Patent Description:
In general, a collision avoidance device refers to safety devices configured to prevent or avoid a collision of vehicles.

Recently vehicles have developed into intelligent vehicles that not only enhance fuel efficiency and performance as a means of transportation but also provide improved safety and convenience using evolving information and communication technologies.

For intelligent vehicles, however, a driver ends up operating additional operational instruments besides those for driving, such as entertainment systems, convenience systems and air cleaning apparatuses, resulting in an increase of risk in driving due to driver inattention.

The <CIT> describes a method for operating a surroundings detection system of a vehicle having at least two transceiver units, wherein at least one transceiver unit emitting signals and the at least two transceiver units receiving echo signals of the emitted signals, the echo signals being reflected by reflection sources situated in a detection range of the transceiver units.

As such, a safety device is required to prevent or avoid a vehicle collision on congested urban roads caused by the momentary inattention of a driver.

The object of the invention is in that determining a position of a neighboring vehicle by using the differences of the receiving time and strengths between two sensing signals received from two ultrasound sensors installed in a vehicle.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a position determining device for determining a position of a neighboring vehicle as set out in claim <NUM> is provided.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method of operating a position determining device for determining a position of a neighboring vehicle as set out in claim <NUM>, is provided.

In accordance with still another aspect of the present invention, a computer program stored in a medium, as set out in claim <NUM>, is provided.

According to the present invention, a position of a neighboring vehicle is determined by using the differences of the receiving time and strengths between two sensing signals received from two ultrasound sensors installed in a vehicle.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to figures.

<FIG> is a diagram of a position determining device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

As depicted in <FIG>, a position determining device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention comprises a receiving unit (<NUM>) for receiving sensing signals from ultrasound sensors, a confirming unit (<NUM>) for confirming the receiving time and strengths of the sensing signals, and a determination unit (<NUM>) for determining a position of a neighboring vehicle on the basis of receiving time and strengths of each of the sensing signals.

The position determining device comprising the receiving unit (<NUM>), the confirming unit (<NUM>) and the determination unit (<NUM>) may be at least partly implemented in a form of a software module, a hardware module or any combination thereof.

The position determining device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention may be operated to determine a position of an approaching vehicle while driving a vehicle.

Recently, a driver ends up operating additional operational instruments besides those for driving resulting in an increase of risk in driving due to driver inattention. As such, a safety device is required to prevent or avoid a vehicle collision on congested urban roads. To this end, conventional techniques determine a position of a neighboring vehicle by applying a position tracking algorithm using micro array sensors. For micro array sensors, although a plurality of sensors are applied in an array, not all sensing signals received from the plurality of sensors are used to determine the position of the neighboring vehicle, rather sensing signals received from only some of the plurality of sensors are used to determine the position of the neighboring vehicle. Consequently, this is very economically ineffective.

However, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to determine a position of a neighboring vehicle only by using two ultrasound sensors, as will be explained in detail. Hereinafter, the two ultrasound sensors for determining a position of the neighboring vehicle are referred to a first ultrasound sensor and a second ultrasound sensor, respectively. The first ultrasound sensor and the second ultrasound sensor are installed separated away from each other in a vehicle.

The receiving unit (<NUM>) is configured to receive sensing signals. The receiving unit (<NUM>) is configured to receive a first sensing signal related to the neighboring vehicle from a first ultrasound sensor installed in a vehicle and receive a second sensing signal related to the neighboring vehicle from a second ultrasound sensor installed at a position separated away from the first ultrasound sensor.

The first sensing signal and the second sensing signal may be the ultrasound signals which are generated at the same time, reflected from the neighboring vehicle and then received. the first ultrasound sensor and the second ultrasound sensor may be configured to generate ultrasound signals at the same time and receive their reflected signals. Alternatively, the first ultrasound sensor and the second ultrasound sensor may be configured to sense an ultrasound signal which is generated from a separate ultrasound generator at a specific point of time by having the separate ultrasound generator generating the ultrasound signal.

