Collision determination device and start control device

Abstract

To correctly detect a collision form and correctly start up an occupant protection device according to the collision form.SOLUTION: A collision determination device (15) configured to determine a collision form of a vehicle (1) comprises: an acceleration acquisition unit (151); and a determination unit (152). The acceleration acquisition unit acquires the front-rear direction acceleration and the left-right direction acceleration output from side sensors (13) that are provided in left and right parts in a vehicle body (2) of the vehicle to detect the front-rear direction acceleration and left-right direction acceleration. The determination unit determines a collision form on the basis of the front-rear direction acceleration and left-right direction acceleration acquired by the acceleration acquisition unit and relation information indicating a relation between the front-rear direction acceleration and the left-right direction acceleration according to the collision form.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a collision determination device configured to determine a collision type of a vehicle, and also to an activation control device configured to control activation of an occupant protection device mounted on the vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses an activation control device that controls activation of an airbag device mounted on a vehicle when the vehicle collides with an object to be hit. The activation control device includes a front sensor, a floor sensor, and an output value control unit. The floor sensor is provided rearward of the front sensor. The output value control unit controls the output value of an inflator when activating the airbag device, based on the detection values ​​of the front sensor and the floor sensor.

[0003] According to the configuration described in Patent Document 1, it is possible to accurately determine the type of collision (for example, a low-speed collision, a high-speed collision, an irregular collision when the object of collision is soft, etc.) by accurately detecting the impact at the time of collision. Therefore, according to this configuration, it is possible to optimize the output of the inflator of the airbag device according to the type of collision. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2000-219098 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] For example, there may be a case where a vehicle approaching the host vehicle from diagonally ahead of the host vehicle does not collide with the front of the host vehicle, but with the front part of the side of the host vehicle (i.e., the front fender, for example). In this regard, in this type of device, further performance improvements can be continuously pursued in the future in terms of accurately detecting such collision types and accurately activating the occupant protection device in accordance with the collision type. The present invention has been made in consideration of the circumstances exemplified above. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The collision determination device (15) is configured to determine the type of collision of the vehicle (1). The collision determination device according to claim 1 comprises: an acceleration acquisition unit (151) that acquires the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration output from side sensors (13) provided on the left and right sides of a vehicle body (2) of the vehicle and detecting the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration; a determination unit (152) that determines the collision type based on the forward / rearward acceleration and the left / right acceleration acquired by the acceleration acquisition unit and relationship information indicating a relationship between the forward / rearward acceleration and the left / right acceleration according to the collision type; Equipped with picture, the determination unit determines the collision type based on the relationship information formed so as to distinguish a first type collision from a second type collision within a two-dimensional coordinate space having the longitudinal acceleration as a first axis and the lateral acceleration as a second axis, The first type of collision is a collision type in which the necessity for activation of the occupant protection device (11) for a frontal collision is higher than that of the second type of collision, The relationship information is formed based on a relationship that the left-right acceleration is greater than the front-rear acceleration in the second type collision. There are. The collision determination device according to claim 5 comprises: an acceleration acquisition unit (151) that acquires the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration output from side sensors (13) provided on the left and right sides of a vehicle body (2) of the vehicle and detecting the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration; a determination unit (152) that determines the collision type based on the forward / rearward acceleration and the left / right acceleration acquired by the acceleration acquisition unit and relationship information indicating a relationship between the forward / rearward acceleration and the left / right acceleration according to the collision type; Equipped with the determination unit determines the collision type based on the relationship information formed so as to distinguish a first type collision from a second type collision within a two-dimensional coordinate space having the longitudinal acceleration as a first axis and the lateral acceleration as a second axis, The first type of collision is a collision type in which the necessity for activation of the occupant protection device (11) for a frontal collision is higher than that of the second type of collision, the relationship information includes activation threshold information that defines an activation threshold for determining the occurrence of the first type collision, the activation threshold information is formed based on a relationship in which the forward / rearward acceleration corresponding to the activation threshold decreases as the left / right acceleration changes from a low acceleration region to a high acceleration region, The activation threshold information is formed based on a relationship such that the longitudinal acceleration corresponding to the activation threshold decreases as the collision angle, which is the angle between the vehicle center line (LC1) of the vehicle and the traveling direction of another vehicle (BV) that has collided with the vehicle, increases. The activation control device (10) is configured to control the activation of an occupant protection device (11) mounted on a vehicle (1). Claim to 6 The start control device described herein is side sensors (13) provided on the left and right sides of the vehicle body (2) for detecting longitudinal acceleration and lateral acceleration; an electronic control unit (15) that acquires the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration output from the side sensor and controls activation of the occupant protection device; Equipped with The electronic control device includes: an acceleration acquisition unit (151) that acquires the forward / rearward acceleration and the left / right acceleration output from the side sensor; a determination unit (152) that determines whether or not to activate the occupant protection device for a frontal collision based on the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration acquired by the acceleration acquisition unit and relationship information indicating a relationship between the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration according to a collision type; Equipped with picture, the determination unit determines the collision type based on the relationship information formed so as to distinguish a first type collision from a second type collision within a two-dimensional coordinate space having the longitudinal acceleration as a first axis and the lateral acceleration as a second axis, The first type collision is a collision type in which the necessity for activation of the occupant protection device for a frontal collision is higher than that of the second type collision, The relationship information is formed based on a relationship that the left-right acceleration is greater than the front-rear acceleration in the second type collision. There are. The start-up control device according to claim 10 comprises: side sensors (13) provided on the left and right sides of the vehicle body (2) for detecting longitudinal acceleration and lateral acceleration; an electronic control unit (15) that acquires the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration output from the side sensor and controls activation of the occupant protection device; Equipped with The electronic control device includes: an acceleration acquisition unit (151) that acquires the forward / rearward acceleration and the left / right acceleration output from the side sensor; a determination unit (152) that determines whether or not to activate the occupant protection device for a frontal collision based on the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration acquired by the acceleration acquisition unit and relationship information indicating a relationship between the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration according to a collision type; Equipped with the determination unit determines the collision type based on the relationship information formed so as to distinguish a first type collision from a second type collision within a two-dimensional coordinate space having the longitudinal acceleration as a first axis and the lateral acceleration as a second axis, The first type collision is a collision type in which the necessity for activation of the occupant protection device for a frontal collision is higher than that of the second type collision, the relationship information includes activation threshold information that specifies an activation threshold for determining the occurrence of the first type collision that has a high need for activation of the occupant protection device for a frontal collision, the activation threshold information is formed based on a relationship in which the forward / rearward acceleration corresponding to the activation threshold decreases as the left / right acceleration changes from a low acceleration region to a high acceleration region, The activation threshold information is formed based on a relationship such that the longitudinal acceleration corresponding to the activation threshold decreases as the collision angle, which is the angle between the vehicle center line (LC1) of the vehicle and the traveling direction of another vehicle (BV) that has collided with the vehicle, increases.

