Vehicle control system for controlling steering of vehicle

• US 9,586,618 B2
• Filed: 01/27/2016
• Issued: 03/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thunder Power New Energy Vehicle Development Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Thunder Power Hong Kong Limited (Thunder Power Holdings Ltd.)
• Inventors: Sham, Wellen
• Primary Examiner(s): MARC-COLEMAN, MARTHE Y
• Application Number:
  US15/008,416
• Publication Number:
  US 20160272242A1
• Time in Patent Office: 405 Days
• Field of Search: 701/41, 340/937, 345/175
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/334 Projection means
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 28/00 Safety devices for propulsion-unit control, specially adapted for, or arranged in, vehicles, e.g. preventing fuel supply or ignition in the event of potentially dangerous conditions for electrically-propelled vehicles B60L3/00; road vehicle drive control systems for purposes not related to the control of a particular sub-unit B60W30/00; drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles B60W60/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2200/11 Passenger cars; Automobiles
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2200/12 Motorcycles, Trikes; Quads; Scooters
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2200/14 Trucks; Load vehicles, Busses
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2200/30 Railway vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2200/50 Aeroplanes, Helicopters
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2200/80 Other vehicles not covered by groups B60Y2200/10 - B60Y2200/60
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2400/83 Steering input members
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 1/00 Steering controls, i.e. means for initiating a change of direction of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 1/286 Systems for interrupting non-mechanical steering due to driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/021 Determination of steering angle
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/025 Active steering aids, e.g. helping the driver by actively influencing the steering system after environment evaluation B62D1/28 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 5/0457 characterised by control features of the drive means as such
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/22 Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/74 operating in dual or compartmented mode, i.e. at least one secure mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30196 Human being; Person
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30268 Vehicle interior
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/20 : Analysis of motion motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/246 : using feature-based methods, e.g. the tracking of corners or segments
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/60 : Analysis of geometric attributes
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/70 : Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras camera calibration G06T7/80
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/73 : using feature-based methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/28 : Recognition of hand or arm movements, e.g. recognition of deaf sign language static hand signs G06V40/113
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 : Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/3179 : Video signal processing therefor
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 : Electric charging stations

Abstract

The present invention provides a vehicle control system comprising a projecting device, a camera device, a control device and an actuating device. The vehicle steering control system does not need a physical steering wheel, thus the weight and cost of the vehicles can be reduced. In addition, the steering control system according to the present invention provides the drivers with brand new driving experience.

Claims

1. A control system for controlling steering of a driving apparatus, wherein the system comprising:

a projecting device configured to project a steering wheel image in front of a driver seat;

a camera device configured to take images of one or two hands on the projected steering wheel image periodically;

a processor configured by machine-readable instructions to;

determine a position of the one or two hands on the projected steering wheel image according to the images of the one or two hands,

calculate a movement of the one or two hands based on the determined position of the one or two hands on the projected steering wheel image,

determine a steering angle and a steering direction according to the movement of the one or two hands, and

output a control signal according to the steering angle and steering direction; and

an actuating device configured to receive the control signal and effectuate a maneuver of the driving apparatus according to the control signal.

2. The control system according to claim 1, further comprising a storage device the storage device storing the positions of the hands;

wherein processor is further configured to calculate a position difference vector according to the position of the hands and at least one position of the one or two hands determined at a previous time to form the movement position difference vector.

3. The control system according to claim 1,

wherein the camera device is configured to take images of the left and right hands on the steering wheel image;

and

wherein the processor is configured to

separately calculate a left hand movement position difference vector and a right hand movement position difference vector,

check whether the left hand movement position difference vector is consistent with the right hand movement position difference vector, and,

in response to determining the left hand movement position difference vector is consistent with the right hand movement position difference vector, determines the steering angle and the steering direction according to the left or right hand movement position difference vector.

4. The control system according to claim 1, further comprising a storage device, steering angles and steering directions corresponding to respective movement position difference vectors being pre-stored in the storage device.

5. The control system according to claim 1, wherein the actuating device is a steering motor, operative connected to a steering structure having a steering rack and a steering gear.

6. An electric vehicle, comprising the vehicle control system according to claim 1.

7. A control method for controlling steering of a driving apparatus, comprising the following steps:

projecting a steering wheel image in front of a driver seat;

taking images of one or two hands on the projected steering wheel image;

determining a position of the one or two hands on the projected steering wheel image according to the images of the one or two hands;

calculating a movement of the one or two hands based on the determined position of the one or two hands on the projected steering wheel image;

determining a steering angle and a steering direction according to the movement of the one or two hands

outputting a control signal according to the steering angle and steering direction;

receiving, at an actuating device, a control signal to effectuate a maneuver of the driving apparatus.