Notification device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11498482-B2
Application number	US-202017038390-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2020
Priority date	Dec 27, 2018
Publication date	Nov 15, 2022
Grant date	Nov 15, 2022

Abstract

A notification device includes: a notification-sound output portion provided in a vehicle and configured to output a notification sound toward the outside of the vehicle; a notification display portion provided in the vehicle and configured to output a notification display toward the outside of the vehicle; a notification controlling portion configured to control the notification sound of the notification-sound output portion and the notification display of the notification display portion; and a stop-state determination portion configured to determine whether the vehicle during the automatic driving enters a stop state or not. When the stop-state determination portion determines that the vehicle during the automatic driving enters the stop state, the notification controlling portion outputs a stop-time notification sound as the notification sound by the notification-sound output portion and outputs a stop-time notification display as the notification display by the notification display portion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
determining whether a vehicle enters a stop state during automatic driving; and
in response to determining that the vehicle enters the stop state during automatic driving, outputting a stop-state notification sound and a stop-state notification display toward an outside of the vehicle, the stop-state notification sound being an intermittent sound.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
changing the stop-state notification sound in volume or frequency as time elapses; and
changing the stop-state notification display in luminance or chromaticity as time elapses,
wherein the change of the stop-state notification sound corresponds to the change of the stop-state notification display.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein:
the stop-state notification display is a flashing display; and
a sound-production timing of the stop-state notification sound as the intermittent sound corresponds to a lighting timing of the stop-state notification display as the flashing display.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether the vehicle is in a deceleration state during the automatic driving; and
in response to determining that the vehicle is in the deceleration state during the automatic driving, outputting a deceleration-time notification sound toward the outside of the vehicle.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the stop state is detected in response to a speed of the vehicle being below a predetermined stop threshold.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Morimura Junichi
• Kuriyama Tomoyuki

Classifications

• B60W40/10

  related to vehicle motion · CPC title

• B60Q1/507

  specific to autonomous vehicles · CPC title

• B60Q5/006 Primary

  indicating risk of collision between vehicles or with pedestrians · CPC title

• B60Q1/525

  automatically indicating risk of collision between vehicles in traffic or with pedestrians, e.g. after risk assessment using the vehicle sensor data · CPC title

• B60Q1/18

  being additional front lights {(bracket mounted headlights B60Q1/0483)} · CPC title