Vehicle back-up aid system
AssigneeDelphi Technologies, Inc.
InventorsDavid Glen Studt, Ronald Melvin Taylor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A warning system that warns an operator of an impending collision with an object while the operator is backing up. The system scans behind the vehicle with an emitter/sensor system and determines a time-to-collision with the object based on distance to the object and vehicle speed. Based upon the time-to-collision, a simple combination of visual and audio signals is designed to let the operator known of the imminency of a collision with the object so that the operator may react and make appropriate countermeasures.
Claims22
A back-up warning system for use in a vehicle, said warning system comprising:
- an object detection system, wherein said object detection system includes a radar detection system and an ultrasonic sensor system;
- an electronic control module in operative communication with said object detection system, said electronic control module capable of receiving and interpreting signals from said object detection system to determine a first value representing a distance to a target object and for generating a second value representing a rate of change of distance to said target object;
- a drive alert system in operative communication with said electronic control module, said driver alert system outputting a driver alert signal as a function of said first and second value.
A method of warning a vehicle operator of a potential collision, the method comprising the steps of:
- generating a first value from an object detection system representing a distance to a detected object, said object detection system comprising a radar detection system and an ultrasonic detection system;
- generating a second value associated with said detected object representing a rate of change of distance to said detected object;
- generating a drive alert signal as a function of said first and second value;
- and
- communicating said driver alert signal to a driver alert system, said driver alert signal being indicative of a time to collision with said detected object.
A method of alerting a vehicle operator of the imminency of a potential collision with an object while backing up, the method comprising the steps of:
- scanning a predetermining field of coverage for an object with an object detection system, said object detection system comprising a radar detection system and an ultrasonic detection system;
- generating a first value from an object detection system representing a distance to said object;
- generating a second value representing a rate of change of distance to said object;
- and
- generating a time-to-collision value as a function of said first value and said second value;
- and
- modifying a drive alert as a function of said time-to-collision value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.