The present disclosure describes a system, device, and method for assisting a user to avoid contacting surfaces with their mobile device. An environment is sensed with one or more electronic sensors. The sensor readings are analyzed. Information is then provided to a user based on the analyzed sensor readings. The sensors may be configured so their sensor cones cross at a midpoint. Readings from the sensor(s) may be grouped according detection zone(s) corresponding to one or more areas about a mobile device. A computing module may control a feedback module according to detection zone readings. The feedback module may comprise an indicator for each detection zone. The indicator may be a vibration motor. The indicator may be a light. The computing module may set the colour of a light and/or control the vibrations based on the proximity of surfaces detected within the corresponding detection zone.

An obstacle detection apparatus for vehicles includes: a first ultrasonic sensor for detecting a distance to an obstacle; a second ultrasonic sensor at a position of the vehicle for receiving a reflection wave from the obstacle of an ultrasonic wave from the first ultrasonic wave; a notifier that gives a notification of detecting the obstacle present within a preset distance in one or more of predetermined notification areas including a first notification area for the first ultrasonic sensor, and a second notification area for the second ultrasonic sensor detects the obstacle for the vehicle; and a controller that controls contents to be notified by the notifier. Furthermore, the controller determines whether a first indirect wave distance and a second indirect wave distance are used to determine whether to give the notification of detecting the obstacle in the first notification area.

An object detection device equipped at a predetermined height includes a waveform obtaining portion obtaining a wave height value of a reflected wave, a reference value calculation portion calculating a wave height value of a wave reflected from a reference obstacle present at the predetermined height as reference value, a detection value calculation portion calculating a wave height value of a wave reflected from a detection object as detection value, a reference distance calculation portion calculating a reference distance between the reference obstacle and the distance measuring sensor, a detection distance calculation portion calculating a detection distance between the detection object and the distance measuring sensor, a correction portion correcting the reference value and the detection value, and a height calculation portion calculating a height of the detection object relative to the predetermined height according to a relative comparison result of the corrected reference value and the corrected detection value.

A lateral distance sensor diagnosis apparatus cooperating with a lateral distance sensor in a vehicle includes a travel enabled distance acquisition section and a diagnosis test section. The travel enabled distance acquisition section determines whether the vehicle is estimated to have contact with an object detected by the lateral distance sensor, based on a distance detected by the lateral distance sensor and a present steering angle. When determining that the vehicle is estimated to have contact with the detected object, the travel enabled distance acquisition section acquires a travel enabled distance based on a distance detected by the lateral distance sensor. The diagnosis test section determines that the lateral distance sensor fails to operate normally when a movement distance becomes greater than the travel enabled distance under state where the steering angle is an angle causing the vehicle to have contact with an object detected by the lateral distance sensor.

A trajectory detection method and a trajectory detection system are provided. The method includes: receiving, on a first vehicle, from a second vehicle, dynamic data containing at least one dynamic feature of the second vehicle; detecting a relative position of the second vehicle with regard to the first vehicle using an object detection sensor mounted on the first vehicle; and generating a trajectory of the second vehicle based on the relative position and the dynamic data. Accuracy may be improved.

The invention relates to a method for identifying at least one object (9, 10) in a surrounding area (7) of a motor vehicle (1), in which the motor vehicle (1) is moved relative to at least one object (9, 10) and, while the motor vehicle (1) is moved relative to the at least one object (9, 10), a measurement cycle is performed at each of a plurality of successive times, wherein each measurement cycle involves an ultrasonic sensor (4) of the motor vehicle (1) being used to transmit an ultrasonic signal, and a feature (14) being determined that describes a position value, which describes a position of the at least one object (9, 10) and which is ascertained on the basis of a first received echo of the ultrasonic signal, and a presence of a second echo of the ultrasonic signal that is received within a predetermined period of time after the first echo, wherein the respective features (14) are associated with a cluster (13) on the basis of their position value, and the features (14) of the cluster (13) are signalled as belonging to the at least one object (9, 10) on the basis of the presence of the second echo.

An ultrasonic type object detection apparatus sequentially detects a distance between an ultrasonic sensor and an object in a coverage of a transmission wave at a predetermined detection cycle based on a time taken for the ultrasonic sensor to transmit the transmission wave and then to receive a reflection wave. The apparatus includes: a storage storing the distance to the object; a vehicle information acquisition device acquiring vehicle information for calculating a movement distance; a detection distance predictor predicting a next detected distance to the object based on a past detection result and the vehicle information; and a short range determinator determining whether the object is present in a short range area in which the distance between the object and the ultrasonic sensor is equal to or shorter than a short range threshold.

An ultrasonic type object detection apparatus sequentially detects a distance between an ultrasonic sensor and an object in a coverage of a transmission wave at a predetermined detection cycle based on a time taken for the ultrasonic sensor to transmit the transmission wave and then to receive a reflection wave. The apparatus includes: a storage storing the distance to the object; a vehicle information acquisition device acquiring vehicle information for calculating a movement distance; a detection distance predictor predicting a next detected distance to the object based on a past detection result and the vehicle information; and a short range determinator determining whether the object is present in a short range area in which the distance between the object and the ultrasonic sensor is equal to or shorter than a short range threshold.

A vehicle includes a proximity sensor that senses a distance to objects located to at least one side of the vehicle, a camera mounted at the front of the vehicle, a display for displaying video from the camera, and processing circuitry that detects a transition of the vehicle from surroundings of the vehicle in which at least one object located to the side of the vehicle is within a predetermined proximity threshold distance to surrounding of the vehicle in which no objects are located to the side of the vehicle within the predetermined proximity threshold distance, and in response to determining that, at least, the proximity sensor has detected the transition, the processing circuitry is configured to display video from the camera on the display of the vehicle. Additional criteria for displaying the video can include vehicle speed, distance traveled prior to the transition, duration for which the state prior to the transition was maintained, and the state of the vehicle's turn signal.

A method of providing range measurements for use with a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of: a) visually sensing (2) the area adjacent the vehicle to produce visual sense data (22); b) range sensing (26) objects around the vehicle to produce range sense data; c) combining the visual sense data and the range sense data to produce, with respect to the vehicle, an estimate of ranges to the objects around the vehicle (28). The estimate of ranges to the objects around the vehicle may be displayed (29) to a driver.