Driving assisting apparatus for vehicles

• US 20050110620A1
• Filed: 10/26/2004
• Published: 05/26/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Kato, Koji, Sato, Yoshihisa, Takeichi, Masakazu
• Granted Patent: US 7,126,461 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/435
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/006 using a distance sensor
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/007 providing information about the distance to an obstacle, e.g. varying sound
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/46 Indirect determination of position data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/876 Combination of several spaced transmitters or receivers of known location for determining the position of a transponder or a reflector G01S15/872 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2015/939 vertical stacking of sensors, e.g. to enable obstacle height determination

Abstract

A pair of distance measurement sensors provided at different heights measures distances to an obstruction. When the measured distances are shorter than a threshold distance, the height of the vehicle is found based on the measured distances. When the height of the vehicle is found greater than a threshold height, the existence of the obstruction is reported to the driver. When the height of the vehicle is found smaller than the threshold height, on the other hand, a change in obstruction height is found and compared with a threshold. When the change in obstruction height is greater than the threshold, the existence of the obstruction is reported to the driver since the height is determined to be an unreliable result of computation.

Claims

1. A driving assisting apparatus comprising:

a detection means for detecting an obstruction near a vehicle by radiating a wave to the surroundings and receiving the wave reflected by the obstruction; and

an assisting means for assisting driving of the vehicle when the detection means detects an obstruction,

wherein the detection means has;

a plurality of distance measurement means each provided at predetermined intervals on the vehicle in a vertical direction and each used for measuring a distance to an obstruction based on time taken by the wave to propagate to the obstruction, hitting the obstruction and to propagate back;

a height computation means for computing a height of an obstruction from a surface of a road by using the distance measured by each of the distance measurement means as a parameter representing a distance to the obstruction in accordance with calculation conditions set in advance based on installation positions of the distance measurement means on the vehicle; and

an inhibition means for comparing the computed obstruction height from the surface of a road with a threshold height representing an upper limit of heights of bodies each not becoming as an obstacle to a travel motion of the vehicle to determine whether the computed obstruction height is smaller or greater than the threshold height and inhibiting an operation of the assisting means for a computed obstruction height found smaller than the threshold height.

2. The driving assisting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a posture change detection means for detecting a posture change from a reference posture of the vehicle,

wherein the height computation means corrects the height from the surface of a road, which is computed in accordance with the calculation conditions based on a detection result, by the posture change detection means to absorb a height computational error caused by a change in vehicle posture.

3. The driving assisting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the assisting means reports existence of an obstruction to the driver when a distance measured by at least a particular one of the distance measurement means from the particular distance measurement means to the obstruction is shorter than a notification threshold distance set as a distance at which existence of an obstruction should be reported to the driver.

4. The driving assisting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the height from the surface of a road, which is computed by the height computation means, is smaller than the threshold height, a deviation of heights computed by the height computation means a plurality of times in the past is computed, the inhibition means allows the assisting means to attain the assisting operation when the deviation is greater than a threshold set in advance.