The confirming unit (<NUM>) is configured to determine the receiving time and strengths of the sensing signals. If the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal are received via the receiving unit (<NUM>), the confirming unit (<NUM>) is configured to determine the receiving time and strengths of each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal. In particular, the confirming unit (<NUM>) is configured to position each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal on a time-strength plane to thereby confirm the receiving time and strengths of each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal.

There may be a difference in the receiving time and strength of each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal as depicted in <FIG> for example. The difference in the receiving time and strength between the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal occurs because, due to the fact of that the first ultrasound sensor and the second ultrasound sensor are installed separated away from each other in a vehicle, the distance difference corresponding to the separation distance in receiving the ultrasound signals reflected from the neighboring vehicle occurs.

The confirming unit (<NUM>) is configured to determine the difference in the receiving time and strength of each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal by using a relative signal attenuation-time delay histogram which is generated with respect to one of the sensing signals on the basis of the other signal on the time-strength plane as in depicted in <FIG>, for example.

The determination unit (<NUM>) may determine a position of the neighboring vehicle. The determination unit (<NUM>) may determine a position of the neighboring vehicle on the basis of a difference in the receiving time and strength of each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal.

Inparticular, the determination unit (<NUM>) may calculate a distance between the first ultrasound sensor and the neighboring vehicle and a distance between the second ultrasound sensor and the neighboring vehicle on the basis of receiving time and strengths of each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal. In addition, the determination unit (<NUM>) may determine a position of the neighboring vehicle on the basis of the two calculated distances and the separation distance between the first ultrasound sensor and the second ultrasound sensor.

For example, the determination unit (<NUM>) may form a triangle consisting of a straight line corresponding to the calculated distance between the first ultrasound sensor and the neighboring vehicle, a straight line corresponding to the calculated distance between the second ultrasound sensor and the neighboring vehicle and a straight line corresponding to the separation distance between the first ultrasound sensor and the second ultrasound sensor. Then, the determination unit (<NUM>) may determine the other vertex rather than two vertexes corresponding to the first ultrasound sensor and the second ultrasound sensor as a position of the neighboring vehicle.

The difference in the receiving time and strength of each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal represents a distance difference of the distance between the first ultrasound sensor and the neighboring vehicle from the distance between the second ultrasound sensor and the neighboring vehicle.

Accordingly, the determination unit (<NUM>) can specifically determine a position of the neighboring vehicle by using the distance difference of the distance between the first ultrasound sensor and the neighboring vehicle from the distance between the second ultrasound sensor and the neighboring vehicle, in addition to the separation distance between the first ultrasound sensor and the second ultrasound sensor.

The difference in the receiving time and the difference in strength between the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal may change in sequence of '(a)' -> '(b)' as depicted in <FIG> as the neighboring vehicle moves. Accordingly, the confirming unit (<NUM>) may periodically confirm the difference in the receiving time and the difference in strength between the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal. In this case, the determination unit (<NUM>) may periodically determine the changing position of the neighboring vehicle by using the periodically confirmed differences. Thus, it is possible to send an alarm to the driver or show the change of the position of the neighboring vehicle over time.

In accordance with a position determining device of the present invention, a position of a neighboring vehicle can be determined by using the differences of the receiving time and strengths between two sensing signals received from two ultrasound sensors installed in a vehicle. Therefore, it is possible to estimate a position and a moving path for neighboring vehicles while driving a vehicle.

Hereinafter, an operating method of a position determining device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to <FIG>. The same reference numerals are used to designate the same elements as those in <FIG>.

First, it is performed receiving a first sensing signal related to the neighboring vehicle from a first ultrasound sensor installed in a vehicle and receiving a second sensing signal related to the neighboring vehicle from a second ultrasound sensor installed at a position separated away from the first ultrasound sensor (S100). The first sensing signal and the second sensing signal may be the ultrasound signals which are generated at the same time, reflected from the neighboring vehicle and then received. For this, the first ultrasound sensor and the second ultrasound sensor may be configured to generate ultrasound signals at the same time and receive their reflected signals.

