AUTOMOBILE BLIND SPOT DETECTION SYSTEM AND METHOD
A system is provided for detecting a blind spot for a driver of a vehicle. The system includes a side mirror. The side mirror is arranged on a body of the vehicle and includes a side mirror body, a mirror, and a supporting structure. The system also includes a detection system. The detection system is physically coupled with the side mirror to detect an object in a detection zone of the detection system. The detection zone covers the blind spot, and the detection system includes a detection module, an alert indicator, and a control module. The detection module includes at least one of a transmitter and a receiver, and the alert indicator is configured to send an alert light to the driver at a predetermined angle such that the alert light does not interfere with drivers of other vehicles close to the vehicle.
This application generally relates to sensing and detection technologies and, more particularly, to systems and methods for detecting automobile blind spots.
BACKGROUNDWhen turning or changing lanes, a driver of a moving vehicle often needs to look both the front and the back of the vehicle at the same time. It may be easy for the driver to overlook certain places such as blind spots. If there are other vehicles in blind spots of the moving vehicle, it could add danger to the driver. Therefore, in recent years, detecting other vehicles in the blind spots of a moving vehicle has been a research hotspot. Some techniques use parking radar installed at the side or top of a vehicle to perform the detection, while some other techniques use an on-vehicle camera to capture images of the blind spot and to display the images on a screen, and so on. These techniques may have significant limitations. For example, the driver may be required to watch the display screen when turning or changing lanes, which often does not fit the driver's usual driving habits. Therefore, there is a need for new systems and methods for detecting objects in the blind spots of a moving vehicle.
The disclosed methods and systems are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSUREOne aspect of the present disclosure includes a system for detecting a blind spot for a driver of a vehicle. The system includes a side mirror. The side mirror is arranged on a body of the vehicle and includes a side mirror body, a mirror, and a supporting structure. The system also includes a detection system. The detection system is physically coupled with the side mirror to detect an object in a detection zone of the detection system. The detection zone covers the blind spot, and the detection system includes a detection module, an alert indicator, and a control module. The detection module includes at least one of a transmitter and a receiver; and the alert indicator is configured to send an alert light to the driver at a predetermined angle such that the alert light does not interfere with drivers of other vehicles close to the vehicle.
Other aspects of the present disclosure can be understood by those skilled in the art in light of the description, the claims, and the drawings of the present disclosure.
Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of the invention, which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.
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Mirror 206 may include any appropriate mirror for the driver to view side and rear directions of the vehicle, such as a glass mirror or other type of mirror. Mirror control 208 may include any appropriate structure(s) for supporting the mirror 206 and for controlling orientations and reflection directions of mirror 206. Further, blind spot detection system 220 is provided to detect objects in a blind spot of side mirror 108 equipped on vehicle 102. Blind spot detection system 220 may include a detection module 222, a control module 224, an alert indicator 226, and a housing 228. Other devices may also be included.
Detection module 222 may include any appropriate sensing devices for detecting the presence of objects, such as a vehicle or a motorcycle, within a given distance and spatial location based on any appropriate technologies, such as ultrasound or infrared technologies. For example, detection module 222 may include various probes, sensors, detectors, and/or other devices. Control module 224 may include any appropriate processor and circuitry to operate and control blind spot detection system 220. Further, alert indicator 226 may include any appropriate alert indicating mechanism to alert the driver of any object detected inside the blind spot.
Housing 228 may be structure to install and secure the above various components of blind spot detection system 220, and may be made from any appropriate materials, such as metal (e.g., stainless steel), plastic, rubber, silicone, organic materials, and/or other suitable materials. Further, housing 228 may be incorporated into side mirror 108 as a part of side mirror 108 or may be integrated with side mirror 108 to be a part of side mirror 108. Housing 228 may also be attached to side mirror 108 as a separate part. Further, housing 228 may be located at the outer side of side mirror 108 such that the detection module 222 may be placed at a desired location (e.g., at front part and the most outer part of the vehicle 102) to have a desired detection view of the blind spot. Other locations may also be used.
Controller 302 may include any appropriate type of general purpose microprocessor, digital signal processor or microcontroller, and application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Controller 302 may also include other units such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a communication interface, an input/output interface, and driving circuitry, etc., for proper operation. For example, controller 302 may execute sequences of computer program instructions to perform various processes associated with blind spot detection system 220. Controller 302 may an independent module within blind spot detection system 220, or may be coincide with any on-board processors or controllers of vehicle 102.