[0007] In addition, in each section of the application documents, each element may be given a reference number in parentheses. However, such a reference number merely indicates an example of the correspondence between the element and the specific means described in the embodiment described later. Therefore, the present invention is not limited in any way by the description of the reference numbers above. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle equipped with an in-vehicle system that constitutes a start control device or a collision determination device according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a collision determination logic configuration in a determination unit shown in FIG. 1. [Diagram 3] 3 is a graph that illustrates relationship information used in the logic configuration illustrated in FIG. 2. [Figure 4] 3 is a graph that illustrates relationship information used in the logic configuration illustrated in FIG. 2. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the contents of the relationship information shown in FIG. 4. [Figure 6] 4 is a graph showing an example of outputs from the front sensor and the side sensor shown in FIG. 1 when a collision occurs. [Figure 7] 4 is a graph showing an example of outputs from the front sensor and the side sensor shown in FIG. 1 when a collision occurs. [Figure 8] 1. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing another example of a collision determination logic configuration in the determination unit shown in FIG. [Figure 9] 9 is a graph showing a schematic diagram of relationship information used in the logic configuration shown in FIG. 8 . DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] (Embodiment) Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that various modified examples applicable to one embodiment may be hindered from understanding the embodiment if they are inserted in the middle of a series of explanations related to the embodiment. For this reason, the modified examples are described together after the explanation of the embodiment.

[0010] (In-vehicle system configuration) First, with reference to FIG. 1, a schematic configuration of a vehicle 1 to which the embodiment is applied will be described. For convenience of explanation, an XYZ three-dimensional coordinate system is set as shown in the figure. The X-axis direction is the front-rear direction, i.e., the vehicle overall length direction, and is parallel to the vehicle center line LC1. The vehicle center line LC1 is an imaginary line passing through a reference point RP, which is the center point or center of gravity of the vehicle 1 in a plan view. The positive direction of the X-axis corresponds to the vehicle traveling direction when traveling forward. The Y-axis direction is the left-right direction, i.e., the vehicle width direction. The imaginary line passing through the reference point RP and parallel to the Y-axis direction is referred to as a vehicle width direction line LC2. The Z-axis direction is the vehicle height direction, and is parallel to the direction of gravity when the vehicle 1 is stably placed on a horizontal plane in a drivable state.

