Method for informing a vehicle driver

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of transportation safety. A method for informing the driver of a vehicle about the distance from the vehicle to an obstruction includes using sensors mounted on the vehicle for determining the distance from the vehicle to an obstruction, transmitting information about the measured distance to a control unit and generating, with the aid of the control unit, a control signal that is transmitted to a device for informing the driver. The device for informing the driver is configured in the form of an article of clothing with a set of vibrating motors on the front and rear parts thereof. The control unit is configured to be capable of generating a control signal for controlling the vibrating motors of the device for informing the driver according to the measured distance between the vehicle and an obstruction. The technical result of the invention is a near-total decrease in the likelihood of a driver missing information about the distance to an obstruction.

Description

[0001] METHOD OF INFORMING THE DRIVER OF A VEHICLE

[0002] DESCRIPTION

[0003] The invention relates to the field of vehicle safety and can be used as a method of tactile communication with a vehicle driver to warn the vehicle driver of an obstacle [B60W50 / 16, B60W30 / 08, B60Q9 / 007, B60Q9 / 006],

[0004] A VIBRATION DEVICE is known from the prior art [DE102020213906A1, published 05.05.2022]. A device with a large number of vibrators and a control unit, which are at least indirectly connected to the vehicle control system. In order to create a device that allows the instantaneous speed and / or acceleration to be estimated independently of the speed display and which increases the pleasure of driving a vehicle, the invention provides that the vibrators are configured to generate vibrations with a given frequency and amplitude, and the control unit determines the frequency and amplitude of the oscillations, the vibrations depend on the instantaneous speed and acceleration of the vehicle, and the vibrators are located inside the vehicle in such a way that the vibrations can be perceived by the driver.

[0005] The disadvantage of the analogue is the lack of information to the driver of the vehicle about the speed of the vehicle.

[0006] The prior art discloses a DEVICE AND METHOD FOR WARNING A VEHICLE DRIVER [W020201 04083 A1, published 05 / 28 / 2020]. The device for warning a vehicle driver involves the presence of one or more sensors that can detect objects in the vehicle's environment. The evaluation device consists of object detection sensors, one or more of which are used to create a model of the environment. The actuator provides information to the driver about the detected objects in the environment model and contains warning information transmitted to the driver using tactile mechanisms. Thus, the device is characterized as a spatial device for informing the driver about the position of an object.

[0007] The disadvantage of the analogue is the lack of improvement in vehicle safety due to the fact that the driver warning device, made in the form of vibration motors, is mounted in the vehicle seat.

[0008] The closest in technical essence is the VEHICLE SEAT VIBRATION SYSTEM [W02023008893A1, published 02.02.2023]. The device comprises vibrators that are mounted on a seat and are designed to transmit vibrations to a passenger during a ride on a vehicle. The control unit receives vehicle motion information, driving data and environmental information from an information provider. The control unit then uses this information to determine a vibration mode and a vibration control strategy for the vibrators, taking into account the vibration mode based on driving and environmental information. The control unit also includes at least one selection of vibrators requiring vibration, a vibration sequence, a plurality of vibrators, a vibration period and a vibration intensity for each vibrator

[0009] The main technical problem of the prototype is the inconsistent contact of the vehicle driver with the driver information device built into the seat. During parking and taxiing in tight spaces, there is a high probability of a collision of the vehicle with an external object, due to which the driver has to constantly change his position in order to visually determine the probability of a collision of the protruding part of the car body with an obstacle. As a result of such fidgeting in the seat during parking, the driver of the vehicle may not receive enough information about the distance to the obstacle, which is fraught with a collision.

[0010] The objective of the invention is to eliminate the shortcomings of the prototype.

[0011] The technical result of the invention is a virtually complete reduction in the probability of the vehicle driver missing (not receiving) information about the distance to an obstacle, since constant full contact of the vehicle driver with the driver information device is ensured during parking or during taxiing in tight spaces.

[0012] The technical result of the invention is achieved due to the fact that the method for informing the driver of a vehicle about the distance from the vehicle to an obstacle consists in the fact that, using sensors installed on the vehicle, the distance between the vehicle and the obstacle is determined; then information about the measured distance is transmitted to the control unit; using the control unit, a control signal is generated; then the control signal is transmitted to the driver information device; the driver information device is made in the form of a clothing element having sets of vibration motors on the front and back parts; wherein the control unit is configured to generate a control signal for controlling the vibration motors of the driver information device depending on the measured distance between the vehicle and the obstacle.

