Abstract: An auxiliary braking mechanism is operated to increase a braking effect, only after it is determined whether adding the auxiliary braking mechanism during vehicle braking by a main braking mechanism will increase the braking effect. In the case where a main braking force is generated on a tire by pressing of friction material in a caliper on a disc rotor, and an approximate speed from an acceleration sensor is smaller than a predetermined value, while an outside temperature from an outside temperature sensor is within a predetermined temperature range including the freezing point, an auxiliary brake ECU estimates that water or a mixture of water and ice are present on a frozen road surface, determines that a road surface ? can be increased through operation of the auxiliary braking mechanism, and scatters sand on the road surface using a particle scattering device. Thus, it is possible to prevent lowering of the road surface ? by scattering sand on the completely frozen road surface.

Abstract: A vehicle emergency brake system has a second brake for braking a vehicle by increasing the frictional resistance with the road surface, a millimeter wave radar for detecting any obstacle in an advancing direction, a pedal speed sensor for detecting the step-in speed of a brake pedal for actuating a first brake, and a controller for actuating the second brake. If hard braking by the first brake is detected by the pedal speed sensor, the controller determines whether the vehicle is going to crash into an obstacle detected by the radar. If a determination is made that it will collide, the second brake is actuated. Thus, it is possible to reliably actuate the second brake in an emergency.

Abstract: A vehicle slip stop device which can always and reliably prevent slip of the vehicle. It includes a plurality of different types of slip stop means for increasing the frictional resistance relative to the road surface, i.e. first slip stop means 1 for scattering slip preventive material between the tires and the road surface, and a second slip means 4 including a braking plate 3 adapted to be pressed against the road surface by a cylinder 2. A controller 6 determines the road surface condition based on the image of the road surface captured by a TV camera 5, and according to the thus detected road surface condition, selects and actuates either the first slip stop means 1 or the second slip stop means 4. With this arrangement, even if one of the means 1 and 4 fails, the other can be actuated as a backup. Also, it is possible to select the most suitable one according to the road surface condition.

Abstract: A vehicle movement stabilizing device is provided which in effectively functioning braking, acceleration and turning movement during travel of the vehicle by activating the frictional force adding device, reliably controls the start and end of the operation of the frictional force adding device and prevents repetition of unnecessary operations. The vehicle movement stabilizing device is provided with frictional force adding device for increasing the frictional force of the wheels to the road surface by scattering particles and a controller. The controller is structured to start the operation of the frictional force adding device when it detects the operation start conditions based on signals from wheel speed sensors, a hydraulic pressure sensor and a step-in force sensor during braking, and to stop its operation if signals indicating disappearance of the state are detected, thereby preventing repetition of unnecessary operations.

Abstract: The aim is to stably control the lateral movement of a vehicle even on a road where the frictional coefficient is extremely small, such as on a frozen road, thereby improving the turnability and travelling stability. The device includes a frictional force adding means for increasing the frictional force of wheels to a road surface by scattering particulates and a controller which calculates the target lateral movement value and the actual lateral movement value based on the signals from wheel speed sensors, a steering angle sensor and a yaw rate sensor and actuates the right or left frictional force adding means according to the difference between these two values to increase the frictional force, thereby stabilizing the lateral movement.

Abstract: In order to provide a vehicle emergency brake system which can reliably actuate a second brake means, there are provided the second brake means 1 for braking the vehicle A by increasing the frictional resistance with the road surface, a millimeter wave radar 2 for detecting any obstacle in an advancing direction, a pedal speed sensor 5 for detecting the step-in speed of a brake pedal 4 for actuating a first brake means, and a controller 6 for actuating the second brake means 1. If hard braking by the first brake means is detected by the pedal speed sensor 5, whether or not the vehicle A is going to crash into an obstacle detected by the radar 2 is determined by the controller 6, and if determination is made that it will collide, the second brake means 1 is actuated. Thus, it is possible to reliably actuate the second brake means 1 in an emergency.