[0011] The vehicle 1 is a so-called automobile, and has a box-shaped body 2. A front bumper 4 is attached to a front surface 3 of the body 2. A rear bumper 6 is attached to a rear surface 5 of the body 2. A side panel 8 such as a door panel is attached to a side surface 7 of the body 2.

[0012] The vehicle 1 is equipped with an in-vehicle system 10. The vehicle 1 equipped with the in-vehicle system 10 according to this embodiment is hereinafter referred to as the "own vehicle". The in-vehicle system 10 as the activation control device according to this embodiment is configured to control the activation of an occupant protection device 11 mounted on the own vehicle. That is, the in-vehicle system 10, which may also be called an occupant protection system, is provided to protect the occupants of the own vehicle by the occupant protection device 11 when the own vehicle collides with an object present outside the own vehicle. In this embodiment, the occupant protection device 11 is a protection device for a frontal collision, and includes a driver's seat airbag, a passenger's seat airbag, and the like.

[0013] A front sensor 12 is provided at the front of the vehicle body 2. The front sensor 12 is attached to a vehicle body part (not shown) that supports the front bumper 4 from the inside of the vehicle body 2. A pair of front sensors 12 are provided on the left and right sides. That is, a left front sensor 12L and a right front sensor 12R are attached to the vehicle body 2. The left front sensor 12L and the right front sensor 12R are disposed symmetrically with respect to the vehicle center line LC1. The front sensor 12 is a so-called uniaxial sensor, and is configured to detect the longitudinal acceleration (i.e., the X-axis acceleration) acting on the vehicle body 2 when a collision occurs between the host vehicle and an object, and to output the detection result.

[0014] Side sensors 13 are provided on the left and right sides of the vehicle body 2. The side sensors 13 are arranged at both ends of the vehicle body 2 in the vehicle width direction and at approximately the center in the vehicle overall length direction. That is, a left side sensor 13L and a right side sensor 13R are attached to the vehicle body 2. The left side sensor 13L and the right side sensor 13R are arranged symmetrically with respect to the vehicle center line LC1. The side sensor 13 is a so-called two-axis sensor, and is configured to detect left-right acceleration (i.e., Y-axis acceleration) and front-rear acceleration acting on the vehicle body 2 when a collision occurs between the vehicle and an object, and to output the detection results.

[0015] The in-vehicle system 10 includes a floor sensor 14 in addition to the occupant protection device 11, the front sensor 12, and the side sensor 13. The floor sensor 14 is disposed on the vehicle center line LC1 in a plan view and is housed inside the vehicle body 2. The floor sensor 14 is a so-called uniaxial sensor, and is configured to detect the longitudinal acceleration acting on the vehicle body 2 when a collision occurs between the vehicle and an object, and to output the detection result. The floor sensor 14 is built into an electronic control unit 15.

[0016] The electronic control device 15 has a configuration as a so-called airbag ECU, and is configured to activate the occupant protection device 11 based on the outputs of the front sensor 12, the side sensor 13, and the floor sensor 14. ECU is an abbreviation for Electronic Control Unit. In this embodiment, the electronic control device 15 has a configuration as an in-vehicle microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a non-volatile rewritable memory, and the like, which are not shown. The non-volatile rewritable memory is a storage device that can rewrite information while the power is on, but holds information in an unrewritable manner while the power is off, and is, for example, a flash ROM. The ROM, the RAM, and the non-volatile rewritable memory are non-transient substantial storage media. The electronic control device 15 is configured to control the operation of the in-vehicle system 10 by reading and executing a control program stored in the ROM or the non-volatile rewritable memory.

[0017] In this embodiment, the electronic control unit 15 functioning as a collision determination device is configured to acquire the longitudinal acceleration and lateral acceleration output from the side sensor 13, determine the collision type of the host vehicle, and control the activation of the occupant protection device 11. Specifically, the electronic control unit 15 is configured to determine whether or not the collision that has occurred is a collision type that requires the activation of the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision (i.e., typically a frontal collision or a side collision) based on the output of the side sensor 13. Furthermore, the electronic control unit 15 is configured to activate the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision when it is determined that the collision that has occurred is a collision type that requires the activation of the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision.