[0013] In particular, the sensors are ultrasonic or optical or radar or lidar, and are installed in the front and / or rear of the vehicle.

[0014] In particular, each set of vibration motors is designed as a matrix of vibration motors.

[0015] In particular, the control unit is configured to generate a control signal for controlling the front matrix of vibration motors of the driver information device depending on the measured distance to the obstacle in front of the vehicle, as well as to generate a control signal for controlling the rear matrix of vibration motors of the driver information device depending on the measured distance from the rear of the vehicle to the obstacle.

[0016] In particular, the sensors are mounted along the front and / or rear of the vehicle, with each sensor corresponding to one or more columns of the vibration motor matrix.

[0017] In particular, the activation of the rows of the vibration motor matrix depends on the distance measured by each sensor.

[0018] In particular, an item of clothing can be made in the form of a vest or a sweatshirt, or a T-shirt, or a sweatshirt, or a jacket, or a pullover.

[0019] Brief description of the drawings.

[0020] Fig. 1 schematically shows the technical means for implementing the method.

[0021] Fig. 2 shows the clothing element from the front.

[0022] Fig.3 shows the clothing element from the back.

[0023] Fig. 4 shows the method implementation diagram. Fig. 5 shows the dependence of the vibration motor activation on the distance to the obstacle.

[0024] Fig. 6 shows the operation graph of the front vibration motor matrix.

[0025] Fig. 7 shows the graph of the rear matrix operation.

[0026] The figures indicate: 1 - clothing item, 2 - front set of vibration motors, 3 - rear set of vibration motors, 4 - vehicle, 5 - controller, 6 - sensor, 7 - obstacle.

[0027] This method is implemented by means of the following technical means.

[0028] The basis of the method is a driver information device, which is made in the form of a clothing element 1, on which a front set of vibration motors 2 is placed in the front, and a rear set of vibration motors 3 is placed on the back side.

[0029] Each of the sets can be implemented, for example, in the form of a matrix of vibration motors consisting of M rows and N columns. The advantage of implementing sets in the form of a matrix of vibration motors is that the matrix allows for address control of the matrix elements.

[0030] The clothing element 1 can be made in the form of any underwear element having a front and a back part. The sets of vibration motors 2, 3 are placed on the clothing element 1 in such a way that the front set of vibration motors covers the driver's chest and abdomen, and the rear set of vibration motors covers the back.

[0031] Information about the distance from the vehicle 4 to the obstacle is determined using sensors 6. These sensors can operate on any physical phenomenon. It should be emphasized that the type of sensors is not the subject of the invention. A large number of different sensors for determining the distance to an object are known from the prior art.

[0032] Sensors 6 can be placed in front of vehicle 4, in the rear of the vehicle, or both in front and in the rear. As a rule, such sensors are placed in the front and rear bumpers of the vehicle. Most often, they are installed in the amount of four pieces: 4 sensors in the front bumper and 4 sensors in the rear bumper.

[0033] The peculiarity of the placement of sensors 6 is that there should be no “blind zones” either in front of vehicle 4 or behind it, i.e. sensors 6 are placed evenly along the front and / or rear parts of the vehicle with a slight overlap of the radiation zones of adjacent sensors.

[0034] Information about the measured distance from sensors 6 is transmitted to control unit 5. This control unit 5 is also connected to both sets of vibration motors 2, 3 of the driver information device.

[0035] The control unit 5 can be implemented on the basis of a microcontroller or a microcomputer. The key feature of the control unit 5 is that it is implemented with the ability to control sets of vibration motors based on information received from sensors 6.

[0036] As noted above, each set of vibration motors can be implemented as a vibration motor matrix consisting of M rows and N columns. In this case, due to the fact that the number of sensors is finite and expressed as a natural number, then each sensor installed in the front can be associated with one or more columns of the front matrix of vibration motors, and each sensor installed in the back can be associated with one or more columns of the rear matrix of vibration motors.

[0037] So, if there are 4 sensors installed in the front and rear bumpers, then the front and rear vibration motor matrix can consist of 4 columns each. Thus, each sensor will have its own column of the vibration motor matrix.

