Vehicle turning alarm method and vehicle turning alarm device

• US 9,783,101 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2016
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Jeng, An-Kai, Sun, Min-Te, Ho, Yu-Chang, Lee, Pei-Chen, Yeh, Hsin-Yu
• Primary Examiner(s): HUNNINGS, TRAVIS R
• Application Number:
  US15/052,900
• Publication Number:
  US 20170166113A1
• Time in Patent Office: 593 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/346 with automatic actuation
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/162 event-triggered

Abstract

A vehicle turning alarm method and a vehicle turning alarm device are provided herein. The vehicle turning alarm method includes acquiring map information and vehicle information. The vehicle turning alarm method further includes determining a vehicle status according to the map information and the vehicle information when a vehicle approaches an intersection. The vehicle turning alarm method further includes not sending an alert message if the vehicle status is not a left-turning event.

Claims

1. A vehicle turning alarm method comprising:

acquiring map information and vehicle information of a vehicle;

determining a vehicle status is a left-turning event or not according to the map information and the vehicle information by a processing unit when the processor detects that the vehicle approaches an intersection; and

not sending an alert message by a communication unit if the vehicle status is not the left-turning event.

2. The vehicle turning alarm method of claim 1, further comprising:

acquiring a road curvature according to the map information and acquiring a movement curvature according to the vehicle information by the processing unit; and

if a difference between the movement curvature and the road curvature is less than or equal to a curvature threshold, or if the difference between the movement curvature and the road curvature is greater than the curvature threshold and a speed of the vehicle is greater than a speed threshold, determining the vehicle status is not the left-turning event by the processing unit.

3. The vehicle turning alarm method of claim 2, further comprising:

if the difference between the movement curvature and the road curvature is greater than the curvature threshold, and the speed of the vehicle is less than or equal to the speed threshold, determining the vehicle status is the left-turning event and sending the alert message by the communication unit.

4. The vehicle turning alarm method of claim 2, wherein the step of acquiring the movement curvature according to the vehicle information comprises:

acquiring a current location, a previous location, and a predicted location according to the vehicle information and acquiring the movement curvature according to the current location, the previous location, and the predicted location.

5. The vehicle turning alarm method of claim 4, wherein the step of acquiring the predicted location according to the vehicle information comprises:

determining an error range according to a plurality of data error values of an inertial measurement unit sensor of the vehicle information, wherein the error range comprises a distribution of a plurality of normally distributed particles;

generating a plurality of estimated particles at a plurality of estimated locations, the estimated particles corresponding to the normally distributed particles; and

calculating weighted values of the estimated particles, wherein the weighted values of the estimated particles are related to distances among the estimated particles.

6. The vehicle turning alarm method of claim 5, wherein the step of acquiring the predicted location according to the vehicle information further comprises:

deleting the estimated particles having the weighted values smaller than a first threshold;

choosing the estimated particles having the weighted values greater than a second threshold as samples and adding a plurality of newly added particles, such that a distribution of the newly added particles is within the error range of the estimated particles; and

acquiring the predicted location according to the estimated particles and the newly added particles.

7. The vehicle turning alarm method of claim 1, wherein the step of acquiring the vehicle information of the vehicle further comprises:

acquiring data of an inertial measurement unit sensor and receiving global positioning system data, wherein the data of the inertial measurement unit sensor comprises tri-axial acceleration data, gyroscope data, and magnetometer data, and the global positioning system data comprises longitudinal data and latitudinal data.

8. The vehicle turning alarm method of claim 7, wherein the step of acquiring the data of the inertial measurement unit sensor and receiving the global positioning system data comprises:

smoothing the data of the inertial measurement unit sensor; and

correcting errors in the global positioning system data according to the map information.

9. The vehicle turning alai in method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the vehicle status according to the map information and the vehicle information when the processing unit detects that the vehicle approaches the intersection comprises:

determining the vehicle status according to the map information and the vehicle information when the processing unit determines that the vehicle approaches the intersection and detects an approaching vehicle coming from an opposite direction.

10. A vehicle turning alarm device comprising:

a data capturing unit configured to acquire vehicle information of a vehicle;

a storage unit configured to store map information;

a processing unit configured to process the vehicle information and the map information; and

a communication unit configured to send an alert message,

wherein the processing unit acquires the map information from the storage unit and acquires the vehicle information from the data capturing unit,

if the processing unit detects the vehicle approaches an intersection, the processing unit determines a vehicle status according to the map information and the vehicle information, and

if the vehicle status is not a left-turning event, the processing unit does not instruct the communication unit to send the alert message.

11. The vehicle turning alarm device of claim 10, wherein the processing unit acquires a road curvature according to the map information and acquires a movement curvature according to the vehicle information, and

if a difference between the movement curvature and the road curvature is less than or equal to a curvature threshold, or if the difference between the movement curvature and the road curvature is greater than the curvature threshold and a speed of the vehicle is greater than a speed threshold, the processing unit determines the vehicle status is not the left-turning event.

12. The vehicle turning alarm device of claim 11, wherein if the difference between the movement curvature and the road curvature is greater than the curvature threshold, and the speed of the vehicle is less than or equal to the speed threshold, the processing unit determines the vehicle status is the left-turning event and instructs the communication unit to send the alert message.

13. The vehicle turning alarm device of claim 11, wherein the processing unit acquires a current location, a previous location, and a predicted location according to the vehicle information and acquires the movement curvature according to the current location, the previous location, and the predicted location.

14. The vehicle turning alarm device of claim 13, wherein the processing unit determines an error range according to a plurality of data error values of an inertial measurement unit sensor of the vehicle information, the error range comprises a distribution of a plurality of normally distributed particles,

the processing unit generates a plurality of estimated particles corresponding to the normally distributed particles at a plurality of estimated locations,

the processing unit calculates weighted values of the estimated particles, and the weighted values of the estimated particles are related to distances among the estimated particles.

15. The vehicle turning alarm device of claim 14, wherein the processing unit deletes the estimated particles having the weighted values smaller than a first threshold,

the processing unit chooses the estimated particles having the weighted values greater than a second threshold as samples and adds a plurality of newly added particles, such that a distribution of the newly added particles is within the error range of the estimated particles, and

the processing unit acquires the predicted location according to the estimated particles and the newly added particles.

16. The vehicle turning alarm device of claim 10, wherein the data capturing unit acquires data of an inertial measurement unit sensor and receives global positioning system data, the data of the inertial measurement unit sensor comprises tri-axial acceleration data, gyroscope data, and magnetometer data, and the global positioning system data comprises longitudinal data and latitudinal data.

17. The vehicle turning alarm device of claim 16, wherein the processing unit smoothes the data of the inertial measurement unit sensor, and

the processing unit corrects errors in the global positioning system data according to the map information.

18. The vehicle turning alarm device of claim 10, wherein the processing unit determines the vehicle status according to the map information and the vehicle information if the processing unit determines the vehicle approaches the intersection and detects an approaching vehicle coming from an opposite direction.