Ultrasound transmitter 304 and ultrasound receiver 306 may include any appropriate devices for transmitting and receiving ultrasound signals, respectively. Ultrasound transmitter 304 and ultrasound receiver 306 may be incorporated into detection module 222 to detect the blind spot using ultrasound signals.
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Further, detection system 220 may determine whether any returned ultrasound pulses are received (406). If detection system 220 determines that no pulse is returned or received (406; No), detection system 220 may go back to 404 to continue sending out ultrasound pulses. On the other hand, if detection system 220 determines that certain returned pulse or pulses are received (406; Yes), detection system 220 may further determine whether the pulses received are true pulses (i.e., previously transmitted ultrasound pulses reflected back from the object) (408). If detection system 220 determines that the received pulses are not true pulses (408; No), detection system 220 may also go back to 404 to continue sending out ultrasound pulses.
On the other hand, if detection system 220 determines that the received pulses are true pulses (408; Yes), detection system 220 may calculate a distance between detection system 220 and the reflecting object based on the received pulses (410). Any appropriate predetermined algorithms may be used to calculate the distance. Further, detection system 220 may determine whether the calculated distance is less than a preset value (412). The preset value may indicate a threshold of the distance or closeness between the vehicle and the reflecting object within the detection zone. This value may be set by the driver, automatically set to a default value stored in detection system 220, or configured by an on-board computer in the vehicle.
If detection system 220 determines that the calculated distance is less than the preset value (412; Yes), i.e., the reflecting object may be too close to the vehicle to be visible to the driver, detection system 220 may alert the driver by any appropriate means (414). On the other hand, if detection system 220 determines that the calculated distance is not less than the preset value (412; No), detection system 220 may complete the detection process 400.
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Oscillation and modulation circuit 502 may be used to create a detection signal. The detection signals may include both passive signals and active signals. A passive signal may refer to a signal that is used for passive detection based on the assumption that the object reflects back the detection signal; while an active signal may refer to a signal that is used for communication with other vehicles to notify the existence of a blind spot situation.
Further, amplifier and drive circuit 504 may include any appropriate circuitry to process the created detection signal such that the processed detection signal can be sent out by infrared transmitting diode 506. On the receiving side, infrared receiver 508 may be used to receive any incoming infrared signals, whether reflecting signals or communication signals, and amplifier and drive circuit 510 may be used to process the received infrared signals. In certain embodiments, amplifier and drive circuit 510 may be coincide with amplifier and drive circuit 504. Further, alert circuit 512 may be coupled to alert module 308 to generate alerts for the driver if an object in the blind spot is indicated by the received infrared signals, or alert circuit 512 may be considered as part of alert module 308 to independently generate the alerts to the driver.
For example, the infrared transmitter may transmit into surrounding space infrared signals at a certain strength. The infrared signals are intended to be received by other vehicles in the sounding space and to notify the other vehicles that the vehicle might be blind spots of the other vehicles. Further, the infrared detector or receiver may be mounted on a rear-view mirror to detect whether there are infrared signals transmitted from other vehicles within the detection zone, which covers the blind spot of the vehicle. When the infrared signals transmitted from other vehicles are detected, the detection system alerts the driver of the vehicle.
Although infrared signals are used as examples, the detection signals can include infrared signals, optical signals, wireless signals, and other types of signals. In certain embodiments, the detection system (e.g., the infrared transmitter) may load digital information about the vehicle including orientation coordinates, speed, driving direction, and vehicle identification number onto the detection signals to be transmitted into the surrounding space and to be received by other vehicles in the surrounding space.
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Further, more than one detection system may be used. In addition to detection system 220 (or detection system 820) integrated with mirror 204, extra detection system 220 may also be mounted on other parts of the vehicle to form a combined detection system.
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Primary detection system 1002 (e.g., detection system 220) may be provided as the main detection system for detecting any object in the blind spot and for alerting the driver of the detected object. Primary detection system 1002 may be integrated with side mirrors of vehicle 102. On the other hand, secondary detection system 1006 may be a simplified detection system 220 including part or all of the functionalities of detection system 220. Secondary detection system 1006 may be placed on the side or rear end of the vehicle 102 and may support the primary detection system 1002 to provide more accurate detections.
