Zero point estimation device, zero point estimation method, and non-transitory computer-readable medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12522222-B2
Application number	US-202218726527-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 27, 2022
Priority date	Jan 11, 2022
Publication date	Jan 13, 2026
Grant date	Jan 13, 2026

Abstract

A zero point estimation device is configured to perform a first acquisition process, a second acquisition process, and a zero point estimation process. The first acquisition process is a process of acquiring a plurality of first detection values of a first sensor sampled at different timings from each other while a vehicle is traveling with a change in a direction of travel. The second acquisition process is a process of acquiring a plurality of second detection values of a second sensor sampled in synchronization with the sampling timings of the first detection values to be acquired by the first acquisition process. The zero point estimation process is a process of estimating a zero point of the second sensor by using, as inputs, the plurality of first detection values acquired by the first acquisition process and the plurality of second detection values acquired by the second acquisition process.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A zero point estimation device that is applied to a vehicle equipped with a first sensor and a second sensor, wherein:
the first sensor is configured to detect a physical quantity that changes according to a yaw motion of the vehicle; the second sensor is configured to detect a physical quantity that changes according to the yaw motion of the vehicle and that is different from the physical quantity to be detected by the first sensor; the first sensor has been subjected to zero point correction; the zero point estimation device is configured to perform a first acquisition process, a second acquisition process, and a zero point estimation process; the first acquisition process is a process of acquiring a plurality of first detection values sampled at different timings from each other while the vehicle is traveling with a change in a direction of travel; the first detection values are detection values of the first sensor; the second acquisition process is a process of acquiring a plurality of second detection values sampled in synchronization with sampling timings of the first detection values to be acquired by the first acquisition process; the second detection values are detection values of the second sensor; and the zero point estimation process is a process of estimating a zero point of the second sensor by using, as inputs, the plurality of first detection values acquired by the first acquisition process and the plurality of second detection values acquired by the second acquisition process.

2 . The zero point estimation device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of first detection values acquired by the first acquisition process includes values sampled at timings at which the vehicle has different steering angles from each other.

3 . The zero point estimation device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of first detection values acquired by the first acquisition process includes two first detection values whose magnitudes are different from each other by a threshold or more.

4 . The zero point estimation device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of first detection values acquired by the first acquisition process includes a value sampled during a right turn of the vehicle and a value sampled during a left turn of the vehicle.

5 . The zero point estimation device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the vehicle is a tractor configured to control a steered angle of a steered wheel; a trailer that is towed by the tractor is connectable to the tractor; either the first sensor or the second sensor is a hitch angle sensor; the hitch angle sensor is configured to detect a hitch angle that is an angle between a front-rear direction of the tractor and a front-rear direction of the trailer; and the zero point estimation device is configured to perform sampling of the first detection values to be acquired by the first acquisition process on condition that a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the vehicle started to move.

6 . The zero point estimation device according to claim 1 , wherein the zero point estimation process is a process of calculating the zero point by converting magnitudes of the first detection values into magnitudes of the second detection values according to a ratio between an amount of change in the first detection value indicated by the plurality of first detection values and an amount of change in the second detection value indicated by the plurality of second detection values.

7 . The zero point estimation device according to claim 6 , wherein:
the zero point estimation process includes
a ratio factor calculation process of calculating a ratio factor that is a ratio between a difference between two of the first detection values and a predetermined first detection value, and
a process of calculating an estimated value of the second detection value according to a product of a difference between two of the second detection values and the ratio factor;
the predetermined first detection value is a detection value that is not a zero point out of the plurality of first detection values; and the two second detection values are the second detection values corresponding to the two first detection values.

8 . The zero point estimation device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the zero point estimation device is configured to perform a zero point correction process and an operation process; the zero point correction process is a process of correcting the second detection value according to the zero point estimated by the zero point estimation process; and the operation process is a process of operating a predetermined device based on the second detection value corrected by the zero point correction process.

9 . The zero point estimation device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the zero point estimation device is configured to perform an instruction process of instructing a user of the vehicle to drive the vehicle under a predetermined driving condition; the predetermined driving condition is a driving condition that changes the direction of travel of the vehicle; and the zero point estimation device is configured to perform the first acquisition process during driving of the vehicle after the instruction process.

10 . The zero point estimation device according to claim 1 , wherein
the vehicle is a tractor configured to control a steered angle of a steered wheel, a trailer that is towed by the tractor is connectable to the tractor, the first sensor and the second sensor are any two of three sensors: a steering angle sensor; a yaw rate sensor; and a hitch angle sensor, and the hitch angle sensor is configured to detect a hitch angle that is an angle between a front-rear direction of the tractor and a front-rear direction of the trailer.

11 . A zero point estimation method that is applied to a vehicle equipped with a first sensor and a second sensor,
the first sensor being configured to detect a physical quantity that changes according to a yaw motion of the vehicle, the second sensor being configured to detect a physical quantity that changes according to the yaw motion of the vehicle and that is different from the physical quantity to be detected by the first sensor, and the first sensor having been subjected to zero point correction, the zero point estimation method comprising: performing a first acquisition process; performing a second acquisition process; and performing a zero point estimation process, wherein
the first acquisition process is a process of acquiring a plurality of first detection values sampled at different timings from each other while the vehicle is traveling with a change in a direction of travel,
the first detection values are detection values of the first sensor,
the second acquisition process is a process of acquiring a plurality of second detection values sampled in synchronization with sampling timings of the first detection values to be acquired by the first acquisition process,
the second detection values are detection values of the second sensor, and
the zero point estimation process is a process of estimating a zero point of the second sensor by using, as inputs, the plurality of first detection values acquired by the first acquisition process and the plurality of second detection values acquired by the second acquisition process.

12 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a zero point estimation program that is applied to a vehicle equipped with a first sensor and a second sensor,
the first sensor being configured to detect a physical quantity that changes according to a yaw motion of the vehicle,

Assignees

• Jtekt Corp
• J Quad Dynamics Inc

Inventors

• Tokoro Hirotaka
• Nitta Nobuhiro

Classifications

• B62D13/06

  for backing a normally drawn trailer · CPC title

• B60W2540/18

  Steering angle · CPC title

• B60W2520/22

  Articulation angle, e.g. between tractor and trailer · CPC title

• B60W2520/14

  Yaw · CPC title

• B60W2300/14

  Tractor-trailers, i.e. combinations of a towing vehicle and one or more towed vehicles, e.g. caravans; Road trains · CPC title