Method and device for co-ordinating multiple driving system devices of a vehicle

• US 20030171865A1
• Filed: 03/27/2003
• Published: 09/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Daimler AG (Mercedes-Benz Group AG)
• Original Assignee: Daimler Chrysler Company LLC (Stellantis NV)
• Inventors: Moser, Martin, Schneckenburger, Reinhold
• Granted Patent: US 6,873,891 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/48
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 17/0195 characterised by the regulation being combined with other vehicle control systems conjoint control of vehicle sub-units including control of suspension systems B60W10/22
• CPC Class Codes: B60G 2800/85 System Prioritisation
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 31/0008 including means for detecting potential obstacles in vehicle path
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2210/24 Curve radius
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2260/08 Coordination of integrated systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/17558 specially adapted for collision avoidance or collision mitigation road vehicle drive control systems for collision avoidance otherwise than by controlling a particular sub-unit B60W30/09
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0091 of control inputs
• 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 2530/00 Input parameters relating to vehicle conditions or values, not covered by groups B60W2510/00 or B60W2520/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/18 Steering angle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/20 Road profile, i.e. the change in elevation or curvature of a plurality of continuous road segments
• 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 30/16 Control of distance between vehicles, e.g. keeping a distance to preceding vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/10 related to vehicle motion
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/00 Details of control systems for road vehicle drive control not related to the control of a particular sub-unit , e.g. process diagnostic or vehicle driver interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0098 Details of control systems ensuring comfort, safety or stability not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 59/00 Control inputs to control units of change-speed-, or reversing-gearings for conveying rotary motion

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and a device for co-ordinating multiple driving system devices of a vehicle by means of a co-ordination device. The driving system devices produce output signals according the current driving state of the vehicle. In the co-ordination device, a result control signal is produced from the output signals and is used as a standard set value for directly influencing the driving state by means of the actuator devices of the vehicle and/or a parameter result signal is produced and used for influencing the regulating and/or control parameters of a driving state regulating system or driving state control system.

Claims

1. Method for coordinating a plurality of driving system devices (6) of a vehicle, a control result signal being generated from output signals of the driving system devices (6) which are brought about as a function of current driving state variables of the vehicle and being used as a predefined setpoint value for influencing the driving state by means of at least one actuator device (26) of the vehicle and/or a parameter result signal for influencing the regulating and/or control parameters of a driving state regulator or controller.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the control result signal corresponds to the setpoint driving state of the vehicle, the control result signal describing the setpoint movement of the vehicle in three-dimensional space.

3. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the control result signal corresponds to the setpoint driving state change for the vehicle, the control result signal describing the setpoint change in the movement of the vehicle in three-dimensional space.

4. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the control result signal is transmitted directly to the actuator devices (26) in order to influence the movement of the vehicle.

5. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the control result signal is transmitted to a driving state regulator or controller (22), in particular regulator (23) for the dynamics of vehicle movement, which produces actuation signals for the actuator devices (26) in order to influence the movement of the vehicle.

6. Method according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the parameter result signal is transmitted to a driving state regulator or controller (22), in particular regulator (23) for the dynamics of vehicle movement in order to influence its control parameters or regulating parameters.

7. Method according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that when the control result signal and/or the parameter result signal is determined, a plurality of output signals which are present are then prioritized and/or weighted if these output signals originate from different driving system devices (6) and in particular are assigned to the same actuator devices (26).

8. Method according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that during the determination of the control result signal and/or of the parameter result signal, sensor signals which contain information on the current driving state of the vehicle and/or input signals which correspond to manual settings of the driver are taken into account.

9. Method according to claim 8, characterized in that the sensor signals contain information on the yaw angle rate and/or the acceleration of the vehicle and/or the velocity of the vehicle and/or the wheel speeds and/or the steering wheel torque and/or the steering wheel angle.

10. Method according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the driving system devices (6) are divided into a plurality of groups with different group priorities, the output signals of the driving system devices (6) of a group with higher group priority being more heavily weighted during the determination of the control result signal and/or of the parameter result signal than the output signals of the driving system devices (6) of a group with lower group priority.

11. Method according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the output signals of the driving system devices (6) are present in the form of control signals or parameter signals, the control result signal being determined as a function of the control signals, and the parameter result signal being determined as a function of the parameter signals.

12. Method according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the control result signal and/or the parameter result signal is formed from the sum of the respective output signals for the driving system devices (6) which are each weighted with a weighting factor, in particular the sum of the individual weighting factors being equal to one, and the weighting factors being able to assume values in the range from zero to one.

13. Method according to claim 12, characterized in that the weighting factors of the output signals can be predefined as a function of a driving system priority assigned to the respective driving system device (6).

14. Method according to one of claims 11 to 13 in conjunction with claim 10, characterized in that, during the determination of the control result signal and/or of the parameter result signal, only the output signals of the driving system devices (6) of a single group of driving system devices are taken into account.

15. Device for carrying out the method according to one of claims 1 to 14, having a coordination device (18) which is provided for generating the control result signal and the parameter result signal as a function of the output signals and is connected indirectly or directly to the actuator devices (26) of the vehicle in order to influence the driving state.

16. Device according to claim 15, characterized in that the coordination device (18) is indirectly connected to the actuator devices (26) in order to transmit the control result signal to the actuator devices (26).

17. Device according to claim 15, characterized in that the coordination device (18) is connected to a driving state regulator or controller (22), in particular regulator (23) for the dynamics of vehicle movement in order to transmit the control result signal and/or the parameter result signal, said regulator (23) for the dynamics of vehicle movement being connected to the actuator devices in order to control and/or regulate the movement of the vehicle as a function of the control result signal.

18. Device according to claim 17, characterized in that the driving state regulator or controller (22) and the coordination device (18) are integrated in a central processor unit (24).

19. Device according to one of claims 15 to 18, characterized in that the driving system devices (6) have driving system controllers (14, 15, 16) which are integrated with the coordination device (18) in a central processor unit (24).

20. Device according to claim 19 in conjunction with claim 17 or 18, characterized in that the driving system controllers (14, 15, 16), the driving state regulator or controller (22) and the coordination device (18) are integrated in the central processor unit (24).

21. Device according to one of claims 15 to 20, characterized in that the coordination device (18) is connected to a sensor arrangement (34) and/or an operator control arrangement (36) so that the sensor signals which are generated by the sensor arrangement (34) and contain information relating to the current driving state of the vehicle and/or the input signals of the operator control arrangement (36) which correspond to manual settings of the driver can be transmitted to the coordination device (18) in order to be taken into account in the determination of the control result signal and/or of the parameter result signal.

22. Device according to claim 21, characterized in that the sensor arrangement (34) has at least one sensor whose sensor signal is used simultaneously by one of the driving system devices (6).