JP7776359B2 - Warning control device, vehicle, program, and warning control method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a warning control device, a vehicle, a program, and a warning control method.

In recent years, efforts to provide access to sustainable transportation systems that take into consideration vulnerable traffic participants have been gaining momentum. To achieve this, efforts are being made to further improve traffic safety and convenience through research and development of preventive safety technologies. Patent Document 1 describes a technology that determines whether to issue a warning based on the relative positions of a vehicle and other vehicles.
[Prior art documents]
[Patent Documents]
[Patent Document 1] JP 2018-116628 A

However, preventive safety technology faces the challenge of not being able to provide safe warnings without causing inconvenience to passengers. This application aims to address this challenge by providing safe warnings without causing inconvenience to passengers. This, in turn, will contribute to the development of sustainable transportation systems.

A first aspect of the present invention provides a warning control device. The warning control device includes an acquisition unit that acquires a predicted time until a vehicle comes into contact with an obstacle. The warning control device includes a warning control unit that controls the output of a warning to an occupant of the vehicle in accordance with the predicted time. The warning control unit changes the conditions for determining whether to output the warning in accordance with the predicted time.

The warning control unit may output the warning if a first condition is met when the predicted time is less than or equal to a first time, and may output the warning if a second condition is met when the predicted time exceeds the first time. The second condition may include a condition related to at least one operator provided in the vehicle, and the first condition may include a condition related to the at least one operator and a third condition related to another operator not included in the second condition.

The first condition may include the second condition and the third condition.

The at least one operator may include a brake pedal. The condition regarding the brake pedal included in the second condition may be a condition that is less likely to be met than the condition regarding the brake pedal included in the first condition.

The warning control unit may output the warning if a first condition is satisfied when the predicted time is less than or equal to a first time, and may output the warning if a second condition is satisfied when the predicted time exceeds the first time. The first condition may include at least one condition included in the second condition and a third condition not included in the second condition.

The first condition may include the second condition and the third condition.

The warning control unit may output the warning if a first condition is satisfied when the predicted time is equal to or less than a first time, and may output the warning if a second condition is satisfied when the predicted time exceeds the first time. The first condition may be a condition that is less likely to be met than the second condition.

The first condition and the second condition may include a brake operation not being performed by an occupant of the vehicle.

The first condition may include an accelerator being operated by an occupant of the vehicle.

The warning control unit may change the type of warning depending on the predicted time.

In a second aspect, a vehicle is provided. The vehicle is equipped with the warning control device described above.

In a third aspect, a program is provided. The program causes a computer to function as the warning control device described in any one of claims 1 to 10.

In a fourth aspect, a warning control method is provided. The warning control method includes a step of obtaining a predicted time until a vehicle comes into contact with an obstacle. The warning control method includes a step of controlling the output of a warning to an occupant of the vehicle in accordance with the predicted time. The step of controlling the output of the warning includes a step of changing, in accordance with the predicted time, conditions for determining whether to output the warning.

The above summary of the invention does not list all of the features of the present invention. Also, subcombinations of these features may also constitute inventions.

3 is a diagram illustrating an operation of a warning control device 40 of a vehicle 20 according to an embodiment. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the warning control device 40 of the vehicle 20. 2 shows the system configuration of a vehicle 20. 10 is a schematic diagram showing a histogram of predicted time TTC when a subject performs a starting action. 1 shows the data structure of warning control information stored in the warning control device 40 in a table format. 2 illustrates an example computer 2000 in which multiple embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in whole or in part.

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the operation of a warning control device 40 of a vehicle 20 according to one embodiment. The warning control device 40 provided in the vehicle 20 performs vehicle-to-vehicle communication with a vehicle 60 and acquires a predicted time (TTC) until the vehicle 20 collides with the vehicle 60.