[0038] In addition, the control unit 5 is designed with the ability to control not only the matrix columns, but also their rows. In this case, the control of the matrix rows depends on the distance measured by the sensors 6, i.e. the smaller the distance from the vehicle to the obstacle, the greater the number of rows are activated. The rows can be activated from the bottom up.

[0039] The method is carried out as follows.

[0040] Using sensors 6 installed in the bumpers of vehicle 4, the distance from each sensor 6 to obstacles 7 is determined (see Fig. 4).

[0041] Information about the distance measured by each sensor 6 is transmitted to the control unit 5. Based on the information received from each sensor 6, the control unit 5 generates a control signal (signals) for controlling the vibration motor matrices of the driver information device.

[0042] In this case, the control of the vibration motor matrices occurs in accordance with the following logic.

[0043] Fig. 4 shows that if sensor 6 does not detect any obstacle in front of itself or if this obstacle is far away, then the corresponding column of the matrix remains switched off (see, for example, the first front sensor 6 and the first column of matrix 2, or the third front sensor 6 and the third column of matrix 2, or the second rear sensor 6 and the second column of matrix 3, or the fourth rear sensor 6 and the fourth column of matrix 3).

[0044] If sensor 6 detects the presence of an obstacle at some distance from vehicle 4, then the matrix column corresponding to this sensor is activated, and the number of active rows of this column will depend on the distance. For example, the second front sensor 6 measured the distance to obstacle 7 corresponding to three rows of the second column of matrix 2, and the fourth front sensor 6 measured the distance to obstacle 7 corresponding to six rows of the fourth column of matrix 2.

[0045] The detailed graphs of the front and rear matrixes are shown in the figures. Thus, figure 6 shows that since the first sensor installed in the front bumper did not detect any obstacle, column 1 of the front matrix of vibration motors remained inactive. The second sensor of the front bumper detected an obstacle at a distance of 0.9 meters in front of it, then in accordance with this distance the control unit activated 3 vibration motors in the second column of the front matrix. The third sensor of the front bumper, just like the first sensor, did not detect any obstacle in front of it, and in accordance with this the vibration motors of the third column of the front matrix remained in the off state. The fourth sensor of the front bumper detected an obstacle in front of itself at a distance of approximately 0.4 meters, which caused the activation of six vibration motors of the front matrix.

[0046] It is important to note that the dependence of the activated rows of the vibration motor matrix can be both linear and nonlinear. Fig. 5 shows an example of a linear dependence. In addition, these dependences for the front 2 and rear 3 matrices may differ.

[0047] According to the graph in Fig. 5, when the distance between the sensor and the obstacle is more than 1.2 meters, none of the rows are activated, but, for example, when the distance is 0.4 meters, 6 vibration motors are activated in the column corresponding to the given sensor.

[0048] Example of implementation of the invention.

[0049] This method was implemented on the basis of the VW Golf 6th generation car. In this case, the standard parking sensors were used as sensors 6.

[0050] The driver information device was made of cotton fabric and was designed in the form of a vest.

[0051] Small pockets of the same fabric were sewn on the front along the entire surface of the chest and abdomen. Each pocket measured 3x3 cm. Similar pockets were sewn along the entire surface of the back. A total of 32 pockets were sewn on the front and the same number of pockets on the back. Eccentric vibration motors measuring 4x8 mm were used as vibration motors. Each vibration motor was placed in a small 3D-printed housing. The housing dimensions were 25x25x6 mm. The vibration motors were fixed in the housings using glue.

[0052] Then these housings with vibration motors were placed in the pockets of the vest.

[0053] The Raspberry pi 4 microcomputer was used as a control unit. This microcomputer was connected to the car's CAN bus via the МСР2515 adapter. The Raspberry pi 4 microcomputer was connected to the МСР2515 module via the SPI interface. Using the МСР2515 adapter allowed using standard ultrasonic parking sensors as distance sensors.

[0054] Each vibration motor was connected to a LM3525MX- L / NOPB power switch. This switch allows control of the load in positional mode via a USB interface.

[0055] Each vibration motor had its own address. Thus, if the USB interface has a particular vibration motor address, the corresponding vibration motor is turned on.

