False event suppression for collision avoidance systems

• US 8,370,056 B2
• Filed: 08/12/2009
• Issued: 02/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Trombley, Roger Arnold, Pilutti, Thomas Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Mawari, Redhwan k
• Application Number:
  US12/539,709
• Publication Number:
  US 20110040481A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,273 Days
• Field of Search: 701/301, 701/45, 701/96, 701/23, 701/25, 701/30.8, 701/30.7, 701/31.1, 701/33.4, 701/408, 701/540, 340/995.14, 340/436, 340/903, 340/435, 340/883, 340/988, 180/167, 180/274, 180/168, 180/271
• US Class Current: 701/301
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/163 involving continuous checking
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles

Abstract

A collision warning apparatus includes sensors, output devices, memory locations, a GPS device, and a processor. The processor may receive information from the sensors. The processor may also process the information to identify a detected object as a present potential collision object. The processor may compare present GPS coordinates of the vehicle with stored vehicle GPS coordinates saved in memory, to determine whether or not the present GPS coordinates correspond to stored vehicle GPS coordinates associated with a previously identified potential collision object. If the present GPS coordinates correspond to stored vehicle GPS coordinates associated with a previously identified potential collision object, the processor is operable to suppress a potential collision warning.

Claims

1. A collision warning apparatus comprising:

one or more sensors to detect one or more objects;

one or more output devices to output a warning to a driver;

one or more persistent memory locations to store one or more sets of vehicle GPS coordinates associated with previously identified potential collision objects;

a GPS device to determine present GPS coordinates of a vehicle;

and a processor in communication with the sensors, the output devices, the GPS device and the persistent memory locations, wherein the processor is configured to;

receive information from the one or more sensors and process the information to identify a detected object as a present potential collision object;

compare present GPS coordinates of the vehicle with stored vehicle GPS coordinates saved in persistent memory, to determine whether or not the present GPS coordinates correspond to stored vehicle GPS coordinates associated with a previously identified potential collision object; and

if the present GPS coordinates correspond to stored vehicle GPS coordinates associated with a previously identified potential collision object, the processor is configured to suppress a potential collision warning;

wherein the processor is further configured to access a stored number-of-detections associated with a previously detected potential collision object, stored in the persistent memory and indicative of the number of times a particular potential collision object has been detected at the associated stored vehicle GPS coordinates, and wherein the processor is configured to suppress a potential collision warning if the number-of-detections of a potential collision object, whose associated stored vehicle GPS coordinates correspond to the present GPS coordinates, exceeds a threshold.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to determine if the present GPS coordinates are within a threshold range of stored vehicle GPS coordinates associated with a previously detected potential collision object.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to receive and store map data from the GPS device, and wherein the processor is further configured to determine, when a potential collision object is identified, on which of two or more intersecting roads a vehicle is traveling.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the determination as to on which of two or more interesting roads a vehicle is traveling is based at least in part on vehicle heading information obtainable by the processor.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to store, in the persistent memory or in non-persistent memory, a plurality of previous GPS coordinates in conjunction with the present GPS coordinates.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to store, in the persistent memory or in non-persistent memory, vehicle heading information in conjunction with the present GPS coordinates.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, if the present GPS coordinate do not correspond to stored vehicle GPS coordinates associated with a previously detected collision object, the processor is configured to proceed with a collision avoidance event.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the sensors is a proximity sensor.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the sensors is a camera.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to store the identified object as a previously detected collision object and to store and associate the present GPS coordinates with the object in the persistent memory.

11. A warning suppression method comprising:

receiving information from one or more vehicle sensors;

processing the information to identify a detected object as a present potential collision object;

determining present GPS coordinates of a vehicle;

comparing in a vehicle based computing system, present GPS coordinates of the vehicle with stored vehicle GPS coordinates saved in a memory, to determine whether or not the present GPS coordinates correspond to stored vehicle GPS coordinates that are associated with a previously identified potential collision object; and

if the present GPS coordinates correspond to stored vehicle GPS coordinates associated with a previously identified potential collision object, suppressing a potential collision warning;

accessing a stored number-of-detections associated with a previously detected potential collision object, stored in the memory and indicative of the number of times a particular potential collision object has been detected at the associated stored vehicle GPS coordinates, and suppressing a potential collision warning if the number-of-detections of a potential collision object, whose associated stored vehicle GPS coordinates correspond to the present GPS coordinates, exceeds a threshold.

12. The method of claim 11, further including:

receiving and storing map data from a GPS device; and

determining, when a potential collision object is identified, on which of two or more intersecting roads a vehicle is traveling.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the determining as to on which of two or more interesting roads a vehicle is traveling is based at least in part on vehicle heading information.

14. The method of claim 11, further including storing, in the memory, a plurality of previous GPS coordinates in conjunction with the present GPS coordinates.

15. The method of claim 11, further including storing, in memory, heading information in conjunction with the present GPS coordinates.

16. The method of claim 11, further including proceeding with a collision avoidance event, if the present GPS coordinate do not correspond to stored vehicle GPS coordinates associated with a previously detected collision object.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the warning further comprises a brake discharge.