Vehicle contact avoidance system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2015123778-A1
Application number	US-201314070356-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 1, 2013
Priority date	Nov 1, 2013
Publication date	May 7, 2015
Grant date	—

Abstract

A vehicle contact avoidance system includes a detection system, a warning system, and a controller. The detection system is configured to detect a remote obstacle in proximity to a host vehicle equipped with the vehicle contact avoidance system, including information related to at least one of a speed, a direction and a distance of the remote obstacle relative to the host vehicle. The warning system is configured to emit a warning sound to notify a driver of the host vehicle of imminent contact between the host vehicle and the remote obstacle. The controller is programmed to determine whether contact between the host vehicle and the remote obstacle is imminent based of the information supplied to the controller by the detection system, and programmed to cause the warning system to emit the warning sound. The warning sound includes a non-speech portion and a speech portion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A vehicle contact avoidance system comprising:
a detection system configured to detect a remote obstacle in proximity to a host vehicle equipped with the vehicle contact avoidance system, including information related to at least one of a speed, a direction and a distance of the remote obstacle relative to the host vehicle; a warning system configured to emit a warning sound to notify a driver of the host vehicle of imminent contact between the host vehicle and the remote obstacle; and a controller programmed to determine whether contact between the host vehicle and the remote obstacle is imminent based of the information supplied to the controller by the detection system, and programmed to cause the warning system to emit the warning sound, wherein the warning sound includes a non-speech portion and a speech portion.

2 . The vehicle contact avoidance system according to claim 1 , wherein
the non-speech portion of the warning sound includes a horn sound lasting between 0.4 and 0.8 seconds.

3 . The vehicle contact avoidance system according to claim 2 , wherein
the host vehicle includes a horn configured to be activated by the driver of the host vehicle, and the horn of the warning sound has a frequency that is different from a frequency of the horn of the host vehicle.

4 . The vehicle contact avoidance system according to claim 2 , wherein
the warning system emits the speech portion of the warning sound after the non-speech portion of the warning sound.

5 . The vehicle contact avoidance system according to claim 2 , wherein
the speech portion lasts about 0.6 seconds.

6 . The vehicle contact avoidance system according to claim 1 , further comprising
ambient noise sensors configured to detect ambient noise in the host vehicle, wherein the warning system emits the warning sound 3-5 dB louder than the ambient noise detected by the ambient noise sensors.

7 . The vehicle contact avoidance system according to claim 1 , further comprising
vehicle driving sensors configured to sense information related to at least one of yaw rate, direction, speed and acceleration of the host vehicle, and wherein the controller is programmed to determine whether contact between the host vehicle and the remote obstacle is imminent based on the information supplied to the controller by the vehicle driving sensors.

8 . The vehicle contact avoidance system according to claim 1 , wherein
the warning sound is less than or equal to 1.7 seconds in duration.

9 . The vehicle contact avoidance system according to claim 1 , wherein
the warning system includes a visible indicator, and the controller is configured to cause the warning system to activate the visible indicator upon the controller determining that contact between the host vehicle and the remote vehicle is imminent.

10 . The vehicle contact avoidance system according to claim 1 , wherein
the detection system includes at least one of radar, a camera and a laser.

11 . The vehicle contact avoidance system according to claim 1 , wherein
the remote obstacle is a remote vehicle, and the detection system includes a global positioning system and a receiver configured to receive data transmitted by the remote vehicle.

12 . The vehicle contact avoidance system according to claim 1 , wherein
the warning system includes at least one speaker configured to emit the warning sound.

13 . The vehicle contact avoidance system according to claim 12 , wherein
the at least one speaker is configured to be disposed in an instrument panel of the host vehicle proximate to the driver.

14 . The vehicle contact avoidance system according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller includes a low pass filter configured to omit high frequency content of the warning sound.

15 . The vehicle contact avoidance system according to claim 1 , wherein
the non-speech portion of the warning sound includes a horn sound having a frequency of 2.5 KHz or lower.

16 . The vehicle contact avoidance system according to claim 15 , wherein
the horn sound lasts between 0.4 and 0.8 seconds.

17 . The vehicle contact avoidance system according to claim 16 , wherein
the warning system emits the speech portion of the warning sound after the non-speech portion of the warning sound horn sound, and the speech portion lasts about 0.6 seconds.

18 . The vehicle contact avoidance system according to claim 1 , wherein
the speech portion includes a directional indication of the remote obstacle.

Assignees

• Nissan North America Inc

Inventors

• Konet Heather
• Probert Neal
• Chambers Jeremy
• Goudy Roy
• Christensen Andrew

Classifications

• G08G1/166 Primary

  for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes · CPC title

• G08G1/161

  Decentralised systems, e.g. inter-vehicle communication · CPC title

• G08G1/164

  Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles · CPC title

• G08B3/10

  using electric transmission; using electromagnetic transmission · CPC title

• B60Q9/008

  for anti-collision purposes · CPC title