Vehicle Notification Sound Control Timing for Pedestrian Safety

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional vehicle notification sound emitting apparatuses emit movement notification sounds too early, leading to unnecessary and prolonged sounds that can be annoying to people outside the vehicle, and may not inform them of impending movement before the vehicle starts.

Innovation Solution

A vehicle notification sound emitting apparatus that emits a starting movement notification sound when a shift operation and movement preparation are completed, and transitions to a moving notification sound when the vehicle begins moving, using a sound control system with specific timing and volume adjustments to avoid early emission and ensure timely notification.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the notification sound is emitted from the moment the vehicle enters a drivable state, then the vehicle movement notification occurs early, but the notification sound becomes unnecessary and annoying for a long period before the vehicle actually starts moving

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvenotification timing accuracyVSAvoidannoyance to surrounding people
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The notification sound is emitted in advance of actual vehicle movement, but only after detecting that movement preparation operations have been completed. This preliminary action ensures the notification occurs at the optimal moment - early enough to warn pedestrians but not so early as to cause unnecessary annoyance during extended idle periods.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system continuously monitors vehicle operation states including shift operations and movement preparation operations to determine the appropriate timing for sound emission. This feedback mechanism ensures the notification sound is emitted only when truly needed, resolving the contradiction between early notification and avoiding unnecessary noise.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

2Object-affected harmful factors

If the notification sound is emitted only when the vehicle starts moving, then unnecessary noise is avoided, but the notification occurs too late to inform people of impending movement

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveunnecessary noiseVSAvoidnotification timing
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-affected harmful factorsVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system emits the notification sound in advance of actual movement by detecting completion of movement preparation operations. This preliminary action ensures pedestrians are warned before the vehicle actually moves, improving notification timing while avoiding unnecessary noise through precise condition-based triggering.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Ease of operation

If the notification sound is emitted based on ignition switch ON state, then the system is simple to operate, but the notification timing does not accurately reflect when the vehicle will actually move

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesystem operation simplicityVSAvoidnotification timing accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system monitors multiple operation parameters including shift operations and movement preparation operations to accurately determine when the vehicle is about to move. This feedback-based approach maintains operational simplicity while significantly improving notification timing accuracy compared to using only the ignition switch state.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The notification system integrates multiple detection functions (shift operation detection, movement preparation detection) into a single unified control mechanism. This multi-functionality allows the system to accurately determine movement intent while maintaining ease of operation through automatic control.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentEP2534007B1Vehicle notification sound emitting apparatus
Publication Date: 2018.04.11 NISSAN MOTOR CO LTD
  • EP2534007B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP2534007B1 patent drawingFigure 3
  • EP2534007B1 patent drawingFigure 4

AI summary

A vehicle notification sound emitting apparatus is basically provided with a sound emitting device (1,11) and a notification sound control device (12). The sound emitting device (1,11) emits a starting movement notification sound to outside of a vehicle to inform a person in an outside area surrounding the vehicle that the vehicle will transition from a stopped state to a moving state, and emits a moving notification sound to outside of the vehicle to inform a person in the outside area surrounding the vehicle that the vehicle is moving. The notification sound control device (12) operates the sound emitting device (1,11) to selectively emit the starting movement notification sound. The notification sound control device (12) includes a notification sound emission timing section (steps S12 to S15) that sets a start timing of the starting movement notification sound in response to a shift operation having been performed and an additional start movement preparation operation of the vehicle having been performed.