Vehicle Speed Control Suppressing Brake Force Without Rear Radar

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing vehicle speed control systems rely on rear radar sensors to calculate brake forces, increasing costs and risking collisions with following vehicles due to potential sensor failures or abnormalities during automatic brake control.

Innovation Solution

A vehicle speed control apparatus determines whether to suppress brake force based on automatic brake duration time and vehicle speed reduction amount, eliminating the need for rear radar sensors by using forward radar and image sensors to assess collision risks.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a rear radar sensor is added to calculate brake forces for automatic brake control, then the safety regarding following vehicles is improved, but the system cost and complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesafety regarding following vehiclesVSAvoidsystem cost and complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the brake force calculation function from the rear radar sensor requirement and relocates it to the existing forward radar sensor and image sensor system. By processing forward sensor data to infer following vehicle conditions and calculating brake forces without dedicated rear sensors, the system eliminates unnecessary components while maintaining safety functionality.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The forward radar sensor and image sensor are made multi-functional by using them not only for detecting preceding vehicles but also for inferring following vehicle conditions and calculating appropriate brake forces. This universal utilization of existing sensors eliminates the need for separate rear radar sensors, reducing system complexity while maintaining comprehensive safety coverage.

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

2Reliability

If the automatic brake control generates a great brake force to ensure safety, then the collision prevention with preceding vehicles is improved, but the risk of collision with following vehicles increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecollision prevention with preceding vehiclesVSAvoidrisk of collision with following vehicles
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The brake force is made dynamic and adaptive rather than fixed. The system continuously adjusts brake force magnitude based on real-time analysis of forward sensor data, automatically modulating between gentle and strong braking depending on the detected situation. This dynamic adjustment prevents excessive brake force application that could endanger following vehicles while maintaining adequate braking when needed.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The system changes the brake force parameter based on inferred following vehicle conditions. By analyzing forward radar and image sensor data to estimate the presence and state of following vehicles, the system adjusts the brake force parameter dynamically - reducing it when following vehicles are detected and maintaining higher values when safe, thus resolving the contradiction between collision prevention and following vehicle safety.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

3Reliability

If the automatic brake control applies strong braking to prevent collision, then the safety is improved, but the vehicle speed reduction amount becomes excessive causing following vehicle collision risk

Engineering Contradiction:
ImprovesafetyVSAvoidvehicle speed reduction amount
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSSpeed

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements feedback control by continuously monitoring vehicle speed, deceleration rate, and inferred following vehicle conditions during automatic brake control. Based on this feedback, the system adjusts the brake force in real-time to maintain speed reduction within safe limits that prevent following vehicle collisions while still achieving collision avoidance with preceding vehicles.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentEP2990276B1Vehicle speed control device
Publication Date: 2019.07.17 TOYOTA JIDOSHA KK
  • EP2990276B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP2990276B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP2990276B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A vehicle speed control apparatus is configured to determine, based on an automatic brake duration time and a vehicle speed reduction amount, whether to suppress a brake force due to an automatic brake control, the automatic brake duration time being from an automatic brake control starting timing to a current time point, the vehicle speed reduction amount corresponding to a value obtained by subtracting a vehicle speed at the current time point from the vehicle speed at the automatic brake control starting timing.