Next, the confirming unit (<NUM>) may confirm the receiving time and strengths of each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal if the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal are received via the receiving unit (<NUM>)(S200). The confirming unit (<NUM>) may position each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal on a time-strength plane to thereby confirm the receiving time and strengths of each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal.

In addition, the confirming unit (<NUM>) may confirm the difference in the receiving time and strength of each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal (S300). In this case, the confirming unit (<NUM>) may confirm the difference in the receiving time and strength between the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal by using a relative signal attenuation-time delay histogram which is generated with respect to one of the sensing signals on the basis of the other signal on the time-strength plane.

Next, the determination unit (<NUM>) may determine a position of the neighboring vehicle on the basis of a difference in the receiving time and strength of each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal (S400).

In particular, the determination unit (<NUM>) may calculate a distance between the first ultrasound sensor and the neighboring vehicle and a distance between the second ultrasound sensor and the neighboring vehicle on the basis of receiving time and strengths of each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal. In addition, the determination unit (<NUM>) may determine a position of the neighboring vehicle on the basis of the two calculated distances and the separation distance between the first ultrasound sensor and the second ultrasound sensor.

The confirming unit (<NUM>) is configured to periodically determine the difference in the receiving time and the difference in strength between the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal. In this case, the determination unit (<NUM>) is configured to periodically determine the changing position of the neighboring vehicle by using the periodically determined differences. Thus, it is possible to send an alarm to the driver or show the change of the position of the neighboring vehicle over time (S500).

In accordance with a method of operating a position determining device of the present invention, a position of a neighboring vehicle can be determined by using the differences of the receiving time and strengths between two sensing signals received from two ultrasound sensors installed in a vehicle. Therefore, it is possible to estimate a position and a moving path for neighboring vehicles while driving a vehicle.

Implementations of the functional operations and subject matter described herein may be realized by digital electronic circuitry, computer software, firmware or hardware including the structures described herein and structural equivalents thereof, or a combination of one or more thereof. Implementations of the subject matter described herein may be implemented as one or more computer program products, that is, one or more modules related to computer program instructions encoded on a tangible program storage medium to control an operation of a processing system or to execute it by the computer program instructions.

Although the operations are illustrated in a particular order in the present disclosure, it is not to be understood that the operations should be sequentially performed according to such order or that all the operations illustrated should be performed, in order to acquire a preferred result. In a particular case, multi-tasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Further, it should not be understood that the separation of various system components in the above embodiments is required in all embodiments, and it should be noted that the program component and systems may be generally integrated into a single software product or may be packaged into multiple software products.

Claim 1:
A position determining device for determining a position of a neighboring vehicle, comprising:
a receiving unit (<NUM>) configured to receive a first sensing signal related to the neighboring vehicle from a first ultrasound sensor installed in a vehicle and receive a second sensing signal related to the neighboring vehicle from a second ultrasound sensor installed at a position separated away from the first ultrasound sensor;
a confirming unit (<NUM>) configured to determine the receiving time and strengths of each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal, and
wherein the confirming unit (<NUM>) is configured to position each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal on a time-strength plane to thereby determine the receiving time and strengths of each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal;
a determination unit (<NUM>) configured to determine a first position of the neighboring vehicle on the basis of the receiving time and strengths of each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal,
wherein the determination unit (<NUM>) is configured to periodically determine a changing position of the neighboring vehicle on the basis of receiving time and strengths of each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal,
wherein the determination unit (<NUM>) is configured to periodically determine the changing position of the neighboring vehicle on the basis of periodically determined differences in the receiving time and strength of each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal, and
wherein the confirming unit (<NUM>) is configured to determine the difference in the receiving time and strength of each of the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal from a relative signal attenuation-time delay histogram which is generated with respect to one signal of the first and the second sensing signals on the basis of the other signal thereof on the time-strength plane.