[0018] More specifically, the electronic control device 15 includes an acceleration acquisition unit 151 and a determination unit 152. The acceleration acquisition unit 151 is provided to acquire the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration output from the side sensor 13. The determination unit 152 is provided to determine the collision type and to determine whether or not the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision is activated based on the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration acquired by the acceleration acquisition unit 151 and predetermined relationship information. The "relationship information" is information indicating the relationship between the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration according to the collision type, and is, for example, a map, a look-up table, or the like, which classifies a plurality of collision types using the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration as parameters. Specifically, in this embodiment, the relationship information is formed so as to classify a first type collision and a second type collision in a two-dimensional coordinate space having the longitudinal acceleration as the first axis and the lateral acceleration as the second axis. The first type collision is a collision type in which the activation of the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision is highly necessary, and is typically a frontal collision. In contrast, the second type of collision is a collision type in which the necessity for activating the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision is lower than in a frontal collision, and is typically a side collision.

[0019] FIG. 2 shows an example of a logic configuration in the determination unit 152. In FIG. 2, "Gx" indicates the forward / rearward acceleration, "Gy" indicates the left / right acceleration, "FC" indicates a first type collision and is an abbreviation for "frontal collision". "SC" indicates a second type collision and is an abbreviation for "side collision". The left X-axis direction acceleration GLx is the forward / rearward acceleration detected and output by the left side sensor 13L. The left Y-axis direction acceleration GLy is the left / right acceleration detected and output by the left side sensor 13L. The right X-axis direction acceleration GRx is the forward / rearward acceleration detected and output by the right side sensor 13R. The right Y-axis direction acceleration GRy is the left / right acceleration detected and output by the right side sensor 13R. Referring to FIG. 2, the determination unit 152 has a first left side determination logic 521a, a first right side determination logic 521b, a second left side determination logic 522a, a second right side determination logic 522b, and a front collision determination logic 523.

[0020] The first left determination logic 521a is configured to determine whether the generated collision is a first type of collision or a second type of collision based on the left X-axis direction acceleration GLx and the left Y-axis direction acceleration GLy, and the first relationship information shown in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the first relationship information is formed based on the relationship that in a second type of collision, i.e., a side collision, the acceleration in the left-right direction is greater than the acceleration in the front-rear direction. Specifically, this first relationship information is a map or look-up table that divides the first type of collision and the second type of collision by a straight line Gx = k·Gy passing through the origin (0,0) in a two-dimensional coordinate (Gy,Gx) with the horizontal axis being the acceleration Gy in the left-right direction and the vertical axis being the acceleration Gx in the front-rear direction. 0 < k < 1. That is, the first left determination logic 521a is configured to determine the occurrence of the first type of collision when (Gy,Gx) = (GLy,GLx) is within the upper region FC above the upward-sloping straight line shown in FIG. 3. Similarly, the first right determination logic 521b is configured to determine whether the generated collision is a first type of collision or a second type of collision based on the right X-axis direction acceleration GRx and the right Y-axis direction acceleration GRy, and the first relationship information shown in FIG. 3.

[0021] The second left determination logic 522a is provided to operate when the occurrence of the first type of collision is determined by the first left determination logic 521a. The second left determination logic 522a is configured to determine the activation of the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision based on the left X-axis direction acceleration GLx and the left Y-axis direction acceleration GLy, and the second relationship information shown in FIG. 4. The second right determination logic 522b is provided to operate when the occurrence of the first type of collision is determined by the first right determination logic 521b. The second right determination logic 522b is configured to determine the activation of the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision based on the right X-axis direction acceleration GRx and the right Y-axis direction acceleration GRy, and the second relationship information shown in FIG. 4. That is, in the present embodiment, the determination unit 152 is configured to determine the presence or absence of the occurrence of the first type of collision that requires the activation of the occupant protection device 11 after determining that the generated collision is different from the second type of collision.

