METHOD FOR CARRYING OUT CONTROL PROCEDURES IN A VEHICLE

Abstract

In a method for carrying out control procedures in a vehicle, a criticality indicator is calculated from various stability indicators. The criticality indicator is fed to at least two different controllers or at least two different sub-controllers of a controller of the vehicle in order for controller parameters to be established.

Claims

1-14. (canceled)

15. A method for carrying out control procedures in a vehicle, comprising the following steps: determining at least two different stability indicators from current state variables of the vehicle and/or surroundings variables of the vehicle, wherein different variables are used for the stability indicators; calculating a criticality indicator from the stability indicators according to a predefined calculation rule; and using the criticality indicator to set controller parameters in at least two different controllers of the vehicle or at least two different sub-controllers of a controller of the vehicle.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the stability indicators include lateral dynamic state variables of the vehicle and longitudinal dynamic state variables of the vehicle.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the stability indicators include driver inputs as surroundings variables.

18. The method according to claim 15, wherein the calculation rule for determining the criticality indicator includes carrying out a weighting of the stability indicators.

19. The method according to claim 15, wherein fuzzy logic or artificial intelligence is used in the calculation rule.

20. The method according to claim 15, wherein at least one of the stability indicators is used to limit the criticality indicator.

21. The method according to claim 15, wherein the stability indicators are assigned to different value ranges of the criticality indicator in the calculation rule for determining the criticality indicator.

22. The method according to claim 15, wherein one or more controllers or sub-controllers are activated only when the criticality indicator exceeds an activation threshold.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein different activation thresholds are assigned to the controllers or sub-controllers.

24. The method according to claim 15, wherein the controllers or sub-controllers using the criticality indicator can be activated simultaneously.

25. A control unit or control unit network comprising a plurality of control units, the control unit or control unit network configured to carrying out control procedures in a vehicle, the control unit or the control unit network configured to: determine at least two different stability indicators from current state variables of the vehicle and/or surroundings variables of the vehicle, wherein different variables are used for the stability indicators; calculate a criticality indicator from the stability indicators according to a predefined calculation rule; and use the criticality indicator to set controller parameters in at least two different controllers of the vehicle or at least two different sub-controllers of a controller of the vehicle.

26. A control system in a vehicle, comprising: at least two different controllers or at least two sub-controllers of a controller; and a control unit or a control unit network comprising a plurality of control units, the control unit or control unit network configured to carrying out control procedures in the vehicle, the control unit or the control unit network configured to: determine at least two different stability indicators from current state variables of the vehicle and/or surroundings variables of the vehicle, wherein different variables are used for the stability indicators, calculate a criticality indicator from the stability indicators according to a predefined calculation rule, and use the criticality indicator to set controller parameters in the at least two different controllers of the vehicle or the at least two different sub-controllers.

27. A vehicle, comprising: a control system including: at least two different controllers or at least two sub-controllers of a controller, and a control unit or a control unit network comprising a plurality of control units, the control unit or control unit network configured to carrying out control procedures in the vehicle, the control unit or the control unit network configured to: determine at least two different stability indicators from current state variables of the vehicle and/or surroundings variables of the vehicle, wherein different variables are used for the stability indicators, calculate a criticality indicator from the stability indicators according to a predefined calculation rule, and use the criticality indicator to set controller parameters in the at least two different controllers of the vehicle or the at least two different sub-controllers.

28. A non-transitory machine-readable medium on which is stored a computer program including program code for carrying out control procedures in a vehicle, the program code, when executed by a control unit or control unit network, causing the control unit or control unit network to perform the following steps: determining at least two different stability indicators from current state variables of the vehicle and/or surroundings variables of the vehicle, wherein different variables are used for the stability indicators; calculating a criticality indicator from the stability indicators according to a predefined calculation rule; and using the criticality indicator to set controller parameters in at least two different controllers of the vehicle or at least two different sub-controllers of a controller of the vehicle.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] FIG. 1 shows a block diagram with a schematic diagram of the determination of a criticality indicator from various stability indicators determined from a variety of state and surroundings variables of a vehicle, according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

[0023] FIG. 2 shows a block diagram with a detailed illustration of the determination of the criticality indicator, according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

[0024] FIG. 3 shows a diagram showing possible controller interventions as a function of the criticality indicator, according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] FIG. 4 shows diagrams showing the activation of a controller as a function of the criticality indicator, according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] FIG. 5 shows diagrams corresponding to FIG. 4, but with a different controller progression, according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

[0027] FIG. 1 shows a block diagram for determining a criticality indicator I.sub.K as a function of various stability indicators I.sub.s2, I.sub.s3 . . . for situation-dependent parameterization of various controllers R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3, R.sub.4 in a vehicle. The controllers R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3, R.sub.4 are either independent controllers and/or sub-controllers of a common controller. The criticality indicator I.sub.K represents a scalar value that reflects the current vehicle situation and is made available to the various controllers R.sub.i in the vehicle. The controllers R.sub.i are preferably stability controllers, in particular for influencing the lateral dynamics of the vehicle, for example an ESP controller, but also one or more controllers for influencing the longitudinal dynamics of the vehicle, such as a traction control system.

