Finally, when the nearest zone is active, the content of the data storage is further modified to provide highest priority to data regarding the detected object.
57 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for operating a pre-crash sensing system for a vehicle having an object detecting system and an associated data storage, the method comprising:
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partitioning the vehicle operating environment into a plurality of zones wherein each zone represents a different area surrounding the vehicle;
in response to detecting an object within any one of said zones, activating said zone; and
modifying an operating state of said object detection system and the contents of said data storage as a function of said active zone. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for operating a pre-crash sensing system for a vehicle having an object detecting system and an associated data storage, the method comprising:
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partitioning the vehicle operating environment into first, second and third zones wherein the first zone represents an area immediately surrounding said vehicle, said second zone is outside of said first zone, and said third zone is outside of said second zone, wherein each of said zones is spheroidal and concentric with respect to the vehicle;
in response to detecting an object within one of said zones, activating said zone; and
modifying an operating state of said object detection system and the contents of said data storage as a function of said active zone.- View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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14. A pre-crash sensing system for a vehicle comprising:
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an object detection system including at least one object detection sensor and providing sensing data;
a transponder for receiving object data from a detected object across a wireless vehicle network;
a navigational system for receiving navigational data regarding the vehicle operating environment;
a data storage in operative communication with said object detection system, transponder and said navigational system for storing said sensing data, object data and navigational data; and
a controller in operative communication with said data storage, said controller including logic programmed to;
partition the vehicle operating environment into a plurality of zones wherein each zone represents a different area surrounding the vehicle; and
in response to detecting an object within any one of said zones, activate said zone and prioritize said sensing data, object data and navigational data as a function of said active zone. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification