Driving support apparatus

• US 20080122604A1
• Filed: 11/21/2007
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Nippon Soken, Inc.
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Nippon Soken, Inc.
• Inventors: Kamikawa, Naoki, Hattori, Toshihiro, Kojima, Kiyonari, Fujita, Mitsuru, Matsuura, Mitsuyasu
• Granted Patent: US 7,920,056 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/441
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0275 by overlaying a vehicle path based on present steering angle over an image without processing that image
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0295 by overlaying a vehicle path based on present steering angle over an image without processing that image
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/42 Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates indirect measurement G01S15/46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9314 Parking operations
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2015/935 for measuring the contour, e.g. a trajectory of measurement points, representing the boundary of the parking space
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2015/936 for measuring parking spaces extending transverse or diagonal to the driving direction, i.e. not parallel to the driving direction
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2015/939 vertical stacking of sensors, e.g. to enable obstacle height determination

Abstract

A driving support apparatus has a display mounted in a vehicle, a driving information receiving unit receiving a steering angle of a steering wheel of the vehicle, and a control unit. The control unit produces a vehicle figure imitating a shape of the vehicle and a tire figure imitating a shape of a tire of the vehicle in a bird'"'"'s-eye view, calculates a predicted running locus of the vehicle, detects positions of portions of an obstacle facing the vehicle one after another, and controls the display to display a driving support image including the vehicle figure, the tire figure, the running locus and obstacle detecting marks indicating the positions of the obstacle while changing a direction of the tire figure with respect to the vehicle figure according to the steering angle. A driver recognizes a turning rate of the vehicle from the direction of the tire figure.

Claims

1. A driving support apparatus, comprising:

a display mounted in a vehicle;

a driving information receiving unit that receives a steering angle of a steering wheel of the vehicle; and

a control unit that produces a vehicle figure indicating a shape of the vehicle in a top view, produces a tire figure indicating a shape of a tire of the vehicle in the top view, and controls the display to display the vehicle figure and the tire figure while changing a direction of the tire figure with respect to the vehicle figure according to the steering angle received in the driving information receiving unit.

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

an object detecting unit that intermittently detects a position of a portion of an object relative to a position of the vehicle moved with a time while changing the portion of the object with the time,

wherein the driving information receiving unit is adapted to receive a running speed of the vehicle,

and wherein the control unit is adapted to determine a plurality of marking positions of the display corresponding to the positions of the portions of the object detected by the object detecting unit on the basis of the running speed and the steering angle of the vehicle received by the driving information receiving unit, and to control the display to draw a plurality of detecting marks at the respective marking positions.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control unit is adapted to produce an enlarged vehicle outline figure, determined by enlarging an outline of the vehicle figure, or a portion of the enlarged vehicle outline figure, and to control the display to display the enlarged vehicle outline figure or the portion of the enlarged vehicle outline figure such that a center of the enlarged vehicle outline figure accords with a center of the vehicle figure.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the enlarged vehicle outline figure has a first enlarged vehicle outline figure determined by enlarging an outline of the vehicle figure by a first factor and a second enlarged vehicle outline figure determined by enlarging an outline of the vehicle figure by a second factor different from the first factor.

5. The apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

an alarm unit,

wherein the control unit is adapted to determine a drawing position of a running locus of the vehicle in the display according to the steering angle and the running speed of the vehicle received in the driving information receiving unit, to control the display to draw the running locus at the drawing position, to judge whether or not an outline of the object obtained by connecting the detecting marks one after another intersects with the running locus, and to control the alarm unit to output an alarm when the outline of the object intersects with the predicted running locus.

6. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the object detecting unit has an object detecting element, disposed on a front side of a side surface of the vehicle, for outputting a transmission signal in a side direction almost perpendicular to a longitudinal direction extending from a front side to a rear side of the vehicle, receiving a reception signal obtained by reflecting the transmission signal on the object, and the object detecting unit intermittently detects the position of the portion of the object from the reception signal when the vehicle goes backward.

7. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the object detecting unit has a set of three object detecting elements disposed on a vertical plane in a triangular arrangement on a side surface of the vehicle such that two of the three object detecting elements are set at the same height, each of the object detecting elements outputs a transmission signal in a side direction almost perpendicular to a longitudinal direction extending from a front side to a rear side of the vehicle and receives a reception signal obtained by reflecting the transmission signal on the object, and the object detecting unit intermittently detects the position of the portion of the object from the reception signals of the object detecting elements.

8. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the object detecting unit has a set of four object detecting elements disposed on a vertical plane in a rectangular arrangement on a side surface of the vehicle such that two of the four object detecting elements are set at the same height, each of the object detecting elements outputs a transmission signal in a side direction almost perpendicular to a longitudinal direction extending from a front side to a rear side of the vehicle and receives a reception signal obtained by reflecting the transmission signal on the object, and the object detecting unit intermittently detects the position of the portion of the object from the reception signals of the object detecting elements.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driving information receiving unit is adapted to receive a running speed of the vehicle, and the control unit is adapted to produce a repetitive figure having a plurality of predetermined figures aligned-along each of first and second directions perpendicular to each other, and controls the display to display the repetitive figure such that the repetitive figure is moved relative to the vehicle figure on the basis of the steering angle and the running speed of the vehicle received in the driving information receiving unit.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an object detecting unit that detects a position of an object,

wherein the driving information receiving unit is adapted to receive a running speed of the vehicle,

and wherein the control unit is adapted to determines a portion of the vehicle nearest to the object on the basis of the position of the object detected by the object detecting unit, to produce an enlarged vehicle portion figure indicating an enlarged shape of the portion of the vehicle, to control the display to display an enlarged image including the enlarged vehicle portion figure, to determine a marking position corresponding to the position of the object detected by the object detecting unit in each of the enlarged image and a wider-area image including the vehicle figure and the tire figure on the basis of the running speed and the steering angle of the vehicle received by the driving information receiving unit, to determine a locus position of a running locus of the vehicle in each of the wider-area image and the enlarged image according to the steering angle and the running speed of the vehicle, to control the display to draw a first detecting mark placed at the marking position and the running locus placed at the locus position in the wider-area image, and to control the display to draw a second detecting mark placed at the marking position and the running locus placed at the locus position in the enlarged image, the second detecting mark having a size larger than a size of the first detecting mark.

11. A driving support apparatus, comprising:

a display mounted in a vehicle;

a driving information receiving unit that receives a steering angle of a steering wheel of the vehicle and a running speed of the vehicle; and

a control unit that produces a vehicle figure indicating a shape of the vehicle in a top view, produces a repetitive figure having a plurality of predetermined figures aligned along each of first and second directions perpendicular to each other, and controls the display to display the vehicle figure and the repetitive figure such that the repetitive figure is moved relative to the vehicle figure on the basis of the steering angle and the running speed of the vehicle received in the driving information receiving unit.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising:

an object detecting unit that intermittently detects a position of a portion of an object relative to a position of the vehicle moved with a time while changing the portion of the object with the time,

wherein the control unit is adapted to determine a plurality of marking positions of the display corresponding to the positions of the portions of the object detected by the object detecting unit on the basis of the running speed and the steering angle of the vehicle received by the driving information receiving unit, and to control the display to draw a plurality of detecting marks at the respective marking positions.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the control unit is adapted to produce an enlarged vehicle outline figure, determined by enlarging an outline of the vehicle figure, or a portion of the enlarged vehicle outline figure, and to control the display to display the enlarged vehicle outline figure or the portion of the enlarged vehicle outline figure such that a center of the enlarged vehicle outline figure accords with a center of the vehicle figure.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the enlarged vehicle outline figure has a first enlarged vehicle outline figure determined by enlarging an outline of the vehicle figure by a first factor and a second enlarged vehicle outline figure determined by enlarging an outline of the vehicle figure by a second factor different from the first factor.

15. The apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising:

an alarm unit,

wherein the control unit is adapted to determine a drawing position of a running locus of the vehicle in the display according to the steering angle and the running speed of the vehicle received in the driving information receiving unit, to control the display to draw the running locus at the drawing position, to judge whether or not an outline of the object obtained by connecting the detecting marks one after another intersects with the running locus, and to control the alarm unit to output an alarm when the outline of the object intersects with the predicted running locus.

16. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the object detecting unit has an object detecting element, disposed on a front side of a side surface of the vehicle, for outputting a transmission signal in a side direction almost perpendicular to a longitudinal direction extending from a front side to a rear side of the vehicle, receiving a reception signal obtained by reflecting the transmission signal on the object, and the object detecting unit intermittently detects the position of the portion of the object from the reception signal when the vehicle goes backward.

17. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the object detecting unit has a set of three object detecting elements disposed on a vertical plane in a triangular arrangement on a side surface of the vehicle such that two of the three object detecting elements are set at the same height, each of the object detecting elements outputs a transmission signal in a side direction almost perpendicular to a longitudinal direction extending from a front side to a rear side of the vehicle and receives a reception signal obtained by reflecting the transmission signal on the object, and the object detecting unit intermittently detects the position of the portion of the object from the reception signals of the object detecting elements.

18. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the object detecting unit has a set of four object detecting elements disposed on a vertical plane in a rectangular arrangement on a side surface of the vehicle such that two of the four object detecting elements are set at the same height, each of the object detecting elements outputs a transmission signal in a side direction almost perpendicular to a longitudinal direction extending from a front side to a rear side of the vehicle and receives a reception signal obtained by reflecting the transmission signal on the object, and the object detecting unit intermittently detects the position of the portion of the object from the reception signals of the object detecting elements.

19. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the control unit is adapted to produce a tire figure indicating a shape of a tire of the vehicle in the top view and is adapted to control the display to display the tire figure while changing a direction of the tire figure with respect to the vehicle figure according to the steering angle received in the driving information receiving unit.