The warning control device 40 warns the occupants of the vehicle 20 of the risk of collision with a vehicle 60 traveling in an intersecting direction with the vehicle 20, based on the predicted time TTC. For example, the warning control device 40 outputs a warning when the predicted time TTC exceeds the first time T1, provided that no braking operation is performed.

Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of the operation of the warning control device 40 of the vehicle 20. Figure 2 shows a case where the predicted time TTC acquired by the warning control device 40 is equal to or shorter than the first time T1. When the predicted time TTC is equal to or shorter than the first time T1, the warning control device 40 outputs a warning not only if there is no braking operation but also if the accelerator pedal is depressed.

Normally, even if a driver removes their foot from the brake pedal of a vehicle, unless they also depress the accelerator pedal, the vehicle will not immediately move forward significantly, but will only move forward relatively slowly due to creep. Therefore, in a situation where vehicle 60 passes in front of vehicle 20 in a short period of time, as shown in Figure 2, the driver often understands from experience that simply removing their foot from the brake pedal will not result in a collision with vehicle 60. Therefore, the driver of vehicle 20 may release the brakes and prepare to move forward before vehicle 60 passes, fully aware of the position of vehicle 60 and that the vehicle will move forward to a certain extent due to creep.

For this reason, if the condition for issuing a warning is set solely on the absence of braking in a situation like that shown in Figure 2, the warning may be annoying to a driver who is aware of the vehicle 60. Therefore, in a situation like that shown in Figure 2, the warning control device 40 outputs a warning not only on the condition that there is no braking, but also on the condition that the accelerator pedal is being depressed.

On the other hand, as shown in Figure 1, if the brake operation is released in a situation where it will take some time for vehicle 60 to pass in front of vehicle 20, vehicle 20 may move forward a certain distance before reaching vehicle 20, potentially resulting in a collision with vehicle 60. Therefore, in a situation like that shown in Figure 1, the warning control device 40 outputs a warning when the condition of no brake operation is met. This ensures safety while preventing the warning from becoming an annoyance to the occupants of vehicle 20.

Figure 3 shows the system configuration of vehicle 20. Vehicle 20 is equipped with a sensor 29, a brake pedal 27, an accelerator pedal 28, a sensor, a communication device 26, and a warning control device 40. Communication device 26 is responsible for vehicle-to-vehicle communication with vehicle 60.

The brake pedal 27 outputs the amount of brake pedal 27 operation by the occupant to the warning control device 40. The accelerator pedal 28 outputs the amount of accelerator pedal 28 operation by the occupant to the warning control device 40. The sensor 29 may include, for example, a camera, a vehicle speed sensor, a yaw rate sensor, a GNSS receiver, etc. The warning device 25 includes, for example, a pretensioner, meters including a multi-information display (MID), etc., a warning sound generator, etc.

The warning control device 40 includes a processing unit 200 and a memory unit 290. The processing unit 200 is implemented, for example, by an arithmetic processing device including a processor. The memory unit 290 is implemented by including a non-volatile storage medium. The processing unit 200 performs processing using information stored in the memory unit 290. The processing unit 200 may be implemented by an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) including a microcomputer equipped with a CPU, ROM, RAM, I/O, buses, etc.

The processing unit 200 includes an acquisition unit 210 and a warning control unit 220. The acquisition unit 210 acquires the predicted time until the vehicle 20 comes into contact with an obstacle. The obstacle may be any moving object. The obstacle may be another vehicle 60. If the obstacle is a vehicle 60, the acquisition unit 210 may acquire the predicted time TTC based on information detected by the sensor 29 and information acquired from the vehicle 60 via the communication device 26.

The warning control unit 220 controls the output of a warning to the occupants of the vehicle 20 according to the predicted time. The warning control unit 220 changes the conditions for determining whether to output a warning according to the predicted time.

The warning control unit 220 may output a warning if the first condition is met when the predicted time is less than or equal to a first time, and may output a warning if the second condition is met when the predicted time exceeds the first time. The second condition may include a condition related to at least one operator provided on the vehicle 20, and the first condition may include a condition related to at least one operator and a third condition related to another operator not included in the second condition. The at least one operator may include a brake pedal provided on the vehicle 20, and the condition related to the brake pedal included in the second condition is less likely to be met than the condition related to the brake pedal included in the first condition.

The warning control unit 220 outputs the warning if the predicted time is equal to or less than a first time and a first condition is met, and outputs the warning if the predicted time exceeds the first time and a second condition is met. Here, the first condition includes at least one condition included in the second condition and a third condition not included in the second condition. The first condition may be an AND condition of at least one condition included in the second condition and the third condition.

The first condition may include the second condition and the third condition. The first condition may be an AND condition of the second condition and the third condition. The first condition may be a condition that is less likely to be met than the second condition.

The first and second conditions may include the brakes not being applied by the occupant of the vehicle 20. The first condition may further include the accelerator being applied by the occupant of the vehicle 20.

The warning control unit 220 may change the type of warning depending on the predicted time. For example, if the predicted time is equal to or less than a first time, the warning control unit 220 may output a warning by vibrating the pretensioner, a warning by displaying on the meter, and a warning by a warning sound. If the predicted time exceeds the first time, the warning control unit 220 may output a warning by displaying on the meter and a warning by a warning sound. Note that if the predicted time is equal to or less than the first time, the warning control unit 220 may output a warning by vibrating the pretensioner, a warning by displaying on the meter, a warning by a warning sound, a warning by display on the HUD (Head Up Display), and a warning by display on the DA (Display Audio).

Figure 4 shows a histogram of predicted time to departure (TTC) when a subject performed a starting behavior. The horizontal axis of the histogram in Figure 4 represents TTC, and the vertical axis represents the frequency of TTC occurrence. In this test, a starting behavior was defined as the subject releasing the brakes of the vehicle in the presence of an intersecting vehicle traveling in the direction intersecting the subject's vehicle, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

From the histogram in Figure 4, it can be said that the subjects generally recognize that the intersecting vehicle will not collide with their own vehicle even if they release their brakes when the TTC exceeds T2. Furthermore, it can be said that the subjects generally recognize that the intersecting vehicle may collide with their own vehicle if they release their brakes when the TTC is between T1 and T2. Furthermore, it can be said that some subjects recognize that when the TTC is T1 or less, the intersecting vehicle will pass in front of their own vehicle before their own vehicle moves forward to a position where it intersects with the intersecting vehicle's driving line, even if they release their brakes.

From this, it can be seen that if the TTC exceeds T2, it is desirable not to output a warning even if the brake operation is released. Also, if the TTC exceeds T1 but is equal to or less than T2, it is desirable to output a warning when the brake operation is released.

When the TTC is T1 or less, it can be seen that, from the perspective of whether the occupant will find the warning annoying, it may be desirable not to output a warning even if the brake operation is released. Therefore, when the TTC is T1 or less, it is desirable not to output a warning just because the brake operation is released, but to output a warning when the brake operation is released and the accelerator pedal is depressed. By adding accelerator pedal depression to the warning output conditions in this way, it becomes possible to appropriately output a warning when the occupant's clear intention to start driving is detected when the TTC is T1 or less.

Figure 5 shows, in table format, the data structure of the warning control information stored by the warning control device 40. The warning control information is information that associates each condition and warning means with a TTC time range. The TTC time range includes three time ranges: 0 < TTC ≤ T1, T1 < TTC ≤ T2, and T2 < TTC. The warning control information may be stored in the memory unit 290.

The warning control unit 220 refers to the warning control information, determines whether to issue a warning based on the conditions associated with the predicted time TTC, and selects the warning means associated with the predicted time TTC as the means for issuing the warning.

