Brake apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016244036-A1
Application number	US-201415026337-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 20, 2014
Priority date	Oct 24, 2013
Publication date	Aug 25, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A brake apparatus is configured to execute a brake assist based on a collision risk representing a risk of a vehicle including the brake apparatus to collide with an obstacle, and an emergency operation level representing an emergency level of a brake operation by a driver. The brake apparatus includes a collision risk calculation unit configured to calculate the collision risk, a detection unit configured to detect the emergency operation level, a storage unit configured to store the emergency operation level detected by the detection unit when the collision risk is within a predetermined range, a threshold determination unit configured to determine a threshold for the emergency operation level based on the collision risk, and a brake assist unit configured to execute the brake assist based on a comparison between the emergency operation level stored by the storage unit and the threshold for the emergency operation level.

First claim

1 : A brake apparatus configured to execute a brake assist based on a collision risk representing a risk of a vehicle including the brake apparatus to collide with an obstacle, and an emergency operation level representing an emergency level of a brake operation by a driver, comprising:
a collision risk calculation unit configured to calculate the collision risk; a detection unit configured to detect the emergency operation level; a storage unit configured to store the emergency operation level detected by the detection unit when the collision risk is within a predetermined range; a threshold determination unit configured to determine a threshold for the emergency operation level based on the collision risk; and a brake assist unit configured to execute the brake assist based on a comparison between the emergency operation level stored by the storage unit and the threshold for the emergency operation level.

2 : The brake apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the storage unit stores the emergency operation level detected by the detection unit at a predetermined moment after the collision risk has reached a value greater than or equal to a predetermined value.

3 : The brake apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the threshold determination unit lowers the threshold for the emergency operation level while the collision risk becomes higher.

4 : The brake apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the detection unit detects a brake operation amount by the driver,
wherein the threshold determination unit determines the threshold for the brake operation amount based on the collision risk, wherein the brake assist unit executes the brake assist when the emergency operation level stored by the storage unit is greater than or equal to the threshold for the emergency operation level, and the brake operation amount is greater than or equal to the threshold for the brake operation amount.

5 : The brake apparatus as claimed in claim 4 , further comprising:
a brake assist amount determination unit configured to determine a brake assist amount based on the collision risk, wherein the threshold determination unit determines the threshold for the emergency operation level and the threshold for the brake operation amount based on the collision risk and the brake assist amount.

6 : The brake apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , the storage unit updates the stored emergency operation level with the emergency operation level detected by the detection unit when the emergency operation level detected by the detection unit is higher than the stored emergency operation level.

7 : The brake apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , the emergency operation level is an operation speed of the brake operation by the driver.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ike Wataru

Classifications

• B60T2201/03

  Brake assistants · CPC title

• B60T7/22 Primary

  initiated by contact of vehicle, e.g. bumper, with an external object, e.g. another vehicle {, or by means of contactless obstacle detectors mounted on the vehicle} · CPC title

• B60T2201/022

  Collision avoidance systems · CPC title

• B60T8/3275

  Systems with a braking assistant function, i.e. automatic full braking initiation in dependence of brake pedal velocity · CPC title