Vehicular collision warning system

• US 20100321174A1
• Filed: 10/07/2009
• Published: 12/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Automotive Research & Testing Center
• Original Assignee: Automotive Research & Testing Center
• Inventors: Liao, Yu-Sheng, Kao, Hsiang-Chun, Chen, Chia-Tseng
• Granted Patent: US 8,310,355 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/435
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/008 for anti-collision purposes

Abstract

A vehicular collision warning system comprises at least one image capture device capturing images of blind spots, a processing unit receiving the images of blind spots from the image capture device, and at least one alert device. The processing unit identifies at least one barrier from the images and calculates the speed and transverse displacement of the barrier according to the positional change with respect to time. The processing unit presets at least one attention area on the image, estimates whether the barrier will appear in the attention area, sends out an alert-triggering signal to trigger the alert devices to generate sound, light, or pictures to warn the driver early. Cooperating with the speed sensor, brake system and turn light system, the vehicular collision warning system can trigger different alert signals according to the grading of danger to actively warn the driver early.

Claims

1. A vehicular collision warning system, which is used to detect barriers in at least one blind spot of a driver of a large-size vehicle, comprising

at least one image capture device installed on said large-size vehicle and used to capture images of said at least one blind spot;

a processing unit electrically connected to said at least one image capture device to identify at least one barrier, having a preset speed, calculating a speed and a displacement of each of said at least one barrier according to positional change of each of said at least one barrier with respect with time, defining at least one attention area in images of said at least one blind spot, sending out at least one alert-triggering signal when determining that one of said at least one barrier has a displacement and a speed lower than said preset speed in one of said at least one attention area; and

at least one alert device electrically connected to said processing unit to receive said alert-triggering signal and generating an alert signal of sound, light or pictures.

2. The vehicular collision warning system according to claim 1, wherein said processing unit calculates informational quantities of traffic lanes of each of said images of said at least one blind spot, calculates difference of informational quantities of said traffic lanes of every two adjacent said images, compares a curve of said difference with a preset threshold, determines a position where said difference exceeds said preset threshold to be a position of a barrier, and determines positions where said difference is below said preset threshold to be a background.

3. The vehicular collision warning system according to claim 2, wherein said processing unit further comprises a signal processor calculating informational quantities of traffic lanes of each of said images of said at least one blind spot according to equations:

4. The vehicular collision warning system according to claim 3, wherein said signal processor works out said preset threshold according an equation expressed by

5. The vehicular collision warning system according to claim 3, wherein said signal processor works out said displacement according an equation expressed by

Δ

I_t(x)=I_t(x)−

I<sub>t−

1</sub>(x)

wherein Δ

I_t(x) is a difference of information quantities of images of a traffic lane, and I_t(x) and I<sub>t−

1</sub>(x) respectively information quantities of images of a traffic lane at a time point of t and a time point of t−

1.

6. The vehicular collision warning system according to claim 5, wherein said signal processor uses a ratio of a pixel distance to a physical distance and a change of a pixel distance with respect to time to work out a physical displacement and a physical speed of said barrier according to an equation:

7. The vehicular collision warning system according to claim 1, wherein a front side, a left side and-a right side of said large-size vehicle respectively have at least one said blind spot;

said at least one image capture device include a first image capture device installed in a front portion of said large-size vehicle and used to capture images of a first blind spot at said front side of said large-size vehicle, a second image capture installed in a left portion of said large-size vehicle and used to capture images of a second blind spot at said left side of said large-size vehicle, and a third image capture device installed in a right portion of said large-size vehicle and used to capture images of a third blind spot at said right side of said vehicle.

8. The vehicular collision warning system according to claim 7, wherein when said blind spot is at said front side of said large-size vehicle, said displacement is a transverse displacement;

when said blind spot is at said left side or said right side of said large-size vehicle, said displacement is a longitudinal displacement.

9. The vehicular collision warning system according to claim 7, wherein said at least one attention area defined by said processing unit include a first attention area defined in an image of said first blind spot, a second attention area defined in an image of said second blind spot, and a third attention area defined in an image of said third blind spot;

said at least one alert device includes a first alert zone corresponding to said first attention area, a second alert zone corresponding to said second attention area, and a third alert zone corresponding to said third attention area;

said first alert zone, said second alert zone and said third alert zone use light or pictures to indicate an area where a barrier exists.

10. The vehicular collision warning system according to claim 9, wherein said large-size vehicle has a speed sensor detecting a speed of said large-size vehicle, a brake system and a turn light system;

said processing unit further comprises a microprocessor electrically connected to said speed sensor, said brake system and said turn light system;

said microprocessor receives a speed signal from said speed sensor, a braking signal from said brake system and a turning signal from said turn light system;

said microprocessor has a speed limit;

when said speed of said large-size vehicle is greater than said speed limit, said microprocessor abandons detecting said first attention area but detects said second attention area and said third attention area, and sends out an alert-triggering signal to indicate an emergency grading, of said second attention area or said third attention area according to said turning signal;

when said speed of said large-size vehicle is smaller than said speed limit, said microprocessor firstly detects said first attention area and sends out an alert-triggering signal to indicate an emergency grading of said first attention area according to said braking signal, and then detects said second attention area and said third attention area.

11. The vehicular collision warning system according to claim 10, wherein said speed limit is 20 km/h.

12. The vehicular collision warning system according to claim 10, wherein said at least one alert device includes a first alert device and a second alert device;

said microprocessor sends out a first alert-triggering signal to trigger said first alert device and sends out a second alert-triggering signal to trigger said second alert device.

13. The vehicular collision warning system according to claim 1, wherein said preset speed is 0-22.5 km/h.

14. The vehicular collision warning system according to claim 1, wherein said at least one alert device is a buzzer, a LED (Light Emitting Diode) light, or a LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screen plus a voice system.

15. The vehicular collision warning system according to claim 1, wherein said at least one image capture device is a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) element or a CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) camera.