For example, the acquisition unit 210 continuously collects the TTC, and the warning control unit 220 continuously collects information indicating whether the brakes are being applied and whether the accelerator pedal is being depressed. When the warning control unit 220 determines that the predicted time TTC acquired by the acquisition unit 210 falls within the time range of 0 < TTC ≦ T1, it references the conditions associated with the time range to which the predicted time TTC belongs in the warning control information and determines to output a warning if there is no brake application and the accelerator pedal is being depressed. Furthermore, the warning control unit 220 selects pretension, a meter, and audio warning means, which are means associated with the time range to which the predicted time TTC belongs. Note that "no brake application" may include not only cases where the brakes are not being applied, but also cases where a brake release operation (an operation to release the brakes after they have been applied) is performed.

When the warning control unit 220 determines that the TTC acquired by the acquisition unit 210 falls within the time range T1<TTC≦T2, it references the conditions associated with the time range to which the predicted time TTC belongs in the warning control information and determines to output a warning in the absence of a brake operation. Furthermore, the warning control unit 220 selects, as the warning means, a meter and audio warning means associated with the time range to which the predicted time TTC belongs. Note that "no brake operation" may include not only a case where the brake is not applied but also a case where a brake release operation (an operation to release the brake after applying it) is performed. Furthermore, the "no brake operation" condition corresponding to the time range 0<TTC≦T1 and the "no brake operation" condition corresponding to the time range T1<TTC≦T2 may differ in whether they include a case where the brake is not applied and a case where a brake release operation is performed. For example, the "no brake operation" condition corresponding to one time range may be satisfied when a brake release operation is performed, and the "no brake operation" condition in the other condition may be satisfied when the brake is not applied.

If the warning control unit 220 determines that the TTC acquired by the acquisition unit 210 falls within the time range of T2 < TTC, it determines not to output a warning based on the warning control information.

As explained above, the warning control device 40 changes the conditions for determining whether to issue a warning depending on the TTC, making it possible to determine whether to issue a warning without bothering the occupants of the vehicle 20 while ensuring safety. Furthermore, when the TTC is less than or equal to the first time T1, instead of simply releasing the brakes and not issuing a warning unless the accelerator is depressed, a warning can be issued using pretension as an additional warning method not included in the warning methods selected when the TTC is greater than or equal to the first time T1, in addition to the warning methods that can be selected when the TTC is greater than or equal to the first time T1. This makes it possible to select an appropriate warning method depending on the TTC when it is determined that the occupant has a clear intention to start driving.

Vehicle 20 is an example of transportation equipment. Vehicles may be automobiles with internal combustion engines, electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), etc. Automobiles include buses, trucks, motorcycles, etc. Vehicles may be saddle-ride vehicles, etc., or motorcycles. Transportation equipment includes, in addition to vehicles, aircraft including unmanned aerial vehicles, ships, and other equipment. Transportation equipment may be any equipment that transports people or goods. Transportation equipment is an example of a mobile object. Mobile objects are not limited to transportation equipment, and may be any mobile equipment.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a computer 2000 in which multiple embodiments of the present invention may be embodied, in whole or in part. A program installed on the computer 2000 may cause the computer 2000 to function as a system or each part of a system, such as a control system according to an embodiment, or as an apparatus or each part of an apparatus, such as the warning control device 40, according to an embodiment, to perform operations associated with the system or each part of the system or the apparatus or each part of the apparatus, and/or to perform a process or steps of the process according to an embodiment. Such a program may be executed by the CPU 2012 to cause the computer 2000 to perform specific operations associated with some or all of the blocks of the process procedures and block diagrams described herein.

The computer 2000 according to this embodiment includes a CPU 2012 and RAM 2014, which are interconnected by a host controller 2010. The computer 2000 also includes a ROM 2026, a flash memory 2024, a communication interface 2022, and an input/output chip 2040. The ROM 2026, the flash memory 2024, the communication interface 2022, and the input/output chip 2040 are connected to the host controller 2010 via the input/output controller 2020.

