Vehicle and method for identifying vehicles located in the surroundings of the vehicle

• US 8,072,350 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2007
• Issued: 12/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Teves AG & Co. OHG (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Continental Teves AG & Co. OHG (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Lüke, Stefan
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phung
• Application Number:
  US12/439,852
• Publication Number:
  US 20100052944A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,516 Days
• Field of Search: 340/903, 340/435, 340/426.16, 340/436, 340/426.19, 340/937, 701/300
• US Class Current: 340/903
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/02 Control of vehicle driving stability
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/17 with provision for special action when the preceding vehicle comes to a halt, e.g. stop and go
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/04 Traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/161 Decentralised systems, e.g. inter-vehicle communication

Abstract

Vehicle having a surroundings-sensing system which makes available information on the surroundings to a closed-loop and open-loop control unit of the vehicle, and a closed-loop and/or open-loop control process changes the driving behavior as a function of the acquired information on the surroundings, wherein the vehicle has a registration information system which receives the registration information for vehicles in the surroundings, and in that the registration information system compares the received registration information with the registration information acquired by a surroundings-sensing system and changes the closed-loop and/or open-loop control process as a function of the result of the comparison.

Claims

1. A vehicle having a surroundings-sensing system which is configured to make information available on the surroundings to a closed-loop control unit and an open-loop control unit of the vehicle, said vehicle comprising:

a loop control process that is configured to change a driving behavior as a function of acquired information on the surroundings, wherein the loop control process is a closed-loop control process, an open-loop control process or both a closed-loop and an open-loop control process;

a registration information system configured to receive registration information for vehicles in the surroundings; and

wherein the registration information system is configured to compare received registration information with registration information acquired by the surroundings-sensing system and change the loop control process as a function of the result of the comparison.

2. The vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein a position and a velocity of the vehicles in the surroundings are determined as a function of a result of the comparison of the received registration information and the acquired registration information.

3. The vehicle as claimed in claim 2, wherein distances are calculated from the position of the vehicles in the surroundings and a position of the vehicle itself.

4. Vehicle according to claim 3, wherein a relative velocity is calculated from the velocity of the vehicles in the surroundings and a velocity of the vehicle itself.

5. The vehicle as claimed in claim 4, wherein an ACC closed-loop control process is carried out on the basis of received position information and the relative velocity.

6. The vehicle as claimed in claim 4, wherein passive safety measures, active safety measures, or both passive safety measures and active safety measures are activated on the basis of received position information and the relative velocity.

7. The vehicle as claimed in claim 4, wherein a lane change warning is issued on the basis of the received position information and the relative velocity.

8. The vehicle as claimed in claim 3, wherein an adaptive cruise control (ACC) closed-loop control process is carried out on the basis of received position information.

9. The vehicle as claimed in claim 3, wherein passive safety measures, active safety measures, or both passive safety measures and active safety measures are activated on the basis of received position information.

10. The vehicle as claimed in claim 3, wherein a lane change warning is issued on the basis of received position information.

11. The vehicle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the registration information received by the vehicle is emitted by the vehicles in the surroundings in a unicast mode, a multicast mode, broadcast mode, or any combination thereof.

12. A method for registering objects in the surroundings of a vehicle comprising the following steps:

a. emitting vehicle-specific registration information,

b. receiving the registration information of vehicles in the surroundings,

c. registering the vehicles in the surroundings in an image area,

d. defining a relevant image area,

e. extracting a relevant image area,

wherein, following step (b), a relevant image area is extracted in real time, and the received registration information is compared with the extracted image area by a similarity measure.

13. Method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the relevant image area comprises the registration information of a transmitting vehicle, and the extracted image area is the registration information.

14. Method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the registration information is a license number.