Method and device for processing measurement signals from a movement sensor on board a motor vehicle

• US 7,463,952 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2005
• Issued: 12/09/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Automotive Systems US Incorporated (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Continental Automotive France (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Bidou, Patrick, Fonzes, Georges
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Dalena
• Application Number:
  US11/247,184
• Publication Number:
  US 20060080006A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,154 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/34, 701/207, 701/29, 701/70, 701/74, 701/76, 701/79, 123/479, 123/370, 123/406.36, 123/406.46, 731/181, 731/46, 731/180.1
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/10 Longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18054 at stand still, e.g. engine in idling state hill holding B60W30/18118
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/107 Longitudinal acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/12 related to parameters of the vehicle itself , e.g. tyre models
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 2059/446 Detecting vehicle stop, i.e. the vehicle is at stand still, e.g. for engaging parking lock
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 59/44 dependent on machine speed of the machine, e.g. the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 21/02 of speedometers

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of processing measurement signals from a movement senor on board a motor vehicle, according to which, initially, and in a preliminary phase, a reference value AcOff, called offset value, is stored, representative of the value of the signal output by the movement sensor, with the vehicle stopped, a so-called noise value Bb representative of the white noise of said sensor, and an acceleration value Sa determining a running threshold of the motor vehicle. Then, according to this method, and throughout the life of the vehicle, sequences of n successive measurements are taken of the value Ac(t) of the signal output by the movement sensor, and, for each of these sequences, the stored offset value AcOff is subtracted from each of the n measured value and each of the duly calculated values is compared with the stored running threshold, and information representative of a stopped state of the vehicle is transmitted if, and only if, the n calculated values are all less than the stored running threshold and roughly equal to each other with a tolerance margin corresponding to the stored noise value.

Claims

1. A method of processing measurement signals from a movement sensor (2) on board a motor vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

in a preliminary phase;

measuring, with the vehicle stopped, a reference value (AcOFF) of a signal output by the movement sensor (2), and storing said measured reference value as an offset value;

by an acceleration value (Sa) determining a running threshold of the motor vehicle and fixing and storing the running threshold; and

storing a noise value (Bb), the noise value being characteristic of operation of the movement sensor (2) and representative of white noise of the movement sensor (2); and

then, throughout the life of the vehicle;

measuring the movement sensor signal output by executing sequences of a quantity n of successive measurements of the signal output, to produce a corresponding n successive measured values for each sequence,

wherein, for each sequence, i) the stored offset value is subtracted from each of the n successive measured values of each sequence to produce n calculated values, ii) each of the n calculated values is compared with the stored running threshold, and iii) information representative of a stopped state of the vehicle is transmitted if, and only if, the n calculated values are all less than the stored running threshold, and the n calculated values are each equal to each other within a tolerance margin corresponding to the stored noise value.

2. The processing method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, following a sequence of n measurements giving rise to vehicle stopped information, a new offset value according to the n measured values of said sequence of n measurements is substituted for the stored offset value.

3. The processing method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

after said sequence of n measurements giving rise to vehicle stopped information, determining a sequence value representative of the n measured values of said sequence of n measurements giving rise to vehicle stopped information;

comparing the sequence value with the stored offset value; and

storing a new offset value, wherein,

if the sequence value is greater than the stored offset value, the new offset value is the stored offset value added to a predetermined correction coefficient, and

if the sequence value is less than the stored offset value, the new offset value is the stored offset value subtracted from a predetermined correction coefficient.

4. The processing method as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the value of the correction coefficient is fixed at 0.5.

5. The processing method as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that the first measured value of the corresponding sequence of n measurements is fixed as the value of a sequence.

6. The processing method as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that each sequence of measurements consists in measuring successively, with an interval roughly between 10 seconds and 60 seconds, n values of the signal output by the movement sensor (2).

7. The processing method as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that each sequence of measurements consists in performing n=5 successive measurements of the value of the signal output by the movement sensor (2).

8. The processing method as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that a first measured value of the sequence of n measurements is fixed as the value of a sequence.

9. The processing method as claimed in claim 8, characterized in that each sequence of measurements consists in measuring successively, with an interval roughly between 10 seconds and 60 seconds, n values of the signal output by the movement sensor (2).

10. The processing method as claimed in claim 8, characterized in that each sequence of measurements consists in performing n=5 successive measurements of the value of the signal output by the movement sensor (2).

11. The processing method as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that each sequence of measurements consists in measuring successively, with an interval roughly between 10 seconds and 60 seconds, n values of the signal output by the movement sensor (2).

12. The processing method as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that each sequence of measurements consists in performing n=5 successive measurements of the value of the signal output by the movement sensor (2).

13. The processing method as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that each sequence of measurements consists in measuring successively, with an interval roughly between 10 seconds and 60 seconds, n values of the signal output by the movement sensor (2).

14. The processing method as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that each sequence of measurements consists in performing n=5 successive measurements of the value of the signal output by the movement sensor (2).

15. The processing method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that each sequence of measurements consists in measuring successively, with an interval roughly between 10 seconds and 60 seconds, n values of the signal output by the movement sensor (2).

16. The processing method as claimed in claim 15, characterized in that each sequence of measurements consists in performing n=5 successive measurements of the value of the signal output by the movement sensor (2).

17. The processing method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that each sequence of measurements consists in performing n=5 successive measurements of the value of the signal output by the movement sensor (2).

18. A device for processing measurement signals from a movement sensor (2) on board a motor vehicle, comprising:

measurement means (3) of measuring values of the signals (AcB) output by the movement sensor (2);

storage means (4) of storing i) a reference value (AcOFF), called an offset value, representative of the value of a reference signal output by the movement sensor (2) when the vehicle is stopped, ii) a noise value (Bb) characteristic of operation of the movement sensor and representative of white noise of the movement sensor, and iii) an acceleration value (Sa) determining a running threshold of the vehicle; and

a computation unit (5), connected to the measurement means (3) and to the storage means (4), and programmed to, throughout the life of the vehicle,

command sequences of n successive measurements of the value of the signal output by the movement sensor (2), and

for each of these sequences, i) to subtract the stored offset value from each of the n measured values as calculated values and compare each of the calculated values with the stored running threshold, and ii) to command the transmission of information representative of a stopped state of the vehicle if, and only if, a) the n calculated values are all less than the stored running threshold, and b) the n calculated values are all equal to each other within a tolerance margin corresponding to the stored noise value.