The CPU 2012 operates according to programs stored in the ROM 2026 and RAM 2014, thereby controlling each unit.

The communications interface 2022 communicates with other electronic devices via a network. The flash memory 2024 stores programs and data used by the CPU 2012 in the computer 2000. The ROM 2026 stores programs such as a boot program executed by the computer 2000 upon activation and/or programs that depend on the hardware of the computer 2000. The input/output chip 2040 may also connect various input/output units such as a keyboard, mouse, and monitor to the input/output controller 2020 via input/output ports such as a serial port, parallel port, keyboard port, mouse port, monitor port, USB port, HDMI (registered trademark) port, etc.

The programs are provided via a computer-readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or memory card, or via a network. RAM 2014, ROM 2026, or flash memory 2024 are examples of computer-readable storage media. The programs are installed in flash memory 2024, RAM 2014, or ROM 2026 and executed by CPU 2012. The information processing described in these programs is read by computer 2000, resulting in cooperation between the programs and the various types of hardware resources described above. An apparatus or method may be configured by implementing the operation or processing of information in accordance with the use of computer 2000.

For example, when communication is performed between computer 2000 and an external device, CPU 2012 executes a communication program loaded into RAM 2014 and may instruct communication interface 2022 to perform communication processing based on the processing described in the communication program. Under the control of CPU 2012, communication interface 2022 reads transmission data stored in a transmission buffer processing area provided in RAM 2014 and a recording medium such as flash memory 2024, transmits the read transmission data to the network, and writes received data received from the network to a reception buffer processing area or the like provided on the recording medium.

The CPU 2012 may also cause all or a necessary portion of a file or database stored on a recording medium such as flash memory 2024 to be read into the RAM 2014, and perform various types of processing on the data on the RAM 2014. The CPU 2012 then writes the processed data back to the recording medium.

Various types of information, such as various types of programs, data, tables, and databases, may be stored on the recording medium and subjected to information processing. The CPU 2012 may perform various types of processing on data read from RAM 2014, including various types of operations, information processing, conditional judgment, conditional branching, unconditional branching, information search/replacement, etc., as described herein and specified by the instruction sequences of the program, and write the results back to RAM 2014. The CPU 2012 may also search for information in files, databases, etc. on the recording medium. For example, if multiple entries each having an attribute value of a first attribute associated with an attribute value of a second attribute are stored on the recording medium, the CPU 2012 may search for an entry that matches a condition and specifies an attribute value of the first attribute from among the multiple entries, read the attribute value of the second attribute stored in the entry, and thereby obtain the attribute value of the second attribute associated with the first attribute that satisfies a predetermined condition.

The programs or software modules described above may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium on or near the computer 2000. Recording media such as a hard disk or RAM provided within a server system connected to a dedicated communications network or the Internet can be used as the computer-readable storage medium. The programs stored on the computer-readable storage medium may be provided to the computer 2000 via the network.

Programs installed on computer 2000 and causing computer 2000 to function as the warning control device 40 may act on CPU 2012, etc., to cause computer 2000 to function as each component of the warning control device 40. When loaded into computer 2000, the information processing described in these programs functions as each component of the warning control device 40, which is a concrete means formed by the software and the various hardware resources described above working together. These concrete means then perform calculations or processing of information according to the intended use of computer 2000 in this embodiment, thereby constructing a unique warning control device 40 suited to the intended use.

Various embodiments have been described with reference to block diagrams and the like. In the block diagrams, each block may represent (1) a stage of a process where an operation is performed or (2) a portion of an apparatus responsible for performing an operation. Particular stages and portions may be implemented by dedicated circuitry, programmable circuitry provided with computer-readable instructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium, and/or a processor provided with computer-readable instructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium. Dedicated circuitry may include digital and/or analog hardware circuitry, and may include integrated circuits (ICs) and/or discrete circuits. Programmable circuitry may include reconfigurable hardware circuitry including logical AND, logical OR, logical XOR, logical NAND, logical NOR, and other logic operations, flip-flops, registers, memory elements such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic arrays (PLAs), and the like.