[0022] As shown in FIG. 4, the second relationship information is a map or a lookup table for determining whether or not the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision is activated based on the forward / rearward acceleration Gx and the left / right acceleration Gy. In FIG. 4, "ON" indicates that the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision is activated, and "OFF" indicates that the occupant protection device 11 is not activated. The line dividing "ON" and "OFF" indicates an activation threshold for determining the occurrence of a collision that requires the activation of the occupant protection device 11. That is, the second relationship information corresponds to activation threshold information that specifies the activation threshold. As shown in the figure, the activation threshold information is formed based on a relationship indicated by a straight line sloping downward to the right in the figure, such that the forward / rearward acceleration Gx corresponding to the activation threshold becomes smaller as the left / right acceleration Gy moves from a low acceleration region to a high acceleration region (i.e., as it increases from 0). In addition, the activation threshold information is formed in a broken line so that the forward / rearward acceleration Gx corresponding to the activation threshold becomes a constant value when the left / right acceleration Gy exceeds a predetermined value. Here, the dotted lines shown in Fig. 4 indicate the range of acceleration that may occur when the impact angle θ shown in Fig. 5 is 30 degrees and 60 degrees. Fig. 5 shows a scene in which another vehicle BV traveling toward the host vehicle from diagonally ahead of the host vehicle does not collide with the front 3 of the host vehicle, but collides with the front part of the side 7 of the host vehicle. As shown in Fig. 5, the impact angle θ is the angle between the other vehicle center line LC3, which is a virtual straight line corresponding to the traveling direction of the other vehicle BV that has collided with the host vehicle, and the vehicle center line LC1 of the host vehicle. As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the activation threshold information is formed based on a relationship in which the longitudinal acceleration Gx corresponding to the activation threshold decreases as the impact angle θ increases.

[0023] In this embodiment, the second left side determination logic 522a is configured to output an activation signal when (Gy, Gx)=(GLy, GLx) is within the ON region shown in Fig. 4. Similarly, the second right side determination logic 522b is configured to output an activation signal when (Gy, Gx)=(GRy, GRx) is within the ON region shown in Fig. 4. The front collision determination logic 523 is configured to output a trigger signal when an activation signal is output by at least one of the second left side determination logic 522a and the second right side determination logic 522b. The trigger signal is a signal that is output to the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision in order to activate the occupant protection device 11.

[0024] (Operation overview) An outline of the operation of this embodiment will be described below together with the effects achieved by this embodiment with reference to FIGS.

[0025] As shown in Fig. 5, there may be a case where another vehicle BV traveling toward the host vehicle from diagonally ahead of the host vehicle does not collide with the front 3 of the host vehicle, but with the front portion of the side 7 of the host vehicle. Such a collision is hereinafter referred to as a "non-head-on oblique collision." Fig. 5 shows a typical example of a non-head-on collision in which another vehicle BV traveling straight along the other vehicle's center line LC3 collides with the left front portion of the vehicle body 2 of the host vehicle traveling straight along the vehicle center line LC1. Fig. 5 also shows a typical example of such a non-head-on collision in which the collision position is the left front fender of the host vehicle, and the collision angle θ is 45 degrees.

[0026] Fig. 6 shows the outputs of the collision side sensors, i.e., the left front sensor 12L and the left side sensor 13L, in the collision example shown in Fig. 5. In Fig. 6, the dotted line shows the output of the left front sensor 12L, and the solid line shows the output of the left side sensor 13L. Fig. 7 shows the outputs of the non-collision side sensors, i.e., the right front sensor 12R and the right side sensor 13R, in the collision example shown in Fig. 5. In Fig. 7, the dotted line shows the output of the right front sensor 12R, and the solid line shows the output of the right side sensor 13R.

[0027] In the case of a non-frontal oblique collision (for example, a collision angle θ is typically 30 to 60 degrees), the impact on the portion of the vehicle body 2 to which the front sensor 12 is attached is relatively small. For this reason, as shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7, the acceleration input to the front sensor 12 due to a non-frontal oblique collision is relatively small. Therefore, in the conventional determination method based on the longitudinal acceleration detected by the front sensor 12 as in Patent Document 1, there is still room for improvement in terms of accurately detecting such a collision type and accurately activating the occupant protection device 11 according to the collision type.

[0028] On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 6, a non-frontal oblique collision transmits a relatively large longitudinal acceleration to the side sensor 13 on the collision side. However, the magnitude of the longitudinal acceleration received by the side sensor 13 is affected by the collision angle θ in addition to the driving state and relative speed. That is, even if the relative speed and acceleration / deceleration state between the host vehicle and the other vehicle BV immediately before the collision are the same, the smaller the collision angle θ, the greater the longitudinal acceleration received by the side sensor 13. On the other hand, the greater the collision angle θ, the smaller the longitudinal acceleration received by the side sensor 13. Then, when θ=90 degrees, a complete side collision occurs.

[0029] Thus, in a non-frontal oblique collision, differences in output occur between the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration depending on the collision angle θ. For this reason, as shown in Fig. 4, by setting a judgment threshold according to the collision angle θ, it is possible to make a reliable collision judgment over a wide range of collision angles θ. However, in a relatively large side collision, since longitudinal acceleration is also input, there is a concern that a frontal collision judgment will be established.

