Patent ID: 8190346

Claim:
A data generating system to be used in a host motor vehicle for generating distance data (D d ) as to a prevailing distance between the host vehicle and a target object traveling in a predicted path of the host vehicle and velocity data (D v ) as to a prevailing velocity of the target object, said system comprising: an object detecting apparatus that is configured to detect the target object within a field of view of the object detecting apparatus and that is configured to establish a distance value (d) representing the prevailing distance between the host vehicle and the detected target object and a relative velocity value (v r ) representing a prevailing relative velocity of the detected target object in relation to the host vehicle; a curve determining apparatus configured to determine whether or not the host vehicle is traveling in a curve; and a processor configured to receive information from the object detecting apparatus as to the distance value (d) and relative velocity value (v r ) for a detected target object, information from the curve determining apparatus as to whether or not the host vehicle is traveling in a curve, and information as to the prevailing velocity (v h ) of the host vehicle, a memory that stores latest distance data (D d ) and velocity data (D v ) established by the processor when a target object is within the field of view of the object detecting apparatus, the processor is configured to set the distance data (D d ) to correspond to the distance value (d), to set the velocity data (D v ) to correspond to a value determined based on the relative velocity value (v r ) and the prevailing velocity (v h ) of the host vehicle, and to store the latest distance data (D d ) and velocity data (D v ) in the memory; and when information from the object detecting apparatus indicates that the target object has run out of the field of view of the object detecting apparatus at the same time as information from the curve determining apparatus indicates that the host vehicle is traveling in a curve, the processor is configured to start operating according to a simulation mode, and when operating in the simulation mode the processor is configured to repeatedly estimate a value of the prevailing distance between the host vehicle and the target object based on the latest distance data (D d ) and velocity data (D v ) stored in the memory and the prevailing velocity (v h ) of the host vehicle, to set the distance data (D d ) to correspond to the estimated value, and to store the distance data (Dd) in the memory.