Non-linear reception filter for an object recognition sensor for vehicles, in particular, ultrasonic sensor

An object recognition device for a vehicle, comprising:

• at least one ultrasonic sensor;
• a filter device;
• and
• an analysis device wherein signals from an object to be recognized are detectable by the sensor, the detected signals being filterable by the filter device, and then being feedable to the analysis device, and the analysis device being configured to recognize the object by an analysis of the fed filtered signals;
• wherein:
• average a profile of amplitudes of the detected signals,
• the filter device includes a non-linear filter unit, which is provided based on a linear low-pass filter with a variable time constant and is configured to filter the detected signals,
• a value profile corresponding to a difference between the averaged amplitude profile and the filtered signals being feedable to the analysis device for analyzing and recognizing the object, and
• the variable time constant being establishable based on a difference between the filtered signals and the detected signals and based on the averaged amplitude profile.

A method for recognizing an object for a vehicle, comprising the following steps:

• detecting signals from an object to be recognized using an ultrasonic sensor;
• filtering the detected signals using a filter device;
• feeding the filtered signals to an analysis device;
• analyzing the fed filtered signals using the analysis device;
• and
• recognizing the object using the analysis device,
• wherein:
• the filter device including an averaging unit, which averages a profile of amplitudes of the detected signals,
• the filter device includes a non-linear filter unit, which is provided based on a linear low-pass filter with a variable time constant and filters the detected signals,
• a value profile corresponding to a difference between the averaged amplitude profile and the filtered signals is fed to the analysis device for analyzing and recognizing the object, and
• the variable time constant is established based on a difference between the filtered signals and the detected signals and based on the averaged amplitude profile.