20. The apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising:

an object detecting unit that detects a position of an object,

wherein the control unit is adapted to determines a portion of the vehicle nearest to the object on the basis of the position of the object detected by the object detecting unit, to produce an enlarged vehicle portion figure indicating an enlarged shape of the portion of the vehicle, to control the display to display an enlarged image including the enlarged vehicle portion figure in a top view, to determine a marking position corresponding to the position of the object detected by the object detecting unit in each of the enlarged image and a wider-area image of the vehicle figure and the grid figure on the basis of the running speed and the steering angle of the vehicle received by the driving information receiving unit, to determine a locus position of a running locus of the vehicle in each of the wider-area image and the enlarged image according to the steering angle and the running speed of the vehicle, to control the display to draw a first detecting mark placed at the marking position and the running locus placed at the locus position in the wider-area image, and to control the display to draw a second detecting mark placed at the marking position and the running locus placed at the locus position in the enlarged image, the second detecting mark having a size larger than a size of the first detecting mark.

21. A driving support apparatus, comprising:

a display mounted in a vehicle;

a driving information receiving unit that receives a steering angle of a steering wheel of the vehicle and a running speed of the vehicle;

an object detecting unit that detects a position of an object; and

a control unit that produces a vehicle figure indicating a whole shape of the vehicle in a top view, determines a portion of the vehicle nearest to the object on the basis of the position of the object detected by the object detecting unit, produces an enlarged vehicle portion figure indicating an enlarged shape of the portion of the vehicle, controls the display to display a wider-area image including the vehicle figure and an enlarged image including the enlarged vehicle portion figure, determines a marking position of each of the wider-area image and the enlarged image corresponding to the position of the object detected by the object detecting unit on the basis of the running speed and the steering angle of the vehicle received by the driving information receiving unit, determines a locus position of a running locus of the vehicle in each of the wider-area image and the enlarged image according to the steering angle and the running speed of the vehicle, controls the display to draw a first detecting mark placed at the marking position and the running locus placed at the locus position in the wider-area image, and controls the display to draw a second detecting mark placed at the marking position and the running locus placed at the locus position in the enlarged image, the second detecting mark having a size larger than a size of the first detecting mark.

22. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the control unit is adapted to produce a tire figure indicating a shape of a tire of the vehicle in the top view and is adapted to control the display to display the tire figure in the wider-area image while changing a direction of the tire figure with respect to the vehicle figure according to the steering angle received in the driving information receiving unit.

23. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the control unit is adapted to produce a repetitive figure having a plurality of predetermined figures aligned along each of first and second directions perpendicular to each other, and controls the display to display the repetitive figure in the wider-area image such that the repetitive figure is moved relative to the vehicle figure on the basis of the steering angle and the running speed of the vehicle received in the driving information receiving unit.

24. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the object detecting unit is adapted to intermittently detect a position of a portion of the object relative to a position of the vehicle moved with a time while changing the portion of the object with the time, and the control unit is adapted to determine a plurality of marking positions of the display corresponding to the positions of the portions of the object detected by the object detecting unit on the basis of the running speed and the steering angle of the vehicle received by the driving information receiving unit, to control the display to draw a plurality of detecting marks at the respective marking positions, to produce an enlarged vehicle outline figure obtained by enlarging an outline of the vehicle figure, and to control the display to display the enlarged vehicle outline figure such that a center of the enlarged vehicle outline figure accords with a center of the vehicle figure.

25. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the object detecting unit has an object detecting element, disposed on a front side of a side surface of the vehicle, for outputting a transmission signal in a side direction almost perpendicular to a longitudinal direction extending from a front side to a rear side of the vehicle, receiving a reception signal obtained by reflecting the transmission signal on the object, and the object detecting unit intermittently detects the position of the portion of the object from the reception signal when the vehicle goes backward.

26. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the object detecting unit has a set of three object detecting elements disposed on a vertical plane in a triangular arrangement on a side surface of the vehicle such that two of the three object detecting elements are set at the same height, each of the object detecting elements outputs a transmission signal in a side direction almost perpendicular to a longitudinal direction extending from a front side to a rear side of the vehicle and receives a reception signal obtained by reflecting the transmission signal on the object, and the object detecting unit intermittently detects the position of the portion of the object from the reception signals of the object detecting elements.

27. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the object detecting unit has a set of four object detecting elements disposed on a vertical plane in a rectangular arrangement on a side surface of the vehicle such that two of the four object detecting elements are set at the same height, each of the object detecting elements outputs a transmission signal in a side direction almost perpendicular to a longitudinal direction extending from a front side to a rear side of the vehicle and receives a reception signal obtained by reflecting the transmission signal on the object, and the object detecting unit intermittently detects the position of the portion of the object from the reception signals of the object detecting elements.

28. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the control unit is adapted to produce an enlarged vehicle outline figure, determined by enlarging an outline of the vehicle figure, or a portion of the enlarged vehicle outline figure, and to control the display to draw the enlarged vehicle outline figure or the portion of the enlarged vehicle outline figure in the wider-area image or the enlarged image such that a center of the enlarged vehicle outline figure accords with a center of the vehicle figure.

29. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the enlarged vehicle outline figure has a first enlarged vehicle outline figure determined by enlarging an outline of the vehicle figure by a first factor and a second enlarged vehicle outline figure determined by enlarging an outline of the vehicle figure by a second factor different from the first factor.