# US 12,179,778 B2 · Direction change detection device, vehicle, direction change detection method, and storage medium

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- Number: US 12,179,778 B2
- Document ID: US12179778B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/734,124
- Filed: 2022-05-02
- Published: 2022-11-24
- Granted: 2024-12-31
- Earliest claimed: 2021-05-20
- Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
- Applicants: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
- Inventors: Isao Kobayashi
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12179778B2

## CPC

- B60W 40/10: related to vehicle motion
- B60W 40/114: Yaw movement
- B60W 50/14: Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
- G07C 5/008: {communicating information to a remotely located station (transmission systems for measured values G08C)}
- B60W 2050/146: {Display means}
- B60W 2520/06: Direction of travel
- B60W 2520/14: Yaw
- B60W 2530/13: Mileage
- B60W 2540/18: Steering angle
- B60W 2540/20: Direction indicator values
- B60W: CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT
- G07C: TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE

## Abstract

An on-board unit as a direction change detection device is configured to acquire a steered angle and a mileage of a vehicle at a time point at which a right turn event related to a right turn of the vehicle occurs when the right turn event occurs, and detect the right turn on condition that a maximum value of the steered angle is equal to or less than a first threshold value, and the mileage is equal to or greater than a second threshold value.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A direction change detection device comprising a processor, wherein the processor is configured to:
acquire:
a steered angle toward a specific direction, and
a mileage of a vehicle in the specific direction at a time point at which an eventrelated to a direction change of the vehicle occurs; and
determine that the vehicle changed direction to the specific direction in response to:
a maximum value of the steered angle being equal to or less than a first threshold value, and
the mileage being equal to or greater than a second threshold value;
exclude from the determination that the vehicle changed direction a case where the milage is less than the second threshold value;
acquire a yaw angle of the vehicle from the time point;
identify a U-turn in response to a determination that the yaw angle exceeds a third threshold value;
exclude a case of the U-turn from the determination that the vehicle changed direction to the specific direction; and
control the steering angle of the vehicle toward the specific direction during acquiring of the steered angle.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The direction change detection device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to exclude a case where a time of the event is less than a predetermined time from a detection condition of the direction change in the specific direction.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The direction change detection device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to provide information related to the direction change to a device outside of the vehicle in response to a determination that the vehicle changed direction to the specific direction.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

A vehicle comprising:
the direction change detection device according to claim 1;
a first sensor that detects a steering angle of a steering wheel or a steered angle of a steered vehicle wheel of the vehicle; and
a second sensor that detects movement of the vehicle.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The direction change detection device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to:
transmit a notification to a server in response to detection of the direction change.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The direction change detection device according to claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to:
receive a warning for a driver of the vehicle including the direction change detection device for an increased risk of accident based on the notification to the server.

### Claim 7

A direction change detection method in which a computer executes processes comprising:
acquiring:
a steered angle toward a specific direction, and
a mileage of a vehicle in the specific direction at a time point at which an eventrelated to a direction change of the vehicle occurs; and
determining that the vehicle changed direction to the specific direction in response to:
a maximum value of the steered angle being equal to or less than a first threshold value, and
the mileage being equal to or greater than a second threshold value; and
excluding from the determination that the vehicle changed direction a case where the milage is less than the second threshold value;
acquiring a yaw angle of the vehicle from the time point;
identifying a U-turn in response to a determination that the yaw angle exceeds a third threshold value;
excluding a case of the U-turn from the determination that the vehicle changed direction to the specific direction; and
controlling the steering angle of the vehicle toward the specific direction during acquiring of the steered angle.

### Claim 8

A non-transitory storage medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute processes comprising:
acquiring:
a steered angle toward a specific direction, and
a mileage of a vehicle in the specific direction at a time point at which an event related to a direction change of the vehicle occurs; and
determining that the vehicle changed direction to the specific direction in response to:
a maximum value of the steered angle being equal to or less than a first threshold value, and
the mileage being equal to or greater than a second threshold value; and
excluding from the determination that the vehicle changed direction a case where the milage is less than the second threshold value;
acquiring a yaw angle of the vehicle from the time point;
identifying a U-turn in response to a determination that the yaw angle exceeds a third threshold value;
excluding a case of the U-turn from the determination that the vehicle changed direction to the specific direction; and
controlling the steering angle of the vehicle toward the specific direction during acquiring of the steered angle.