Method for judging collision with three directional accelerative signals and apparatus for performing the same

• US 5,732,374 A
• Filed: 10/31/1995
• Issued: 03/24/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Daewoo Electronics (Government of South Korea)
• Original Assignee: Daewoo Electronics (Government of South Korea)
• Inventors: Ohm, Jung-Woo
• Primary Examiner(s): ZANELLI, MICHAEL J
• Application Number:
  US08/550,785
• Time in Patent Office: 875 Days
• Field of Search: 364/424.055, 364/566, 307/10.1, 280/728.1, 280/735, 180/268
• US Class Current: 701/45
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/01325 Vertical acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/013 including means for detecting collisions, impending collisions or roll-over
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0133 by integrating the amplitude of the input signal
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/01336 using filtering

Abstract

An apparatus and method for judging an oblique, center pole and front barrier collision with the acceleration signals of a vehicle in back-and-forth, left-and-right and up-and-down directions are disclosed. The acceleration signal detected by an acceleration sensor is filtered and transferred to a collision judging part. The collision judging part judges a dangerous collision and generates a reset signal. The acceleration signal detected by the acceleration sensor is integrated. The judgement for an oblique, center pole and front barrier collision is achieved by comparing the integrated acceleration signal with each preset value. Both the low speed front barrier collision and the high speed center pole collision can be easily judged by detecting three directional accelerations of a vehicle and comparing those accelerations with the predetermined reference values.

Claims

1. A method for judging a vehicle collision, comprising the steps of:

(S1) detecting accelerations in a back-and-forth, a left-and-right and an up-and-down directions viewed from a traveling vehicle to generate a first, second and a third acceleration signals respectively;

(S2) filtering the first, the second and the third acceleration signals to minimize high frequency signals thereof;

(S3) comparing the first acceleration signal with a preset reference value to judge whether or not the vehicle collision is dangerous, and outputting a reset signal when judging as dangerous;

(S4) generating a synchronous signal in response to the reset signal;

(S5) generating a first, a second and a third velocity signals by first orderly integrating the filtered first, the filtered second and the filtered third acceleration signals that are generated at the second step (S2) with respect to time while being synchronized to the synchronous signal; and

(S6) judging the vehicle collision type by comparing the first, the second and the third velocity signals with first second and a third preset values, while being synchronized to the synchronous signal.

2. The method for judging a vehicle collision as claimed in claim 1, wherein in said step (S3) the vehicle collision is judged as dangerous when the first acceleration signal has a higher level than the preset reference value over a predetermined time, and judged as not dangerous when the first acceleration signal has a lower level than the preset reference value over the predetermined time.

3. The method for judging a vehicle collision in claim 1, wherein said step (S6) comprises the substeps of:

(I) judging as an oblique collision when the second velocity signal is a lower level than the second preset value over a second time by comparing the level of the second velocity signal with that of the second preset value, while being synchronized to the synchronous signal;

(Ii) judging as a front barrier collision when the first velocity signal has a higher level than the first preset value over a first time by comparing the first velocity signal with the first preset value, said step (ii) being performed when the second velocity signal has a higher level than the second preset value over the second time; and

(Iii) on the precondition that the first velocity signal has a lower level than the first preset value over the first time, comparing the third velocity signal with the third preset value and judging as center a pole collision when the third velocity signal has a higher level than the third preset value over a third time, and judging as the front barrier collision when the third velocity signal has a lower level than the third preset value over the third time.

4. A method for judging a vehicle collision, comprising the steps of:

(S1) detecting accelerations in back-and-forth, left-and-right and up-and-down directions viewed from a traveling vehicle to generate a first, a second and a third acceleration signals respectively;

(S2) filtering the first, the second and the third acceleration signals to eliminate high frequency signals thereof;

(S3) comparing the first acceleration signal with a preset reference value, judging as dangerous when the first acceleration signal has a higher level than the preset reference value over a predetermined time, and judging as not dangerous when the first acceleration signal has a lower level than the preset reference value over the predetermined time and outputting a reset signal when judging as dangerous;

(S4) generating a synchronous signal in response to the reset signal;

(S5) generating a first, a second and a third velocity signals by first orderly integrating the filtered first, the filtered second and the filtered third acceleration signals that are generated at the second step (S2) with respect to time while being synchronized to the synchronous signal; and

(S6) judging the vehicle collision type, wherein the sixth step (S6) comprises the substeps of;

(I) judging as an oblique collision when the second velocity signal is a lower level than a second preset value over a second time by comparing the level of the second velocity signal with that of the second preset value, while being synchronized to the synchronous signal;

(Ii) judging as a front barrier collision when the first velocity signal has a higher level than the first preset value over a first time by comparing the first velocity signal with the first present value, said step (ii) being performed when the second velocity signal has a higher level than the second preset value over the second time; and

(Iii) on the precondition that the first velocity signal has a lower level than the first preset value over the first time, comparing the third velocity signal with the third preset value and judging as a center pole collision when the third velocity signal has a higher level than the third preset value over a third time, and judging as the front barrier collision when the third velocity signal has a lower level than the third preset value over the third time.

