Method and device for determining an absolute value of a variable

• US 8,326,491 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2007
• Issued: 12/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Teves AG & Co. OHG (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Continental Teves AG & Co. OHG (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Gärtner, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Mawari, Redhwan k
• Application Number:
  US12/295,988
• Publication Number:
  US 20100030428A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,070 Days
• Field of Search: 701/41, 701/42, 701/70, 180/400, 180/443, 180/417, 702/92, 702/94, 702/151
• US Class Current: 701/42
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0245 Means or methods for determination of the central position of the steering system, e.g. straight ahead position
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 5/2451 Incremental encoders G01D5/2454 takes precedence

Abstract

A method and a device for acquiring a value of a defined reference point of a first variable which is measured by an incrementally measuring sensor of a motor vehicle are disclosed. The method includes the step of acquiring intermediate values of the defined reference point in at least two detection modules using at least one second measured variable, wherein each detection module is adapted to determine a value of the defined reference point of the first variable in a pre-defined driving situation. A quality level for each intermediate value is determined. The quality levels of the intermediate values are compared. The value of the defined reference point is determined from the acquired intermediate values in accordance with a result of the compared quality levels.

Claims

1. A method for acquiring a value of a defined reference point of a first variable which is measured by an incrementally measuring sensor of a motor vehicle, said method being performed by a processor of the motor vehicle and comprising the steps of:

(a) acquiring, by the processor, intermediate values of the defined reference point in at least two detection modules using at least one second measured variable, wherein each detection module has a predefined ranking and is adapted to determine a value of the defined reference point of the first variable in a respective pre-defined driving situation,

(b) determining, by the processor, a quality level for each intermediate value based on driving conditions,

(c) comparing, by the processor, the quality levels of the intermediate values, and

(d) determining, by the processor, the value of the defined reference point from the acquired intermediate values based on the comparison of the quality levels and the ranking of the detection modules.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein step (d) comprises the sub-step of determining the value of the defined reference point from the intermediate value of the highest quality level.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein step (d) comprises the sub-step of determining the value of the defined reference point from a combination of a plurality of intermediate values whose quality levels are higher than the quality level of further intermediate values and differ from one another by less than a predefined difference.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

assigning each detection module a ranking corresponding to an expected level of precision of the intermediate value which is acquired in the detection module; and

using the acquired intermediate value with a relatively high ranking in the detection module as the value for the defined reference point if intermediate values which are acquired in a plurality of detection modules have corresponding quality levels.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises the sub-step of checking for the presence of one or more driving conditions from a set of predefined driving conditions, wherein the presence of each of the predefined driving conditions leads to a lower precision level of the intermediate values.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein step (b) comprises the sub-step of determining the intermediate values in the detection modules from two or more successively acquired individual values, wherein the driving conditions from the set of predefined driving conditions which were present when a first individual value was acquired are stored, and a second individual value is subsequently acquired only if no additional driving conditions from the set of driving conditions is present.

7. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the set of predefined driving conditions comprises a plurality of the following driving conditions:

a velocity of the vehicle is lower than a predefined limiting value,

an angle of lateral inclination of the vehicle is greater than a predefined threshold value, and

a vehicle movement dynamics control system of the vehicle carries out a control intervention for influencing driving behavior.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first variable is a steering angle which represents a rotational angle of a steering wheel of the vehicle, and the defined reference point corresponds to a straight-ahead position of the steering wheel.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the step of providing a first detection module which is adapted to determine the value of the defined reference point of the first variable during a cornering movement of the vehicle.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein step (a) comprises the sub-step of determining an intermediate value in the first detection module from a difference between an absolute value of the first variable, which is calculated in a vehicle model using at least one measured absolute value of a second variable, and a current value of the first variable.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1, step (a) comprises the sub-step of determining an intermediate value in the second detection module from the defined reference point of the first variable during (i) slalom travel, (ii) travel on a poor underlying surface, or a combination of (i) and (ii),

wherein the intermediate value for the defined reference point that is acquired in the second detection module corresponds to a value of the first variable which is present when a sign of a measured yaw rate of the vehicle changes.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, further comprising the step of assigning a higher ranking to the second detection module than to the first detection module.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the step of providing a third detection module that is adapted to determine the value of the defined reference point of the first variable during straight-ahead travel of the vehicle,

wherein the intermediate value of the defined reference point corresponds to a value of the first variable which is present while straight-ahead travel of the vehicle is detected.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13 further comprising the step of allocating a higher ranking to the third detection module than the second detection module.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

assigning an uncertainty level to each intermediate value which corresponds to an estimate of an error in the respective intermediate value, and

determining a level of uncertainty of the value of the reference point from the uncertainty levels of the intermediate values that are used to determine the value of the reference point.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

acquiring an absolute value of the first variable from the value of the reference point, and

using the absolute value in a vehicle movement dynamics control system.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16 further comprising the step of accounting for an uncertainty level of the value of the reference point in the step of using the absolute value.

18. A computer program product which has a computer program which comprises instructions for the execution of a method as claimed in claim 1 by a computing unit.

19. A device for acquiring a value of a defined reference point of a first variable which is measured by an incrementally measuring sensor of a motor vehicle, said device comprising:

at least two detection modules having a respective predefined ranking that are each configured to;

(i) acquire an intermediate value of the defined reference point using at least one second measured variable,

(ii) determine the value of the defined reference point of the first variable in a predefined driving situation of the vehicle, and

(iii) determine a quality level for the acquired intermediate value based on driving conditions; and

an arbitration device that is configured to compare the quality levels of the intermediate values and determine the value of the defined reference point from the acquired intermediate values based upon a result of the comparison of the quality levels and the ranking of the detection modules.