Periphery vehicle determination apparatus

• US 8,762,042 B2
• Filed: 03/18/2013
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Funabashi, Junichiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Olszewski, John R
• Assistant Examiner(s): BOOMER, JEFFREY C
• Application Number:
  US13/846,236
• Publication Number:
  US 20130261948A1
• Time in Patent Office: 463 Days
• Field of Search: 701/117
• US Class Current: 701/300
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/43 using carrier phase measurements, e.g. kinematic positioning; using long or short baseline interferometry
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9316 combined with communication equipment with other vehicles or with base stations
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/932 using own vehicle data, e.g. ground speed, steering wheel direction
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0257 using a radar radar systems designed for anti-collision purposes between land vehicles or between land vehicle and fixed obstacles G01S13/931
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0293 Convoy travelling
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0295 by at least one leading vehicle of the fleet
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00

Abstract

A periphery vehicle determination apparatus disposed in a host vehicle includes a behavior obtaining section obtaining a behavior related information of an immediately adjacent object, a vehicle-to-vehicle communication device, an information obtaining section obtaining vehicle information sets from periphery vehicles, a specifying section specifying a vehicle information set from an immediately adjacent vehicle based on the behavior related information, a transceiving section transmits and receives an immediately adjacent information, and an anteroposterior relation determination section specifying an anteroposterior relation of the periphery vehicles in a one-dimensional direction by correlating the immediately adjacent informations transmitted from the periphery vehicles based on a repeated identification information included in at least two of the immediately adjacent informations.

Claims

1. A periphery vehicle determination apparatus disposed in a host vehicle comprising:

a behavior obtaining section that obtains a behavior related information of an immediately adjacent object of the host vehicle, wherein the immediately adjacent object refers to one of an immediately front object and an immediately following object, and the behavior related information includes at least one of a position of the immediately adjacent object and a speed related parameter of the immediately adjacent object;

a vehicle-to-vehicle communication device that communicates with a plurality of periphery vehicles;

an information obtaining section that obtains a plurality of vehicle information sets from the periphery vehicles via the vehicle-to-vehicle communication device, wherein each of the vehicle information sets includes an identification information of a respective one of the periphery vehicles;

a specifying section that specifies one of the vehicle information sets obtained by the information obtaining section as being from an immediately adjacent vehicle based on the behavior related information of the immediately adjacent object obtained by the behavior obtaining section, and specifies the identification information of the immediately adjacent vehicle based on the vehicle information set specified as from the immediately adjacent vehicle, wherein the immediately adjacent vehicle is one of an immediately front vehicle and an immediately following vehicle, and the immediately front vehicle and the immediately following vehicle are part of the plurality of periphery vehicles;

a transceiving section that transmits an immediately adjacent information of the host vehicle to the periphery vehicles and receives a plurality of immediately adjacent informations from the periphery vehicles via the vehicle-to-vehicle communication device, wherein the immediately adjacent information of the host vehicle includes an identification information of the host vehicle, the identification information of the immediately adjacent vehicle, and an anteroposterior relation between the host vehicle and the immediately adjacent vehicle;

an anteroposterior relation determination section that specifies an anteroposterior relation of at least two of the periphery vehicles in a one-dimensional direction by correlating the immediately adjacent informations transmitted from the periphery vehicles according to a repeated identification information that is the identification information included in at least two of the immediately adjacent informations from the periphery vehicles, wherein the one-dimensional direction is defined as along the travel direction of the host vehicle at least one of a forward direction with respect to the host vehicle and a backward direction with respect to the host vehicle;

a leading vehicle determination section that determines a leading vehicle of a subject convoy in which the host vehicle is included; and

a combination determination section that determines whether to connect with a front convoy when the leading vehicle determination section determines that the host vehicle is the leading vehicle of the subject convoy,

wherein, when the combination determination section determines to connect the subject convoy with the front convoy, the anteroposterior relation determination section determines an anteroposterior relation of the periphery vehicles included in a connected convoy, which is generated by connecting the subject convoy with the front convoy, by correlating the immediately adjacent informations from the periphery vehicles included in the connected convoy based on the repeated identification information that is the identification information included in at least two of the immediately adjacent informations.

2. The periphery vehicle determination apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a first behavior determination section that determines a relative behavior of the immediately adjacent object relative to the host vehicle based on the behavior related information of the immediately adjacent object obtained from the behavior obtaining section and a behavior related information of the host vehicle; and

a second behavior determination section that determines a relative behavior of each of the periphery vehicles relative to the host vehicle based on a behavior related information of each of the periphery vehicles and the behavior related information of the host vehicle,

wherein the behavior related information of each of the periphery vehicles is included in the vehicle information set of each of the periphery vehicles, and

wherein the specifying section specifies the one of the vehicle information sets transmitted from the immediately adjacent vehicle by comparing the relative behavior of the immediately adjacent object with the relative behavior of each of the periphery vehicles.

3. The periphery vehicle determination apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein the behavior information of the host vehicle includes at least one of a position of the host vehicle and a speed related parameter of the host vehicle.

4. The periphery vehicle determination apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a change determination section that determines whether a current order number of the immediately front vehicle in a convoy is changed compared with an immediately previous order number of the immediately front vehicle, and determines whether a current order number of the immediately following vehicle in the convoy is changed compared with an immediately previous order number of the immediately following vehicle; and

an order number updating section that changes an order number of the host vehicle in the convoy based on the current order number of the immediately front vehicle and the current order number of the immediately following vehicle when the change determination section determines that one of the current order number of the immediately front vehicle and the current order number of the immediately following vehicle is changed,

wherein the current order number and the immediately previous order number of the immediately front vehicle are included in the vehicle information sets transmitted periodically from the immediately front vehicle,

wherein the current order number and the immediately previous order number of the immediately following vehicle are included in the vehicle information sets transmitted periodically from the immediately following vehicle, and

wherein the anteroposterior relation determination section determines an anteroposterior relation of the periphery vehicles included in the convoy by correlating the immediately adjacent informations from the periphery vehicles included in the convoy based on the repeated identification information that is the identification information included in at least two of the immediately adjacent informations.