For example, in one embodiment, secondary detection system 1006 may only include an ultrasound or wireless transmitter without receivers. The additional signal transmitted from the secondary detection system 1006 may be received by primary detection system 1002 as an additional reference signal from a different location to provide more accurate calculation about the location and distance of any object in both the detection zone 1004 and the detection zone 1008. That is, a new detection zone may be defined based the detection zone 1004 and the detection zone 1008.
In another embodiment, secondary detection system 1006 may only include an ultrasound or wireless receiver without transmitters. The secondary detection system 1006 may receive reflecting signals from the detection signal sent by the primary detection system 1002, and may calculate an additional reference signal with respect to signals received from a different location and may provide the additional reference signal to the primary detection system 1002 for more accurate calculation about the location and distance of any object in both the detection zone 1004 and the detection zone 1008.
In another embodiment, secondary detection system 1006 may include an ultrasound or wireless transmitter and an ultrasound or wireless receiver, and may collaborate with the primary detection system 1002. For example, the primary detection system 1002 and the secondary detection system 1006 take turns to transmit detection signals or may transmit detection signals simultaneously. The additional signals transmitted from either the primary detection system 1002 or the secondary detection system 1006 may be received by primary detection system 1002 and secondary detection system 1006 as additional reference signals from different locations to provide more accurate calculation about the location and distance of any object in both the detection zone 1004 and the detection zone 1008. And primary detection system 1002 and the secondary detection system 1006 may then compare the detection results to determine whether an object is detected.
As previously explained, detection system 220 may include wireless transmitter 310 that can transmit both passive signals and active signals.
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In practice, detection system 220 may use both active signals and passive signals. In other words, detection system 220 may include one or more separately-mounted front-facing wireless transmitter 310 as well as one or more rear-facing wireless transmitter 310 within detection system 220. Further, similar to wireless transmitter 310, one or more ultrasound transmitter 304 may also be placed separately in a front-facing or side-facing direction to increase accuracy, completeness, and flexibility of the detection system 220.
In the above disclosure, detection system 220 is either incorporated into side mirror body 204 or integrated with side mirror body 204. That is, detection system 220 becomes a part of side mirror body 204. However, detection system 220 may also be an add-on system or an independent system, with its own housing separately attached to certain parts of the vehicle. For example, as shown in
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Further, when attaching detection system 220 to side mirror body 204, various attaching structures and/or shapes may be used. For example, based on the dimension and shape of side mirror body 204, the shape of detection system 220 may be made into crown-shaped, prism-shaped, sphere-shaped, bar-shaped, block-shaped or other appropriate geometrically-shaped as so to be attached with side mirror body 204 seamlessly and with desired appearance and functionalities.
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In addition, when detection system 220 becomes a part of side mirror body 204, other different arrangements or configurations may also be used.
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By using the disclosed systems and methods, blind spot detection systems can be integrated with side mirrors of a vehicle or can be provided as separate systems. Thus, the blind spot detection systems can be installed during vehicle manufacturing process, or can be easily installed on existing vehicles by, for example, replacing the original side mirrors with new side mirrors having integrated blind spot detection systems. Or the separate blind spot detection systems can be easily later attached to the original side mirrors at various locations.
Further, the disclosed blind spot detection systems can achieve relatively-high detection sensitivity without high detection accuracy. Because the alert indicators are also located on side mirrors, the driver can be alarmed by even a false alert without any adverse consequence, as long as there is no missing alert. Therefore, it may be less expensive and complex to design and manufacture the blind spot detection systems than the conventional systems.
Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the disclosure herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with the scope being indicated by the following claims.
Claims
1. A system detecting a blind spot for a driver of a vehicle, comprising:
- a side mirror arranged on a body of the vehicle, wherein the side mirror includes a side mirror body, a mirror, and a supporting structure; and
- a detection system physically coupled with the side mirror to detect an object in a detection zone of the detection system, the detection zone covering the blind spot, wherein the detection system includes:
- a detection module including at least one of a transmitter and a receiver; and
- an alert indicator configured to send an alert light to the driver at a predetermined angle such that the alert light does not interfere with drivers of other vehicles close to the vehicle,
- wherein:
- the detection system is integrated into the side mirror body at an outer side of the side mirror body and the detection module of the detection system is arranged at a first desired detection angle against a centerline of the vehicle; and
- the alert indicator is placed at the outer edge of a surface of the mirror.
2-6. (canceled)
7. The system according to claim 1, wherein:
- the detection system is integrated into the side mirror body as a part of the side mirror through a pivot such that the first desired detection angle can be adjusted.