Abstract: An auxiliary braking mechanism is operated to increase a braking effect, only after it is determined whether adding the auxiliary braking mechanism during vehicle braking by a main braking mechanism will increase the braking effect. In the case where a main braking force is generated on a tire by pressing of friction material in a caliper on a disc rotor, and an approximate speed from an acceleration sensor is smaller than a predetermined value, while an outside temperature from an outside temperature sensor is within a predetermined temperature range including the freezing point, an auxiliary brake ECU estimates that water or a mixture of water and ice are present on a frozen road surface, determines that a road surface ? can be increased through operation of the auxiliary braking mechanism, and scatters sand on the road surface using a particle scattering device. Thus, it is possible to prevent lowering of the road surface ? by scattering sand on the completely frozen road surface.

Abstract: A slip-stop device to be mounted on a vehicle is proposed. It includes a tank in which is stored a liquid. The liquid is heated by a heater. A control unit detects the temperature of the road surface on which the vehicle is traveling based on temperature information from temperature sensors to determine whether the road surface is frozen, and whether a particular wheel of the vehicle is slipping. If it determines that the road surface is frozen and the wheel is slipping, the control unit activates a motor-driven pump to spray heated liquid on the frozen road to melt the ice covering the road, thereby increasing the roughness of the road surface. The liquid should be non-freezing liquid such as water that has been subjected to non-freezing treatment or alcohol.

Abstract: A slip stop device is proposed which can scatter a slip stop material between each tire and the road surface even when the steering wheel is turned or during “nose dive”. The slip stop device includes a nozzle through which the slip stop material is discharged and a container from which the slip stop material is supplied to the nozzle. The nozzle and the container are mounted on an axle carrier supporting a wheel with the nozzle oriented such that the slip stop material is scattered therethrough into a space between the tire and the road surface. The nozzle and the container are provided sufficiently close to each other so that the slip stop material can be instantly scattered through the nozzle when the valves are opened with practically no time lag.

Abstract: A vehicle movement stabilizing device is provided which in effectively functioning braking, acceleration and turning movement during travel of the vehicle by activating the frictional force adding means, reliably controls the start and end of the operation of the frictional force adding means and prevents repetition of unnecessary operations. The vehicle movement stabilizing device is provided with frictional force adding means for increasing the frictional force of the wheels to the road surface by scattering particles and a controller. The controller is structured to start the operation of the frictional force adding means when it detects the operation start conditions based on signals from wheel speed sensors, a hydraulic pressure sensor and a step-in force sensor during braking, and to stop its operation if signals indicating disappearance of the state are detected, thereby preventing repetition of unnecessary operations.

Abstract: The aim is to stably control the lateral movement of a vehicle even on a road where the frictional coefficient is extremely small, such as on a frozen road, thereby improving the turnability and travelling stability. The device includes a frictional force adding means for increasing the frictional force of wheels to a road surface by scattering particulates and a controller which calculates the target lateral movement value and the actual lateral movement value based on the signals from wheel speed sensors, a steering angle sensor and a yaw rate sensor and actuates the right or left frictional force adding means according to the difference between these two values to increase the frictional force, thereby stabilizing the lateral movement.

Abstract: A slip stop device for a vehicle is proposed in which slip stop material can be easily resupplied and it can be reliably scattered near the ground contact portions of tires. A cartridge for storing the slip stop material includes a tubular container having its opening at its top end closed by a film. By inserting a pipe connecting to piping for supplying positive pressure and a pipe connected to a piping for discharging the slip stop material into the cartridge through the film, the slip stop material can be easily resupplied without spilling out. Also, it is possible to reliably scatter the slip stop material stored in the cartridge near the ground contact portions of tires.

Abstract: In a coding control apparatus deciding, when coding of motion picture data on the basis of a generated information amount Aig of coded data generated by coding one frame, a quantization characteristic to be used for coding a next frame, a threshold comparison part compares the generated information amount Aig with upper bound and lower bound thresholds Th_U and Th_L, and on the basis of the comparison result, a quantization characteristic decision part decides the quantization characteristic to be used for coding the next frame.