5. The periphery vehicle determination apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the immediately adjacent information from each of the periphery vehicles includes the identification information of the each of the periphery vehicles, the identification information of an immediately adjacent vehicle of the each of the periphery vehicles, and an anteroposterior relation between each of the periphery vehicles and the immediately adjacent vehicle of each of the periphery vehicles.

6. A periphery vehicle determination apparatus disposed in a host vehicle comprising:

a behavior obtaining section that obtains a behavior related information of an immediately adjacent object of the host vehicle, wherein the immediately adjacent object refers to one of an immediately front object and an immediately following object, and the behavior related information includes at least one of a position of the immediately adjacent object and a speed related parameter of the immediately adjacent object;

a vehicle-to-vehicle communication device that communicates with a plurality of periphery vehicles;

an information obtaining section that obtains a plurality of vehicle information sets from the periphery vehicles via the vehicle-to-vehicle communication device, wherein each of the vehicle information sets includes an identification information of a respective one of the periphery vehicles;

a specifying section that specifies one of the vehicle information sets obtained by the information obtaining section as being from an immediately adjacent vehicle based on the behavior related information of the immediately adjacent object obtained by the behavior obtaining section, and specifies the identification information of the immediately adjacent vehicle based on the vehicle information set specified as from the immediately adjacent vehicle, wherein the immediately adjacent vehicle is one of an immediately front vehicle and an immediately following vehicle, and the immediately front vehicle and the immediately following vehicle are part of the plurality of periphery vehicles;

a transceiving section that transmits an immediately adjacent information of the host vehicle to the periphery vehicles and receives a plurality of immediately adjacent informations from the periphery vehicles via the vehicle-to-vehicle communication device, wherein the immediately adjacent information of the host vehicle includes an identification information of the host vehicle, the identification information of the immediately adjacent vehicle, and an anteroposterior relation between the host vehicle and the immediately adjacent vehicle;

an anteroposterior relation determination section that specifies an anteroposterior relation of at least two of the periphery vehicles in a one-dimensional direction by correlating the immediately adjacent informations transmitted from the periphery vehicles according to a repeated identification information that is the identification information included in at least two of the immediately adjacent informations from the periphery vehicles, wherein the one-dimensional direction is defined as along the travel direction of the host vehicle at least one of a forward direction with respect to the host vehicle and a backward direction with respect to the host vehicle; and

a separation determination section that determines, during a convoy travel, whether to separate the host vehicle from a pre-separation convoy,

wherein the pre-separation convoy refers to a convoy in which the host vehicle travels before a separation, and a post-separation convoy refers to a convoy in which the host vehicle travels after the separation, and

wherein, when the separation determination section determines to separate the host vehicle from the pre-separation convoy, the anteroposterior relation determination section determines an anteroposterior relation of the periphery vehicles included in the post-separation convoy by correlating the immediately adjacent informations from the periphery vehicles included in the post-separation convoy based on the repeated identification information that is the identification information included in at least two of the immediately adjacent informations.

7. The periphery vehicle determination apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising:

a first behavior determination section that determines a relative behavior of the immediately adjacent object relative to the host vehicle based on the behavior related information of the immediately adjacent object obtained from the behavior obtaining section and a behavior related information of the host vehicle; and

a second behavior determination section that determines a relative behavior of each of the periphery vehicles relative to the host vehicle based on a behavior related information of each of the periphery vehicles and the behavior related information of the host vehicle,

wherein the behavior related information of each of the periphery vehicles is included in the vehicle information set of each of the periphery vehicles, and

wherein the specifying section specifies the one of the vehicle information sets transmitted from the immediately adjacent vehicle by comparing the relative behavior of the immediately adjacent object with the relative behavior of each of the periphery vehicles.

8. The periphery vehicle determination apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising:

a change determination section that determines whether a current order number of the immediately front vehicle in a convoy is changed compared with an immediately previous order number of the immediately front vehicle, and determines whether a current order number of the immediately following vehicle in the convoy is changed compared with an immediately previous order number of the immediately following vehicle; and

an order number updating section that changes an order number of the host vehicle in the convoy based on the current order number of the immediately front vehicle and the current order number of the immediately following vehicle when the change determination section determines that one of the current order number of the immediately front vehicle and the current order number of the immediately following vehicle is changed,

wherein the current order number and the immediately previous order number of the immediately front vehicle are included in the vehicle information sets transmitted periodically from the immediately front vehicle,

wherein the current order number and the immediately previous order number of the immediately following vehicle are included in the vehicle information sets transmitted periodically from the immediately following vehicle, and

wherein the anteroposterior relation determination section determines an anteroposterior relation of the periphery vehicles included in the convoy by correlating the immediately adjacent informations from the periphery vehicles included in the convoy based on the repeated identification information that is the identification information included in at least two of the immediately adjacent informations.

9. The periphery vehicle determination apparatus according to claim 6,

wherein the immediately adjacent information from each of the periphery vehicles includes the identification information of the each of the periphery vehicles, the identification information of an immediately adjacent vehicle of the each of the periphery vehicles, and an anteroposterior relation between each of the periphery vehicles and the immediately adjacent vehicle of each of the periphery vehicles.