[0030] Therefore, in this embodiment, taking into consideration the characteristic that in a side collision, the acceleration in the left-right direction is greater than the acceleration in the front-rear direction, a first type collision is determined using the relationship information shown in Fig. 3, and then the occupant protection device 11 is activated using the relationship information shown in Fig. 4. That is, this embodiment determines whether or not a first type collision has occurred that requires activation of the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision, using the following two characteristics. In a side collision, the acceleration in the left-right direction is greater than the acceleration in the front-back direction. In a non-frontal oblique collision, the smaller the impact angle θ, the greater the longitudinal acceleration that the side sensor 13 receives.

[0031] According to this embodiment, it is possible to accurately detect a non-frontal collision, which was difficult to accurately detect with the conventional technology. Also, according to this embodiment, by using logic for distinguishing between a first type collision and a second type collision, it is possible to reliably detect a frontal collision even when using the side sensor 13 that receives a large input in a side collision. Furthermore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to accurately activate the occupant protection device 11 in a non-frontal oblique collision in which the collision angle θ is small and activation of the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision is necessary.

[0032] (Modification) The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. Therefore, the above embodiment can be modified as appropriate. Representative modified examples will be described below. In the following description of the modified examples, differences from the above embodiment will be mainly described. In addition, the same reference numerals are used for parts that are the same or equivalent to each other in the above embodiment and the modified examples. Therefore, in the following description of the modified examples, the description of the above embodiment can be appropriately used for components having the same reference numerals as the above embodiment, unless there is a technical contradiction or special additional explanation.

[0033] The present invention is not limited to the specific device configuration shown in the above embodiment. That is, for example, as described in the above embodiment, the side sensor 13 can be used to detect a frontal collision and activate the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision. For this reason, the front sensor 12 can be omitted. However, from the viewpoint of detecting a typical frontal collision earlier and from the viewpoint of redundancy, the front sensor 12 and the frontal collision determination using the frontal collision sensor 12 can be provided in parallel with the collision determination using the side sensor 13 in the above embodiment. The same is true for the floor sensor 14, which can be omitted from the viewpoint of at least enabling the implementation of the present invention, but can be used in combination.

[0034] The present invention can also be suitably applied to a case where an occupant protection device 11 for a vehicle other than a frontal collision is installed.

[0035] As shown in FIG. 2, the above embodiment first determines whether the collision type does not require activation of the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision by using the first left side determination logic 521a and the first right side determination logic 521b. Such determination is referred to as "side impact / frontal collision determination." The "collision type that does not require activation of the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision" is typically a side impact, but also includes a case where the impact angle θ in the non-frontal collision is a large angle around 90 degrees. After that, the above embodiment determines whether or not a collision that requires activation of the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision has occurred by using the second left side determination logic 522a and the second right side determination logic 522b. Such determination is referred to as "activation determination."

[0036] That is, in the above embodiment, the side collision / front collision judgment and the activation judgment are performed separately using two-stage logic. However, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, the side collision / front collision judgment and the activation judgment can be performed simultaneously using one-stage logic. The logic configuration shown in FIG. 8 corresponds to this modified example. That is, the judgment unit 152 shown in FIG. 8 has a front collision judgment logic 523, a left side judgment logic 524, and a right side judgment logic 525. The left side judgment logic 524 corresponds to a combination of the first left side judgment logic 521a and the second left side judgment logic 522a. Also, the right side judgment logic 525 corresponds to a combination of the first right side judgment logic 521b and the second right side judgment logic 522b.

[0037] Specifically, the left side determination logic 524 is configured to determine whether or not to activate the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision based on the left side X-axis direction acceleration GLx and the left side Y-axis direction acceleration GLy, and the relationship information shown in FIG. 9. The right side determination logic 525 is configured to determine whether or not to activate the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision based on the right side X-axis direction acceleration GRx and the right side Y-axis direction acceleration GRy, and the relationship information shown in FIG. 9. The relationship information shown in FIG. 9 is a map or a lookup table for determining whether or not to activate the occupant protection device 11 for a frontal collision based on the forward / rearward acceleration Gx and the left / right direction acceleration Gy. This relationship information is a combination of the first relationship information shown in FIG. 3 and the second relationship information shown in FIG. 4. The frontal collision determination logic 523 is configured to output a trigger signal when an activation signal is output by at least one of the left side determination logic 524 and the right side determination logic 525. According to this modification, the logic configuration can be simplified.