5. A apparatus for judging a vehicle collision type, said apparatus comprising:

an acceleration sensor for detecting accelerations in a back-and-forth, a left-and-right and an up-and-down directions viewed from a traveling vehicle to generate a first, a second and a third acceleration signals respectively;

a low-pass filter for filtering the first, the second and the third acceleration signals from said acceleration sensor to eliminate high frequency components thereof;

a collision judging means for judging as dangerous when the first acceleration signal supplied from the low-pass filter has a higher level than the preset reference value during a predetermined time, judging as not dangerous when the first acceleration signal has a lower level than the preset reference value during the predetermined time and for outputting a reset signal when judging as dangerous;

a clock for generating a synchronous signal in response to the reset signal, said clock being reset by the reset signal;

an integrator for generating a first, a second and a third velocity signals by first orderly integrating the filtered first, the filtered second and the filtered third acceleration signals supplied from said low-pass filter with respect to time, said integrator being synchronized to the synchronous signal; and

a collision type judging means for receiving the first, the second and the third velocity signals, comparing the first, the second and the third velocity signals with a first, a second and a third preset values to judge whether the vehicle collision is an oblique collision, a front barrier collision or a center pole collision, said collision type judging means synchronized to the synchronous signal.

6. The apparatus for judging a vehicle collision type as claimed in claim 5, wherein said collision judging means judges the vehicle collision as dangerous when the first acceleration signal has a higher level than the preset reference value over a predetermined time, and judges as not dangerous when the first acceleration signal has a lower level than the preset reference value over the predetermined time.

7. The apparatus for judging a vehicle collision type as claimed in claim 5 wherein said collision judging means judges the vehicle collision as an oblique collision when the second velocity signal has a lower level than the second preset value over a second time, judges as a front barrier collision when the second velocity signal has a higher level than the second preset value over a second time and when the first velocity signal has a higher level than the first preset value over a first time, and judges as a center pole collision when the third velocity signal has a higher level than the third preset value over a third time or as a front barrier collision when the third velocity signal has a lower level than the third preset value over the third time on the precondition that the second velocity signal has a higher level than the second preset value over the second time and the first velocity signal has higher level than the first preset over the first time.

8. A apparatus for judging a vehicle collision type, said apparatus comprising:

an acceleration sensor for detecting accelerations in a back-and-forth, a left-and-right and an up-and-down directions viewed from a traveling vehicle to generate a first, a second and a third acceleration signals respectively;

a low-pass filter for filtering the first, the second and the third acceleration signals from said acceleration sensor to eliminate high frequency components thereof;

a collision judging means for judging as dangerous when the first acceleration signal supplied from the low-pass filter has a higher level than a preset reference value during a predetermined time, and for outputting a reset signal, and judging as not dangerous when the first acceleration signal has a lower level than the preset reference value during the predetermined time;

a clock for generating a synchronous signal in response to the reset signal, said clock being reset by the reset signal;

an integrator for generating a first, a second and a third velocity signals by first orderly integrating the filtered first, the filtered second and the filtered third acceleration signals supplied from said low-pass filter with respect to time, said integrator being synchronized to the synchronous signal; and

a collision type judging means for receiving the first, the second and the third velocity signals, for judging as an oblique collision when the second velocity signal as a lower level than a second preset value over a second time, judging as a front barrier collision when the second velocity signal has a higher level than the second preset value over the second time and when the first velocity signal has a higher level than a first preset value over a first time, and judging as a center pole collision when the third velocity signal has a higher level than a third preset value over a third time or as a front barrier collision when the third velocity signal has a lower level than the third preset value over the third time on the precondition that the second velocity signal has a higher level than the second preset value over the second time and the first velocity signal has higher level than the first preset value over the first time, said collision type judging means being synchronized to the synchronous signal.

9. A method for judging a vehicle collision, comprising the steps of:

(S1) detecting accelerations in a back-and-forth, a left-and-right and an up-and-down directions viewed from a traveling vehicle to generate a first, second and third acceleration signals respectively;

(S2) filtering the first, the second and third acceleration signals to minimize high frequency signals thereof;

(S3) comparing the first acceleration signal with a present reference value to judge whether or not the vehicle collision is dangerous, and outputting a reset signal when said vehicle collision is judged to be in a specified condition;

(S4) generating a synchronous signal in response to the reset signal;

(S5) generating a first, a second and a third velocity signals by first orderly integrating the filtered first, the filtered second and the filtered third acceleration signals that are generated in the second step (S2) with respect to time while being synchronized to the synchronous signal; and

(S6) judging the vehicle collision type by comparing the first, the second and the third velocity signals with first, second and third preset values, while being synchronized to the synchronous signal.