Method and apparatus for identifying concealed objects in road traffic

• US 8,179,281 B2
• Filed: 10/10/2007
• Issued: 05/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Teves AG & Co. OHG (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Continental Teves AG & Co. OHG (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Strauss, Matthias
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hung T.
• Application Number:
  US12/444,778
• Publication Number:
  US 20100045482A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,679 Days
• Field of Search: 340/903, 340/905, 340/436, 340/425.5, 382/103, 382/104, 701/1, 701/29, 701/30, 701/301, 701/45
• US Class Current: 340/903
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/163 involving continuous checking

Abstract

Method for detecting concealed objects in road traffic in which the surroundings of a vehicle and movement variables of the driver'"'"'s vehicle are sensed by sensors, said variables are transmitted as information to vehicles which are located in the surroundings by an interface for vehicle-to-vehicle communication and are received from the vehicles which are located in the surroundings, wherein the following steps are executed:

• • the data from the sensors expand a surroundings model,
  • the expanded surroundings model is represented in updated form by a display in the driver'"'"'s vehicle,
  • a situation analysis of the surroundings and an evaluation of the situation are carried out in the driver'"'"'s vehicle,
  • objects which represent an accident hazard on the display are displayed with a high priority,
  • predefined steps for reducing accident hazard are activated in the driver'"'"'s vehicle,
  • information relating to the pre-defined steps are transmitted to the surroundings by the communication system.

Claims

1. A method for detecting concealed objects in road traffic in which surroundings of a driver'"'"'s vehicle are detected by vehicle sensors including a video camera, and vehicle to vehicle communication, and displayed on a vehicle display to the driver, said method comprising the steps of:

a) generating, by a processor, a surroundings model based upon objects detected by the vehicle sensors and movement variables received from other vehicles during communication, the movement variables indicating location and movement of the other vehicles,

b) displaying, on the vehicle display, the generated surroundings model as an aerial map view of the driver'"'"'s vehicle in relation to locations of the detected objects and locations of the other vehicles if the objects or other vehicles in the surroundings model are outside a field of view of the camera,

c) displaying, on the vehicle display, the generated surroundings model as the aerial map view of the driver'"'"'s vehicle in relation to locations of the detected objects and locations of the other vehicles if video from the video camera is not available,

d) displaying, on the vehicle display, video from the camera, if the video from the video camera is available and the objects or other vehicles in the surroundings model are within the field of view of the camera,

e) performing, by the processor, a situation analysis of the surroundings,

f) displaying, on the vehicle display, the objects and the other vehicles which represent an accident hazard on the display with a high priority, and

g) activating, by the processor, predefined steps for reducing the accident hazard in the driver'"'"'s vehicle.

2. The method according to claim 1,

wherein the movement variables are transmitted by multicast transmission, unicast transmission, broadcast transmission, or any combination thereof.

3. The method according to claim 1,

wherein the received information is evaluated with priority and the information which is to be transmitted is transmitted with priority after relevance testing.

4. The method according to claim 1,

wherein the received information is passed on to a driver assistance system in the driver'"'"'s vehicle, and when vehicles which have an activated driver assistance system are detected in the surroundings the movement variables are transmitted to the respective driver assistance system of the respective vehicle.

5. The method according to claim 1,

wherein the predefined steps for reducing the accident hazard in the vehicle are carried out by pretensioning seatbelts, prefilling brake systems, or both pretensioning the seatbelts and prefilling the brake systems.

6. The method according to claim 1,

wherein the sensor is a stereocamera with a 12-bit dynamic range.

7. The method according to claim 1,

wherein the movement variables are transmitted in the form of position information packets and dynamic information packets.

8. A device for carrying out the method according to claim 1, comprising at least one memory, at least one computer unit and at least one interface for exchanging data,

wherein the information from the vehicles which are located in the surroundings is passed on to the computer unit via the communication system and via the interface,

the data on the driver'"'"'s vehicle are determined by the sensors, updated and passed on to the surroundings model via a sensor data processor,

wherein, under real time conditions, the position of the driver'"'"'s vehicle, the surroundings and the position of the surrounding vehicles are determined by a position-determining system and are transmitted to the computer unit via the interface with the surroundings model,

wherein, when there is a hazard, one or more of the following occur:

(i) signalling is carried out to the driver via the interface with an output unit, (ii) intervening in the movement path of the driver'"'"'s vehicle by the vehicle safety systems or the vehicle assistance systems, or (iii) signalling the intervention in the movement path of the vehicle to the adjacent vehicles.