Granted Patent B2

US 12,246,725 · App. 18/100,817 · Granted Mar 11, 2025

Inventors: Kazuya Urazoe (Osaka, JP); Hirohito Mukai (Tokyo, JP); Jun Imamura (Osaka, JP)

Assignee: PANASONIC AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS CO., LTD.

B60W40/076B60W40/105B60W40/11G01S13/931G01S17/931B60W40/13B60W2552/15B60W2554/4049

Abstract

Claims (46)

1. An attitude estimation system, comprising:

a first sensor attached to a vehicle and provided for calculating a relative angle, with respect to the first sensor, of a road surface on which the vehicle travels;

a second sensor configured to detect whether an obstacle is present in a vicinity of the vehicle, the second sensor being different from the first sensor;

a processor; and

a memory including a control program that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform functions, the functions including:

obtaining a detection result of the first sensor attached to the vehicle;

calculating the relative angle of the road surface with respect to the first sensor, based on the detection result of the first sensor, and estimating a deviation of the vehicle, the deviation being a constant deviation of an attitude of the vehicle with respect to a reference attitude of the vehicle; and

outputting a control signal to the second sensor, that detects whether the obstacle is present in the vicinity of the vehicle, the control signal indicating a threshold used by the second sensor to determine whether the obstacle is present in the vicinity of the vehicle,

wherein the processor changes the threshold in accordance with a magnitude of the deviation estimated by the processor.

2. The attitude estimation system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the reference attitude is based on an angle of the vehicle relative to the road surface.

3. The attitude estimation system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the first sensor detects a target object in the vicinity of the vehicle, and

the processor calculates the relative angle, based on a point cloud representing the road surface that is the target object detected by the first sensor.

4. The attitude estimation system according to claim 3 ,

wherein the first sensor comprises a plurality of first sensors that are attached to the vehicle to face mutually different directions, and

the processor calculates the relative angle, based on a plurality of point clouds detected by the plurality of first sensors, the plurality of point clouds each being the point cloud.

5. The attitude estimation system according to claim 1 ,

wherein, when a variance in the relative angle within a fixed time period exceeds a predetermined value, the processor does not estimate the deviation or estimates the deviation, using an average angle of the relative angle within the fixed time period.

6. The attitude estimation system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the first sensor comprises at least one pair of first sensors, one of the pair of first sensors being attached to a front portion of the vehicle, a remaining one of the pair of first sensors being attached to a rear portion of the vehicle, and

the processor determines whether the vehicle is entering an inclination, based on a first relative angle that is based on a first detection result of the one of the pair of first sensors and a second relative angle that is based on a second detection result of the remaining one of the pair of first sensors, and does not estimate the deviation when the processor determines that the vehicle is entering the inclination.

7. The attitude estimation system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the processor does not estimate the deviation when the relative angle includes a momentary rise or fall.

8. The attitude estimation system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the processor further obtains a second detection result of a speed sensor that detects a speed of the vehicle, and

the processor does not estimate the deviation when a change in the speed of the vehicle exceeds a predetermined range.

9. The attitude estimation system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the first sensor detects a target object in the vicinity of the vehicle, and

the processor does not estimate the deviation when a total number of road surface points is below a predetermined number, the road surface points being included in a point cloud representing the road surface that is the target object detected by the first sensor.

10. A control system, comprising:

a receiver that obtains attitude information indicating a deviation of a vehicle, the deviation being a constant deviation of an attitude of the vehicle with respect to a reference attitude of the vehicle, the deviation of the vehicle being estimated based on a relative angle of a road surface on which the vehicle travels, the relative angle of the road surface being calculated with respect to a first sensor and based on a detection result of the first sensor, the first sensor being attached to the vehicle and provided for calculating the relative angle of the road surface on which the vehicle travels; and

a processor that outputs a control signal to a second sensor, that detects whether an obstacle is present in a vicinity of the vehicle, based on the attitude information obtained by the receiver, the control signal indicating a threshold used by the second sensor to determine whether the obstacle is present in the vicinity of the vehicle, the second sensor being different from the first sensor,

wherein the processor changes the threshold in accordance with a magnitude of the deviation indicated by the attitude information.

11. An attitude estimation method, comprising:

obtaining a detection result of a first sensor, the first sensor being attached to a vehicle and provided for calculating a relative angle, with respect to the first sensor, of a road surface on which the vehicle travels;

calculating, by a processor, the relative angle of the road surface with respect to the first sensor, based on the detection result of the first sensor;

estimating, by the processor, a deviation of the vehicle, the deviation being a constant deviation of an attitude of the vehicle with respect to a reference attitude of the vehicle; and

outputting a control signal to a second sensor, that detects whether an obstacle is present in a vicinity of the vehicle, the control signal indicating a threshold used by the second sensor to determine whether the obstacle is present in the vicinity of the vehicle, the second sensor being different from the first sensor,

wherein the processor changes the threshold in accordance with a magnitude of the deviation estimated by the processor.

12. The attitude estimation system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the first sensor is a camera.

13. The attitude estimation system according to claim 12 ,

wherein the second sensor detects whether the obstacle is present in the vicinity of the vehicle by receiving waves reflected from the obstacle.

14. The attitude estimation system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the second sensor detects whether the obstacle is present in the vicinity of the vehicle by receiving waves reflected from the obstacle.

Assignments (2)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (24)