# US 10,120,073 B2 · Method for operating a surroundings-detection system of a vehicle > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,120,073 B2 - Document ID: US10120073B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 14/900,340 - Filed: 2014-04-08 - Published: 2016-06-02 - Granted: 2018-11-06 - Earliest claimed: 2013-06-21 - Assignees: Robert Bosch GmbH - Applicants: Robert Bosch GmbH - Inventors: Michael Schumann; Marcus Schneider; Dirk Schmid - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10120073B2 ## CPC - G01S 15/582: {using transmission of interrupted pulse-modulated waves and based upon the Doppler effect resulting from movement of targets} - G01S 7/527: Extracting wanted echo signals {(Doppler systems G01S15/50)} - G01S 7/5276: {using analogue techniques} - G01S 15/34: using transmission of continuous, frequency-modulated waves while heterodyning the received signal, or a signal derived therefrom, with a locally-generated signal related to the contemporaneously transmitted signal - G01S 15/52: Discriminating between fixed and moving objects or between objects moving at different speeds - G01S 15/586: {using transmission of continuous unmodulated waves, amplitude-, frequency-, or phase-modulated waves and based upon the Doppler effect resulting from movement of targets} - G01S 15/931: of land vehicles - G01S 7/292: Extracting wanted echo-signals - G01S 7/487: Extracting wanted echo signals {, e.g. pulse detection} - G01S 13/345: {using triangular modulation} - G01S 13/524: based upon the phase or frequency shift resulting from movement of objects, with reference to the transmitted signals, e.g. coherent MTi - G01S 13/536: using transmission of continuous unmodulated waves, amplitude-, frequency-, or phase-modulated waves - G01S 17/26: wherein the transmitted pulses use a frequency-modulated or phase-modulated carrier wave, e.g. for pulse compression of received signals - G01S 17/34: using transmission of continuous, frequency-modulated waves while heterodyning the received signal, or a signal derived therefrom, with a locally-generated signal related to the contemporaneously transmitted signal - G01S 17/50: Systems of measurement based on relative movement of target - G01S 17/931: of land vehicles - G01S 2013/9314: {Parking operations} - G01S 2015/932: {for parking operations} - G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES ## Abstract A method for operating a surroundings-detection system of a vehicle includes at least one transceiver unit emitting a frequency-modulated signal and receiving echo signals of the emitted frequency-modulated signal. The received echo signals are associated with reflection sources, and a piece of information about the speed of the reflection source relative to the transceiver unit is ascertained on the basis of the received echo signals. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for operating a surroundings-detection system of a vehicle including a transceiver unit, the method comprising: emitting, by the transceiver unit, a frequency-modulated signal; receiving, by the transceiver unit, echo signals of the emitted frequency-modulated signal, wherein the emitted frequency-modulated signal includes a pulse having both at least one section having increasing frequencies and at least one section having decreasing frequencies, and wherein the received echo signals are associated with at least one reflection source; passing the received echo signals through at least one first finite impulse response (FIR) filter device having a first FIR signal, and through at least one second FIR filter device having a second FIR signal; ascertaining one first point in time of best correlation of the received echo signals with the first FIR signal and a second point in time of best correlation of the received echo signals with the second FIR signal; and ascertaining information about the speed of the at least one reflection source relative to the transceiver unit on the basis of a time difference between the ascertained first and second points in time of best correlation. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the emitted frequency-modulated signal has a pulse duration of 0.6 ms to 3 ms. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the pulse of the emitted frequency-modulated signal includes one of: (i) a linear chirp-up followed by a linear chirp-down, (ii) a logarithmic chirp-up followed by a logarithmic chirp-down, (iii) a linear chirp-down followed by a linear chirp-up, or (iv) a logarithmic chirp-down followed by a logarithmic chirp-up. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the information about the speed of the at least one reflection source relative to the transceiver unit is ascertained as a linear function of the ascertained time difference. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the speed of the at least one reflection source relative to the transceiver unit is ascertained as a linear function of the ascertained time difference. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first FIR filter device is filter matched to the at least one section of the pulse having increasing frequencies, and the second FIR filter device is filter matched to the at least one section of the pulse having decreasing frequencies. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising: passing the emitted frequency-modulated signal through the at least one first FIR filter device and through the at least one second FIR filter device; and ascertaining a third point in time of best correlation of the emitted frequency-modulated signal with the first FIR signal and a fourth point in time of best correlation of the emitted frequency-modulated signal with the second FIR signal; wherein the ascertaining the information about the speed of the at least one reflection source relative to the transceiver unit is also on the basis of a time difference between the ascertained third and fourth points in time of best correlation. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the ascertaining the information about the speed of the at least one reflection source relative to the transceiver unit includes forming a difference between (i) the time difference between the ascertained first and second points in time of best correlation and (ii) the time difference between the ascertained third and fourth points in time of best correlation. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising: combining a first filter response signal produced by passing the received echo signals through the at least one first FIR filter device and a second filter response signal produced by passing the received echo signals through the at least one second FIR filter device to produce a total filter response amplitude signal; ascertaining the time difference between the first and second points in time of best correlation on the basis of the total filter response amplitude signal. ### Claim 10 A non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium including program instructions, which when executed by a processor perform a method for operating a surroundings-detection system of a vehicle including a transceiver unit, the method comprising: emitting, by the transceiver unit, a frequency-modulated signal; receiving, by the transceiver unit, echo signals of the emitted frequency-modulated signal, wherein the emitted frequency-modulated signal includes a pulse having both at least one section having increasing frequencies and at least one section having decreasing frequencies, and wherein the received echo signals are associated with at least one reflection source; passing the received echo signals through at least one first finite impulse response (FIR) filter device having a first FIR signal, and through at least one second FIR filter device having a second FIR signal; ascertaining one first point in time of best correlation of the received echo signals with the first FIR signal and a second point in time of best correlation of the received echo signals with the second FIR signal; and ascertaining information about the speed of the at least one reflection source relative to the transceiver unit on the basis of a time difference between the ascertained first and second points in time of best correlation. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium as recited in claim 10, wherein: the speed of the at least one reflection source is ascertained as a linear function of a time difference between the first and second points in time of best correlation. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium as recited in claim 10, wherein the first FIR filter device is filter matched to the at least one section of the pulse having increasing frequencies, and the second FIR filter device is filter matched to the at least one section of the pulse having decreasing frequencies. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium as recited in claim 10, the method further comprising: passing the emitted frequency-modulated signal through the at least one first FIR filter device and through the at least one second FIR filter device; and ascertaining a third point in time of best correlation of the emitted frequency-modulated signal with the first FIR signal and a fourth point in time of best correlation of the emitted frequency-modulated signal with the second FIR signal; wherein the ascertaining the information about the speed of the at least one reflection source relative to the transceiver unit is also on the basis of a time difference between the ascertained third and fourth points in time of best correlation. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium as recited in claim 13, wherein the ascertaining the information about the speed of the at least one reflection source relative to the transceiver unit includes forming a difference between (i) the time difference between the ascertained first and second points in time of best correlation and (ii) the time difference between the ascertained third and fourth points in time of best correlation. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium as recited in claim 10, the method further comprising: combining a first filter response signal produced by passing the received echo signals through the at least one first FIR filter device and a second filter response signal produced by passing the received echo signals through the at least one second FIR filter device to produce a total filter response amplitude signal; ascertaining the time difference between the first and second points in time of best correlation on the basis of the total filter response amplitude signal. ### Claim 16 A surroundings-detection system of a vehicle, comprising: a transceiver unit configured to emit a frequency-modulated signal and receive echo signals of the emitted frequency-modulated signal, wherein the emitted frequency-modulated signal includes a pulse having both at least one section having increasing frequencies and at least one section having decreasing frequencies; and a filtering and ascertaining device coupled to the at least one transceiver unit and configured to: pass the received echo signals through at least one first finite impulse response (FIR) filter device having a first FIR signal, and through at least one second FIR filter device having a second FIR signal; ascertain one first point in time of best correlation of the received echo signals with the first FIR signal and a second point in time of best correlation of the received echo signals with the second FIR signal; and ascertain information about the speed of the at least one reflection source relative to the transceiver unit on the basis of a time difference between the ascertained first and second points in time of best correlation. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The surroundings-detection system as recited in claim 16, wherein: the speed of the at least one reflection source is ascertained as a linear function of a time difference between the first and second points in time of best correlation. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The surroundings-detection system as recited in claim 16, wherein the first FIR filter device is filter matched to the at least one section of the pulse having increasing frequencies, and the second FIR filter device is filter matched to the at least one section of the pulse having decreasing frequencies. ### Claim 19 (depends on 16) The surroundings-detection system as recited in claim 16, the filtering and ascertaining device configured to: pass the emitted frequency-modulated signal through the at least one first FIR filter device and through the at least one second FIR filter device; and ascertain a third point in time of best correlation of the emitted frequency-modulated signal with the first FIR signal and a fourth point in time of best correlation of the emitted frequency-modulated signal with the second FIR signal; wherein the ascertaining the information about the speed of the at least one reflection source relative to the transceiver unit is also on the basis of a time difference between the ascertained third and fourth points in time of best correlation. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The surroundings-detection system as recited in claim 19, wherein the ascertaining the information about the speed of the at least one reflection source relative to the transceiver unit includes forming a difference between (i) the time difference between the ascertained first and second points in time of best correlation and (ii) the time difference between the ascertained third and fourth points in time of best correlation. ### Claim 21 (depends on 16) The surroundings-detection system as recited in claim 16, the filtering and ascertaining device configured to: combine a first filter response signal produced by passing the received echo signals through the at least one first FIR filter device and a second filter response signal produced by passing the received echo signals through the at least one second FIR filter device to produce a total filter response amplitude signal; ascertain the time difference between the first and second points in time of best correlation on the basis of the total filter response amplitude signal.