[0038] All or part of the electronic control unit 15 may be configured to include a digital circuit configured to enable the above-mentioned operations, such as an ASIC or FPGA. ASIC is an abbreviation for Application Specific Integrated Circuit. FPGA is an abbreviation for Field Programmable Gate Array. In other words, in the electronic control unit 15, an on-vehicle microcomputer portion and a digital circuit portion may coexist.

[0039] In this way, each of the above functional configurations and methods may be realized by a dedicated computer provided by configuring a processor and a memory programmed to execute one or more functions embodied in a computer program. Alternatively, each of the above functional configurations and methods may be realized by a dedicated computer provided by configuring a processor with one or more dedicated hardware logic circuits. Alternatively, each of the above functional configurations and methods may be realized by one or more dedicated computers configured by combining a processor and a memory programmed to execute one or more functions with a processor configured with one or more hardware logic circuits. Furthermore, the computer program may be stored in a computer-readable non-transient tangible storage medium as instructions to be executed by a computer. In other words, each of the above functional configurations and methods can be expressed as a computer program including a procedure for realizing the same, or as a non-transient tangible storage medium storing the program.

[0040] Needless to say, the elements constituting the above-mentioned embodiment are not necessarily essential, except when expressly stated as essential or when considered to be obviously essential in principle. Furthermore, when the numbers, amounts, ranges, etc. of the components are mentioned, the present invention is not limited to the specific values, except when expressly stated as essential or when clearly limited to a specific value in principle. Similarly, when the shapes, directions, positional relationships, etc. of the components are mentioned, the present invention is not limited to the shapes, directions, positional relationships, etc., except when expressly stated as essential or when clearly limited to a specific shape, direction, positional relationship, etc. in principle.

[0041] The modified examples are not limited to the above examples. That is, a part of a certain embodiment and a part of another embodiment may be combined with each other. Also, a plurality of modified examples may be combined with each other. Furthermore, all or a part of the above embodiment and all or a part of the modified examples may be combined with each other. [Explanation of symbols]

[0042] 1 vehicle 2. Body 10. In-vehicle system (start control device) 11 Occupant protection devices 13 Side sensor 15 Electronic control device (collision detection device) 151 Acceleration acquisition section 152 Judgment section BV Other vehicles LC1 Vehicle Centerline

Claims

1. A collision determination device (15) configured to determine a collision type of a vehicle (1), an acceleration acquisition unit (151) that acquires the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration output from side sensors (13) provided on the left and right sides of the vehicle body (2) of the vehicle and detecting the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration; a determination unit (152) that determines the collision type based on the forward / rearward acceleration and the left / right acceleration acquired by the acceleration acquisition unit and relationship information indicating a relationship between the forward / rearward acceleration and the left / right acceleration according to the collision type; Equipped with the determination unit determines the collision type based on the relationship information formed so as to distinguish a first type collision from a second type collision within a two-dimensional coordinate space having the longitudinal acceleration as a first axis and the lateral acceleration as a second axis, The first type collision is a collision type in which the necessity for activation of an occupant protection device (11) for a frontal collision is higher than that of the second type collision, The relationship information is formed based on a relationship in which the left-right acceleration is greater than the front-rear acceleration in the second type collision. Collision determination device.

2. the determination unit determines whether the first type collision has occurred after determining that the collision that has occurred is different from the second type collision, The collision determination device according to claim 1 .

3. the relationship information includes activation threshold information that defines an activation threshold for determining the occurrence of the first type collision, The activation threshold information is formed based on a relationship in which the forward / backward acceleration corresponding to the activation threshold decreases as the left / right acceleration changes from a low acceleration region to a high acceleration region. The collision determination device according to claim 1 .

4. The activation threshold information is formed based on a relationship in which the longitudinal acceleration corresponding to the activation threshold becomes smaller as the collision angle, which is an angle between a vehicle center line (LC1) of the vehicle and a traveling direction of another vehicle (BV) that has collided with the vehicle, becomes larger. The collision determination device according to claim 3 .