[0028] The criticality indicator I.sub.K is continuously updated as a function of vehicle state variables and/or surroundings variables of the vehicle and made available to the various controllers. This approach makes it possible to use the criticality indicator I.sub.K to determine only one variable that is used to parameterize the various controllers in the vehicle. Depending on the level of the criticality indicator I.sub.K, the controllers can be parameterized in different ways or activated or deactivated above or below an activation threshold value.

[0029] The continuous determination of the criticality indicator I.sub.K is carried out as a function of the stability indicators I.sub.s1, I.sub.s2, I.sub.s3 . . . . Each stability indicator I.sub.s depends on a variety of state and/or surroundings variables of the vehicle, wherein the various stability indicators I.sub.s each depend on at least partially different state or surroundings variables. The current stability indicators I.sub.s are determined using sensor information acquired via a sensor system in the vehicle. The various stability indicators I.sub.s are processed in a calculation block 1, in which the criticality indicator I.sub.K is calculated. The criticality indicator I.sub.K can be calculated with the help of fuzzy logic or artificial intelligence.

[0030] FIG. 2 shows a detailed block diagram for determining criticality indicator I.sub.K from the stability indicators I.sub.s. The calculation block 1 is divided into various sub-steps. The stability indicators I.sub.s are calculated as stability indicator Isi as a function of an energy consideration with the conversion of translational energy into rotational energy in relation to the maximum possible energy potential, for example. Another stability indicator I.sub.s2 is determined as a function of the current slip angle, and other stability indicators can be dependent on the lateral acceleration of the vehicle, driver behavior, wheel slip, the longitudinal speed, etc. All stability indicators I.sub.s are continuously determined using current sensor information and made available to the calculation block 1 to calculate a current criticality indicator I.sub.K.

[0031] The various stability indicators I.sub.s can be processed in the calculation block 1 in different ways. For example, it is possible that some of the stability indicators in the calculation block 1 are first scaled to the full range of values between 0% and 100% of the criticality indicator and then processed further, whereas other stability indicators are scaled to only a partial range of values of the criticality indicator, for example between 0% and 50%, and then processed further. It is also possible to take various other current variables into account; for instance use another stability indicator to limit the criticality indicator, for example a yaw rate stability indicator. The current position in the steering system, in the accelerator pedal and in the brake pedal can respectively be taken into account as further stability indicators as well. Using fuzzy logic and artificial intelligence, the sought criticality indicator I.sub.K which is made available as a scalar variable to the various controllers R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3 . . . can be determined taking into account limiting stability indicators.

[0032] FIG. 3 shows a diagram in which the activation of various controllers R or sub-controllers in the vehicle is depicted as a function of the criticality indicator I.sub.K. The criticality indicator is scaled between 0% and 100%. Below an activation threshold value of 10%, for example, the controllers R remain deactivated. When the activation threshold value for a value range of the criticality indicator I.sub.K in the value range between 10% and 100% is exceeded, activation of the controller R is possible, wherein a stronger controller intervention is required as the criticality indicator I.sub.K increases. A strong controller intervention, as is shown as an example in the right upper Block R in FIG. 3, can optionally also not be carried out until a higher activation threshold is reached. If the various controller blocks R represent a controller intervention in the case of under- or over-steering, for example, only a weak controller intervention will be carried out for a relatively small value of the criticality indicator I.sub.K, whereas, for a higher value of the criticality indicator I.sub.K, a strong controller intervention takes place.

[0033] FIG. 4 shows three superimposed diagrams, wherein the uppermost diagram shows an example of the progression of the criticality indicator I.sub.K, the diagram below that shows the value of a multiplier M and the lowermost diagram shows the progression of the controller intervention without and with a multiplier. The criticality indicator I.sub.K is initially below the activation threshold value, which is 10% as an example, wherein, below this threshold value, the multiplier M assumes the value 0. As soon as the criticality indicator I.sub.K exceeds the threshold value, the multiplier M is set to the value 1. The controller intervention of the controller R begins as soon as the multiplier M assumes the value 1, which is shown in the lowermost diagram with the solid line of the controller intervention. In the value range with the multiplier M equal to 0, on the other hand, the potential controller intervention is shown with the dashed line.

[0034] FIG. 5 shows the same diagrams as in FIG. 4, with the progression of the criticality indicator I.sub.K in the uppermost diagram, the progression of the multiplier M in the middle diagram and the progression of the controller intervention of the controller R in the lowermost diagram. In order to implement a phasing in or phasing out of the controller intervention, however, the multiplier M is not set to the value 1 as soon as the criticality indicator I.sub.K exceeds the activation threshold value, but rather approximately follows the curve progression of the criticality indicator I.sub.K and increases maximally to the value 1. The controller intervention of the controller R therefore exhibits a slightly delayed progression.