Intersection Drive Assistance Using Blind-Spot Threat Mapping

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing drive assistance technologies struggle to accurately determine the threat of collisions or accidental contacts between vehicles and pedestrians at intersections, particularly when multiple traffic participants are involved, due to limited visibility and blind spots caused by buildings and other obstructions.

Innovation Solution

A drive assistance system that utilizes high-precision digital maps and vehicle-to-vehicle communication to generate a traffic status map, determining threat modes and levels for various traffic participants, and activates alarms or notifications based on these threat levels to prevent collisions.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If drive assistance devices use in-vehicle sensors to detect traffic participants, then collision prevention capability is improved, but blind spots caused by buildings and obstructions worsen detection accuracy

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecollision prevention capabilityVSAvoiddetection accuracy in blind spots
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDifficulty of detecting and measuring

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces V2X communication technology as an intermediary to obtain information from external sources (other vehicles, roadside infrastructure, servers) to supplement in-vehicle sensor data. This mediator provides information about traffic participants in blind spots that cannot be detected by in-vehicle sensors alone, thereby resolving the contradiction between collision prevention capability and detection accuracy in obstructed areas

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent merges multiple information sources including in-vehicle sensor data, V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle) communication data, V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure) communication data, and server-provided information to create a comprehensive traffic status map. This combination allows the system to overcome the limitations of individual detection methods and accurately identify threat targets even in blind spots

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

2Device complexity

If drive assistance devices rely on driver's visual recognition, then system simplicity is improved, but accuracy of identifying threat targets worsens due to driver's blind spots

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesystem simplicityVSAvoidthreat target identification accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Device complexityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent transitions from the driver's two-dimensional visual field to a three-dimensional comprehensive detection space by incorporating data from multiple sensors and communication sources. This dimensional expansion allows the system to detect traffic participants in all directions including areas completely invisible to the driver, significantly improving threat target identification accuracy while maintaining manageable system complexity through integrated processing

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

3Reliability

If drive assistance devices activate alarms for all detected threats, then safety notification is improved, but false alarms increase causing driver distraction

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesafety notificationVSAvoidfalse alarms
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSObject-generated harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent changes the parameter of threat evaluation from binary (threat/not threat) to a multi-level assessment considering multiple factors including positional relationship between vehicles, moving directions, speeds, and blind spot locations. By dynamically adjusting threat levels based on these parameters, the system can distinguish between genuine threats requiring alarm and non-threatening situations, thereby reducing false alarms while maintaining high safety notification reliability

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

4Measurement precision

If drive assistance systems process real-time data from multiple sources, then threat detection accuracy is improved, but processing time and computational load worsen

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvethreat detection accuracyVSAvoiddata processing time
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements preliminary action by pre-processing and filtering data from multiple sources before full analysis. The system preliminarily identifies potential threat targets using key parameters (position, speed, direction) and then performs detailed analysis only on these candidates. This approach maintains high threat detection accuracy while significantly reducing overall processing time and computational load compared to analyzing all data comprehensively

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP4704063A1Drive assistance system and drive assistance method
Publication Date: 2026.03.04 SUZUKI MOTOR CORP
  • EP4704063A1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4704063A1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4704063A1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A drive assistance system includes an external server wirelessly connected to a first vehicle and a second vehicle located in a predetermined area. The drive assistance system acquires first position information and gaze information of a driver of the first vehicle, and second position information of the second vehicle, generates a traffic status map by superimposing the first position information, the gaze information, and the second position information on a digital map indicating the periphery of the predetermined area, calculates a blind area invisible from the first vehicle or the second vehicle in the traffic status map to determine a threat mode for a threat target viewed from the first vehicle or the second vehicle, and determines a notification method for the driver according to the threat mode.