A computer-readable storage medium may include any tangible device capable of storing instructions for execution by an appropriate device, such that the computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon constitutes at least a portion of an article of manufacture containing instructions that can be executed to provide means for performing the operations specified in a process or block diagram. Examples of computer-readable storage media may include electronic storage media, magnetic storage media, optical storage media, electromagnetic storage media, semiconductor storage media, etc. More specific examples of computer-readable storage media may include floppy disks, diskettes, hard disks, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), static random access memory (SRAM), compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disc (DVD), Blu-ray disc, memory stick, integrated circuit card, etc.

The computer-readable instructions may include either assembler instructions, instruction set architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine-dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state-setting data, or source or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including object-oriented programming languages such as Smalltalk®, JAVA®, C++, etc., and conventional procedural programming languages such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages.

The computer-readable instructions may be provided to a processor or programmable circuitry of a general-purpose computer, special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, either locally or over a wide-area network (WAN) such as a local area network (LAN), the Internet, etc., and executed to provide means for performing the operations specified in the described process steps or block diagrams. Examples of processors include computer processors, processing units, microprocessors, digital signal processors, controllers, microcontrollers, etc.

The present invention has been described above using embodiments, but the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the above embodiments. It will be clear to those skilled in the art that various modifications and improvements can be made to the above embodiments. It is clear from the claims that such modifications and improvements can also be included within the technical scope of the present invention.

The order of execution of each process, such as operations, procedures, steps, and stages, in the devices, systems, programs, and methods shown in the claims, specifications, and drawings is not specifically stated as "before," "prior to," or the like, and it should be noted that processes can be performed in any order, unless the output of a previous process is used in a subsequent process. Even if the operational flow in the claims, specifications, and drawings is described using "first," "next," etc. for convenience, this does not mean that it is necessary to perform the processes in that order.

20 Vehicle 25 Warning device 26 Communication device 27 Brake pedal 28 Accelerator pedal 29 Sensor 40 Warning control device 60 Vehicle 200 Processing unit 210 Acquisition unit 220 Warning control unit 290 Storage unit 2000 Computer 2010 Host controller 2012 CPU
2014 RAM
2020 Input/Output Controller 2022 Communication Interface 2024 Flash Memory 2026 ROM
2040 Input/Output Chip

Claims (5)

an acquisition unit that acquires a predicted time until the vehicle comes into contact with an obstacle;
a warning control unit that controls output of a warning to an occupant of the vehicle in accordance with the predicted time;
The warning control unit
When the predicted time is equal to or shorter than a first time, outputting the warning when the occupant of the vehicle is not performing a brake operation but is performing an accelerator pedal depression operation, and not outputting the warning when the occupant of the vehicle is not performing a brake operation or is performing an accelerator pedal depression operation,
When the predicted time exceeds the first time, if the brake operation is not performed by the occupant of the vehicle, the warning is output.
Warning control device. The warning control device according to claim 1 , wherein the warning control unit changes the type of the warning depending on the predicted time. A vehicle equipped with the warning control device according to claim 1 or 2 . A program for causing a computer to function as the warning control device according to claim 1 or 2 . obtaining a predicted time until the vehicle contacts an obstacle;
and controlling output of a warning to an occupant of the vehicle in accordance with the predicted time.
The step of controlling the output of the warning includes:
When the predicted time is equal to or shorter than a first time, outputting the warning when the occupant of the vehicle is not performing a brake operation but is performing an accelerator pedal depression operation, and not outputting the warning when the occupant of the vehicle is not performing a brake operation or is performing an accelerator pedal depression operation,
When the predicted time exceeds the first time, if the brake operation is not performed by the occupant of the vehicle, the warning is output.
Warning control methods.