5. A collision determination device (15) configured to determine a collision mode of a vehicle (1), an acceleration acquisition unit (151) that acquires the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration output from side sensors (13) provided on the left and right sides of the vehicle body (2) of the vehicle and detecting the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration; a determination unit (152) that determines the collision type based on the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration acquired by the acceleration acquisition unit and relationship information indicating a relationship between the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration according to the collision type; Equipped with the determination unit determines the collision type based on the relationship information formed so as to distinguish a first type collision from a second type collision within a two-dimensional coordinate space having the longitudinal acceleration as a first axis and the lateral acceleration as a second axis, The first type collision is a collision type in which the necessity for activation of an occupant protection device (11) for a frontal collision is higher than that of the second type collision, the relationship information includes activation threshold information that defines an activation threshold for determining the occurrence of the first type collision, the activation threshold information is formed based on a relationship in which the longitudinal acceleration corresponding to the activation threshold decreases as the lateral acceleration changes from a low acceleration region to a high acceleration region, The activation threshold information is formed based on a relationship in which the longitudinal acceleration corresponding to the activation threshold becomes smaller as the collision angle, which is an angle between a vehicle center line (LC1) of the vehicle and a traveling direction of another vehicle (BV) that has collided with the vehicle, becomes larger. Collision determination device.

6. An activation control device (10) configured to control activation of an occupant protection device (11) mounted in a vehicle (1), comprising: side sensors (13) provided on the left and right sides of the vehicle body (2) for detecting longitudinal acceleration and lateral acceleration; an electronic control unit (15) that acquires the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration output from the side sensor and controls activation of the occupant protection device; Equipped with The electronic control device includes: An acceleration acquisition unit (151) that acquires the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration output from the side sensor; a determination unit (152) that determines whether or not to activate the occupant protection device for a frontal collision based on the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration acquired by the acceleration acquisition unit and relationship information indicating a relationship between the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration according to a collision type; Equipped with the determination unit determines the collision type based on the relationship information formed so as to distinguish a first type collision from a second type collision within a two-dimensional coordinate space having the longitudinal acceleration as a first axis and the lateral acceleration as a second axis, The first type collision is a collision type in which the necessity for activation of the occupant protection device for a frontal collision is higher than that of the second type collision, The relationship information is formed based on a relationship in which the left-right acceleration is greater than the front-rear acceleration in the second type collision. Start control device.

7. the determination unit determines whether the first type collision has occurred after determining that the collision that has occurred is different from the second type collision, The start-up control device according to claim 6.

8. the relationship information includes activation threshold information that specifies an activation threshold for determining the occurrence of the first type collision that has a high need for activation of the occupant protection device for a frontal collision, The activation threshold information is formed based on a relationship in which the forward / backward acceleration corresponding to the activation threshold decreases as the left / right acceleration changes from a low acceleration region to a high acceleration region. The start-up control device according to claim 6 or 7.

9. The activation threshold information is formed based on a relationship in which the longitudinal acceleration corresponding to the activation threshold becomes smaller as the collision angle, which is an angle between a vehicle center line (LC1) of the vehicle and a traveling direction of another vehicle (BV) that has collided with the vehicle, becomes larger. The start-up control device according to claim 8.

10. A start-up control device (10) configured to control the start-up of an occupant protection device (11) mounted on a vehicle (1), comprising: side sensors (13) provided on the left and right sides of the vehicle body (2) for detecting longitudinal acceleration and lateral acceleration; an electronic control unit (15) that acquires the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration output from the side sensor and controls activation of the occupant protection device; Equipped with The electronic control device includes: An acceleration acquisition unit (151) that acquires the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration output from the side sensor; a determination unit (152) that determines whether or not to activate the occupant protection device for a frontal collision based on the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration acquired by the acceleration acquisition unit and relationship information indicating a relationship between the longitudinal acceleration and the lateral acceleration according to a collision type; and Equipped with the determination unit determines the collision type based on the relationship information formed so as to distinguish a first type collision from a second type collision within a two-dimensional coordinate space having the longitudinal acceleration as a first axis and the lateral acceleration as a second axis, The first type collision is a collision type in which the necessity for activation of the occupant protection device for a frontal collision is higher than that of the second type collision, the relationship information includes activation threshold information that specifies an activation threshold for determining the occurrence of the first type collision that has a high need for activation of the occupant protection device for a frontal collision, the activation threshold information is formed based on a relationship in which the forward / rearward acceleration corresponding to the activation threshold decreases as the left / right acceleration changes from a low acceleration region to a high acceleration region, The activation threshold information is formed based on a relationship in which the longitudinal acceleration corresponding to the activation threshold becomes smaller as the collision angle, which is an angle between a vehicle center line (LC1) of the vehicle and a traveling direction of another vehicle (BV) that has collided with the vehicle, becomes larger. Start control device.

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