Abstract: An apparatus for detecting a condition of a road surface includes a vehicle wheel speed detecting device for outputting a vehicle wheel speed signal representing a speed of a wheel of a vehicle. A vehicle wheel speed summating device operates for summating variations in the vehicle wheel speed represented by the vehicle wheel speed signal during every time period corresponding to one revolution of the vehicle wheel, and for generating a summation value representing a result of the summating. A road-surface condition detecting device for detecting a road-surface condition on the basis of a difference between a current summation value and a previous summation value generated by the vehicle wheel speed summating device.

Abstract: Video data coded in a coding device 12 is temporarily stored in a temporary buffer 13 before transmitted to a transmission buffer 171. A frame dropping/quantization control device 16 cancels the video data in the temporary buffer 13 if the amount of information of the video frame stored in the temporary buffer 13 is larger than a predetermined threshold, and further, sets a quantization step size with a quantization step size larger than the quantization step size used to code the video frame stored in the temporary buffer 13 and outputs it to the coding device 12.

Abstract: In a video coding apparatus coding a motion picture while switching a coding mode between an INTER coding mode and an INTRA coding mode, a motion information management part determines whether or not there is motion exceeding a prescribed threshold in an object in each region of m groups of blocks in each frame of the motion picture during a lapse of a prescribed time T from a prescribed point. On the basis of the result of this determination, a whole-group refresh part performs whole-group refresh (INTRA coding in one frame) on a group of blocks of a region having motion exceeding the threshold, and a dispersed refresh part performs dispersed refresh (INTRA coding in frames varying with the block) on a group of blocks of a region having no motion exceeding the threshold. Thus, appearance of a disturbance line is avoided and influence by a transmission error is eliminated in a short time while reducing increase of a coding quantity resulting from refresh.

Abstract: An apparatus for detecting a condition of a road surface includes a vehicle wheel speed detecting device for outputting a vehicle wheel speed signal representing a speed of a wheel of a vehicle. A vehicle wheel speed summating device operates for summating variations in the vehicle wheel speed represented by the vehicle wheel speed signal during every time period corresponding to one revolution of the vehicle wheel, and for generating a summation value representing a result of the summating. A road-surface condition detecting device for detecting a road-surface condition on the basis of a difference between a current summation value and a previous summation value generated by the vehicle wheel speed summating device.

Abstract: A descending grade condition detecting system which can accurately detect a descending grade such as a snow-packed road or the like where slippage is likely determines whether permission has been granted to perform descending grade determination. If so, it determines whether established vehicle body deceleration is 0.3 G or less. If so, the system determines whether a road surface at each of the wheels is low .mu. corresponding to a snow-packed road or the like. If estimated vehicle body deceleration is small and of comparatively high .mu., descending grade condition flags KF are set for the respective wheels for which determination thereof has been made to indicate that a condition of a road being traveled is a condition of a low .mu. descending grade of a snow-packed road or the like.

Abstract: A highly efficient retransmission control method is achieved by preventing the order of data from being changed by one revolution of a modulo without adding extra overhead. The transmitting side continues to continuously transmit frames assigned frame numbers circulating by a modulo M to the receiving side. Upon detecting an error in the received frame, the receiving side returns a reject provided with the frame number of the frame. The transmitting side retransmits the frame to the receiving side in response to the reject. In a case where such retransmission control is carried out, the maximum number of times Nr a reject of the same frame is returnable is previously determined. The receiving side discontinues the return of the reject of the same frame until the number of times of the return exceeds the maximum number of times Nr. Consequently, the return of the reject of the same frame can be discontinued before the modulo of the frame number revolves once.

Abstract: The wheel speed of each wheel of a vehicle is calculated based on wheel speed signals from wheel speed sensors. The wheel acceleration of each wheel is calculated based on the wheel speed. High frequency components of the wheel acceleration of each wheel are filtered using a high-pass filter to obtain the frequency components of the wheel acceleration which are due only to the road surface condition. Then, a variance of the filtered wheel acceleration is calculated, and a bad road condition determination is executed using the calculated variance. Anti-skid control is carried out based on the bad road condition determination result to provide improved braking control in off-road conditions.