Drive assist device

• US 10,399,592 B2
• Filed: 07/07/2017
• Issued: 09/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Akatsuka, Hisaya, Watanabe, Daiji
• Primary Examiner(s): Cass, Jean Paul
• Application Number:
  US15/644,130
• Publication Number:
  US 20180009466A1
• Time in Patent Office: 788 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0872 Driver physiology
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/10 Longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/105 Longitudinal acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/14 Yaw
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/18 Steering angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/22 Psychological state; Stress level or workload
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/15 Road slope, i.e. the inclination of a road segment in the longitudinal direction
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/30 Road curve radius
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/202 Steering torque
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/00 Purposes of road vehicle drive control systems not related to the control of a particular sub-unit, e.g. of systems using conjoint control of vehicle sub-units
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0097 Predicting future conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/029 Steering assistants using warnings or proposing actions to the driver without influencing the steering system
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 5/0463 calculating assisting torque from the motor based on driver input
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 6/007 adjustable by the driver, e.g. sport mode
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 6/04 responsive only to forces disturbing the intended course of the vehicle, e.g. forces acting transversely to the direction of vehicle travel
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 6/08 responsive only to driver input torque
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 13/0265 the criterion being a learning criterion

Abstract

In a drive assist system, a map data acquiring section acquires at least one of a driver'"'"'s operation ability and a load of a vehicle. An adjustment section determines an assist control amount as a control parameter of drive assist for the vehicle so that a degree of the driver'"'"'s operation is increased according to reduction of the driver'"'"'s operation ability or increasing of the load of the vehicle. An assist control amount calculation section transmits the assist control amount to a steering motor and a notification section so as to execute the drive assist for the vehicle.

Claims

1. A drive assist device which executes a drive assist of an own vehicle, comprising a computer system including a central processing unit, the computer system being configured to provide:

an ability acquiring section which acquires at least one of a driver'"'"'s operation ability to the own vehicle and an applying load to the own vehicle, the driver'"'"'s operation ability to the own vehicle representing driver'"'"'s characteristics and a driver'"'"'s state, and the applying load to the own vehicle representing loads to be applied to the own vehicle obtained on the basis of a current speed, an acceleration and a yaw rate of the own vehicle detected by a speed sensor and a gyro sensor mounted on the own vehicle;

a control amount determination section which determines an assist control amount of the drive assist of the own vehicle so as to increase a degree of the driver'"'"'s operation to the own vehicle according to reduction of the degree of the driver'"'"'s operation ability, and increasing of the applying load to the own vehicle;

an assist execution section which transmits the assist control amount to an assist section in order to execute drive assist for the own vehicle; and

a learning section which learns a driver'"'"'s operation start timing of the own vehicle on the basis of images acquired by an in-vehicle camera mounted on the own vehicle when the driver of the own vehicle detects recognizes presence of a target point on a road on which the own vehicle is driving,

wherein the assist section comprises a steering motor and a notification section mounted on the own vehicle,

wherein the control amount determination section determines a steering motor instruction torque of the steering motor and a notification instruction to the notification section as the assist control amount,

wherein the ability acquiring section acquires at least the driver'"'"'s operation ability to the own vehicle, and

when the acquired driver'"'"'s operation ability to the own vehicle is not less than a predetermined level, the control amount determination section adjusts the assist control amount in order to obtain the assist start timing determined on the basis of the driver'"'"'s operation start timing learned by the learning section.

2. The drive assist device according to claim 1, wherein the control amount determination section determines a steering control amount as the assist control amount, and

the assist execution section transmits the assist control amount determined by the control amount determination section to the assist section so as to perform the drive assist of the steering motor in the own vehicle.

3. The drive assist device according to claim 1, wherein the control amount determination section determines a control value as the assist control amount so as to advance an assist start timing, at which the drive assist is started, according to reduction of the driver'"'"'s operation ability to the own vehicle or increasing of the applying load to the own vehicle.

4. The drive assist device according to claim 2, wherein the control amount determination section determines a control value as the assist control amount so as to advance an assist start timing, at which the drive assist is started, according to reduction of the driver'"'"'s operation ability to the own vehicle or increasing of the applying load to the own vehicle.

5. The drive assist device according to claim 1, wherein the control amount determination section determines the assist control amount to be supplied to the steering motor in the assist section so as to increase a magnitude of the drive assist according to the reduction of the driver'"'"'s operation ability to the own vehicle or the increasing of the applying load to the own vehicle.

6. The drive assist device according to claim 2, wherein the control amount determination section determines the assist control amount to be supplied to the steering motor in the assist section so as to increase a magnitude of the drive assist according to the reduction of the driver'"'"'s operation ability to the own vehicle or the increasing of the applying load to the own vehicle.

7. The drive assist device according to claim 3, wherein the control amount determination section determines the assist control amount to be supplied to the steering motor in the assist section so as to increase a magnitude of the drive assist according to the reduction of the driver'"'"'s operation ability to the own vehicle or the increasing of the applying load to the own vehicle.

8. The drive assist device according to claim 1, wherein

the control amount determination section determines the assist control amount to be supplied to the notification section in the assist section so as to increase a magnitude of notification to be provided to the driver of the own vehicle according to the reduction of the driver'"'"'s operation ability to the own vehicle or the increasing of the applying load to the own vehicle, and

the assist execution section transmits the assist control amount to the notification section in the assist section so as to perform notification to the driver of the own vehicle.

9. The drive assist device according to claim 2, wherein

the control amount determination section determines the assist control amount to be supplied to the notification section in the assist section so as to increase a magnitude of notification to be provided to the driver of the own vehicle according to the reduction of the driver'"'"'s operation ability to the own vehicle or the increasing of the applying load to the own vehicle, and

the assist execution section transmits the assist control amount to the notification section in the assist section so as to perform notification to the driver of the own vehicle.

10. The drive assist device according to claim 3, wherein

the control amount determination section determines the assist control amount to be supplied to the notification section in the assist section so as to increase a magnitude of notification to be provided to the driver of the own vehicle according to the reduction of the driver'"'"'s operation ability to the own vehicle or the increasing of the applying load to the own vehicle, and

the assist execution section transmits the assist control amount to the notification section in the assist section so as to perform notification to the driver of the own vehicle.