8. The system according to claim 1, wherein:
- the detection module is configured to have second desired detection angle for transmitting detection signals such that a desired detection zone can be defined by the first desired detection angle and the second desired detection angle.
9. The system according to claim 1, wherein:
- a secondary detection system placed at a different part of the vehicle and configured to transmit additional detection signals as reference signals to be used by the detection system in addition to own detection signals.
10. The system according to claim 1, wherein:
- a secondary detection system placed at a different part of the vehicle and configured to receive detection signals sent by the detection system and to calculate a reference signal to be used by the detection system.
11. The system according to claim 1, wherein:
- a secondary detection system placed at a different part of the vehicle and having a secondary detection zone, wherein the detection system and the secondary detection system collaborate on detecting the object in a detection zone that combines the detection zone and the secondary detection zone.
12. The system according to claim 1, wherein:
- the detection module includes an ultrasound transmitter and an ultrasound receiver; and
- the detection system further includes a control module configured to control operation of the detection system to perform a detection process, the detection process comprising:
- transmitting one or more ultrasound pulses;
- determining whether any returning ultrasound pulse from the transmitted ultrasound pulses reflected back from the object in the detection zone is received;
- when the returning ultrasound pulse is received, calculating a distance from the detection system to the object based on the returning ultrasound pulse;
- determining whether the distance is within a predetermined threshold; and
- when the distance is within the predetermined threshold, alerting the driver using the alert indicator.
13. The system according to claim 1, wherein:
- the detection system includes at least one infrared transmitter for transmitting detection signals and the infrared transmitter is positioned front-facing.
14. The system according to claim 13, wherein:
- the detection signals are active signals containing a message to another vehicle for notifying the another vehicle that the vehicle is in a blind spot of the another vehicle.
15. The system according to claim 13, wherein:
- the infrared transmitter is placed on the side mirror body.
16. The system according to claim 13, wherein:
- the infrared transmitter is placed on the front center of the vehicle.
17. The system according to claim 13, wherein:
- the infrared transmitter transmits into surrounding space infrared signals at a certain strength; and
- the infrared signals are intended to be received by other vehicles in the sounding space and to notify the other vehicles that the vehicle might be blind spots of the other vehicles.
18. The system according to claim 13, wherein:
- the detection system includes an infrared detector mounted on a rear-view mirror to detect whether there are infrared signals transmitted from other vehicles within a detection zone, wherein the detection zone covers the blind spot of the vehicle; and
- when the infrared signals transmitted from other vehicles are detected, the detection system alerts the driver of the vehicle.
19. The system according to claim 13, wherein:
- the detection signals include infrared signals, optical signals, and wireless signals.
20. The system according to claim 13, wherein:
- the detection system loads digital information about the vehicle, including orientation coordinates, speed, driving direction, and vehicle identification number, onto the detection signals to be transmitted into surrounding space and to be received by other vehicles in the surrounding space.
21. A system detecting a blind spot for a driver of a vehicle, comprising:
- a side mirror arranged on a body of the vehicle, wherein the side mirror includes a side mirror body, a mirror, and a supporting structure; and
- a detection system physically coupled with the side mirror to detect an object in a detection zone of the detection system, the detection zone covering the blind spot, wherein the detection system includes:
- a detection module including at least one of a transmitter and a receiver; and
- an alert indicator configured to send an alert light to the driver at a predetermined angle such that the alert light does not interfere with drivers of other vehicles close to the vehicle,
- wherein the detection system is attached at an outer side of the mirror body.
22. The system according to claim 21, wherein:
- the alert indicator is placed on an outer edge of the mirror and at least a portion of the control module is placed at an inner side of the side mirror body.
23. The system according to claim 21, wherein:
- the detection system is crown-shaped;
- the detection module is positioned at a lower end of the crown shape; and
- the alert indicator and the control module are positioned at an inner side of an outer wall of the side mirror body.
24. The system according to claim 21, wherein:
- the detection system is prism-shaped;
- the detection module is positioned at a lower end of the prism shape; and
- the control module is positioned in an inner side wall of the side mirror body.
25. The system according to claim 21, wherein:
- the detection system is sphere-shaped;
- the detection module is positioned at an lower end of the sphere shape; and
- the alert indicator is positioned along a diameter direction of the sphere facing to the vehicle.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 13, 2015
Publication Date: Aug 6, 2015
Inventor: Xiao Lin Yu (Fairfax, VA)
Application Number: 14/685,565