[0056] The corresponding functions of the control unit were written programmatically in Python. In this case, the python-can library was used to work with the CAN bus and pyserial to interact with the USB port. Below is an example of code that demonstrates the basic logic of operation (it makes little sense to provide the entire code): import sap import serial import time

[0057] # Initialize CAN bus bus = can.interface.Bus(channel- canO', bustype- socketcan native')

[0058] # Initializing connection to USB port

[0059] 9

[0060] SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) ser = serial.Serial(7dev / ttyUSB0', 9600) # Specify the correct path to the USB port and the connection speed

[0061] # Function for sending a command to vibration motors def send_vibration_command(motor_id, intensity): command = f{motor_id}: {intensity}\n' # Example command:

[0062] 'motor id: intensity \n' ser.write(command.encode())

[0063] # The main program loop while True:

[0064] # Reading data from CAN bus message = bus.recvQ

[0065] # Parsing data and determining motor id and intensity

[0066] # For example, if message contains the required information motor id = 1 # Example motor id intensity = 50 # Example intensity

[0067] # Sending a command to vibration motors send_vibration_command(motor_id, intensity)

[0068] The program allowed each column of vibration motors in the front matrix to establish a correspondence with its sensor in the front bumper of the car, and each column of vibration motors in the rear matrix to establish a correspondence with its sensor in the rear bumper of the car.

[0069] Experiments with a prototype have shown that the present solution allows the driver of a car to be in constant full contact with the driver information device during parking or during taxiing in tight spaces, which in turn allows the driver to constantly receive information about the distance to an obstacle. At the same time, the stability of receiving information about the situation around the car does not depend on the position and

[0070] 10

[0071] SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) the driver's position on the vehicle seat. In addition, experiments have shown that obtaining information in this way does not depend on the presence and thickness of outer clothing, since the driver information device can be worn under outer clothing.

[0072] Thus, due to the fact that the method of informing the driver of a vehicle about the distance from the vehicle to an obstacle consists in the fact that, using sensors installed on the vehicle, the distance between the vehicle and the obstacle is determined; then information about the measured distance is transmitted to the control unit; using the control unit, a control signal is formed; then the control signal is transmitted to the driver information device; the driver information device is made in the form of an element of clothing having sets of vibration motors on the front and back parts;wherein the control unit is designed with the possibility of generating a control signal for controlling the vibration motors of the driver information device depending on the measured distance between the vehicle and the obstacle, such a technical result is ensured as a practically complete reduction in the probability of the vehicle driver missing (not receiving) information about the distance to the obstacle, since constant full contact of the vehicle driver with the driver information device is ensured during parking or during taxiing in tight spaces.

Claims

FORMULA 1. A method for informing a driver of a vehicle about the distance from the vehicle to an obstacle, which consists in that, using sensors installed on the vehicle, the distance between the vehicle and the obstacle is determined; then information about the measured distance is transmitted to a control unit; using the control unit, a control signal is generated; then the control signal is transmitted to a driver information device; the driver information device is made in the form of a clothing element having sets of vibration motors on the front and back parts; wherein the control unit is configured to generate a control signal for controlling the vibration motors of the driver information device depending on the measured distance between the vehicle and the obstacle.

2. The method according to paragraph 1, characterized in that the sensors are ultrasonic or optical or radar or lidar, and are installed in the front and / or rear part of the vehicle.

3. The method according to item 2, characterized in that each set of vibration motors is made in the form of a matrix of vibration motors.

4. The method according to paragraph 3, characterized in that the control unit is designed with the ability to generate a control signal for controlling the front matrix of vibration motors of the driver information device depending on the measured distance to the obstacle in front of the vehicle, as well as with the ability to generate a control signal for controlling the rear matrix of vibration motors of the information device. driver depending on the measured distance from the rear of the vehicle to the obstacle.

5. The method according to item 4, characterized in that the sensors are installed along the front and / or rear parts of the vehicle, with each sensor corresponding to one or more columns of the vibration motor matrix.

6. The method according to item 5, characterized in that the activation of the rows of the vibration motor matrix depends on the distance measured by each sensor.

7. The method according to item 1, characterized in that the clothing element can be made in the form of a vest or a sweatshirt, or a vest, or a T-shirt, or a sweatshirt, or a jacket, or a pullover.

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