METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING CRUISE CONTROL

Abstract

Improved control of cruise control for a vehicle, in particular an automated activation of cruise control. For this purpose, the speed of the vehicle is monitored. If the speed of the vehicle and/or a distance between the vehicle and a further vehicle in front of the vehicle is within a predetermined range for a specific period of time it is indicated to a user that cruise control can be activated. Accordingly, cruise control can be automatically activated after providing the indication to the user, or a user may respond to this indication by providing a specific activity such as a release of the acceleration pedal.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a cruise control of a vehicle, the method comprising the following steps: outputting a signaling when a speed of the vehicle and/or a distance between the vehicle and a further vehicle in front of the vehicle is within a predetermined range for a first period of time; and activating cruise control of the vehicle after the signaling has been output.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the following step: detecting a predefined user activity after the signaling has been output; wherein the cruise control of the vehicle is activated after the predefined user activity is detected.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the predefined user activity includes a release of an accelerator pedal.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the cruise control of the vehicle is activated only when the speed of the vehicle is within the predetermined range when detecting the predefined user activity.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cruise control is activated only when the predefined user activity is detected within a second period of time after outputting the signaling.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the signaling is an optic signaling, and/or an acoustic signaling, and/or a haptic signaling.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the following step: deactivating the cruise control of the vehicle upon detecting a further user activity.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the further user activity includes an operation of a brake pedal or an operation of the accelerator pedal.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first period of time is dynamically adapted depending on the speed of the vehicle, and/or a road situation, and/or a user input.

10. An apparatus for controlling a cruise control of a vehicle, comprising: a receiving device adapted to receive a speed signal corresponding to a speed of the vehicle and/or a distance signal corresponding to a distance between the vehicle and a further vehicle in front of the vehicle; and a controller adapted to output a signaling when a speed of the vehicle and/or a distance between the vehicle and a further vehicle in front of the vehicle is within a predetermined range for a first period of time, and to activate the cruise control of the vehicle after the signaling has been output.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] For a more complete understanding of the present invention and advantages thereof, reference is made to the description below and the figures. The present invention is explained in more detail below using exemplary embodiments which are shown in the schematic figures.

[0023] FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an apparatus for controlling cruise control of a vehicle according to an embodiment.

[0024] FIG. 2 shows a diagram illustrating a transition when activating cruise control according to an embodiment.

[0025] FIG. 3 shows a diagram illustrating a further transition to automated activation of cruise control according to an embodiment.

[0026] FIG. 4 shows a transition for stopping cruise control according to an embodiment.

[0027] FIG. 5 shows a flowchart illustrating a method for controlling cruise control according to an embodiment.

[0028] FIG. 6 shows a flowchart illustrating a method for controlling cruise control according to another embodiment.

[0029] The figures are intended for providing further understanding of the embodiments of the present invention. They illustrate example embodiments and, in conjunction with the description, help to explain principals of the present invention. Other embodiments and many of the advantages mentioned become apparent in view of the figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

[0030] FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an apparatus 1 for controlling cruise control, in particular for controlling cruise control of a vehicle. The apparatus 1 may comprise a receiving device 10 and a controller 20. The receiving device 10 may receive a signaling V of a current speed of a vehicle. Additionally, receiving device may receive a signaling V corresponding to a distance between the vehicle and a further vehicle in front of the vehicle For example, the signaling V of the speed may be provided from an external control device, such as a control device of the vehicle. Furthermore, it may be also possible to provide the signaling V of the speed or the distance by means of a speed sensor, a radar sensor or the like. Receiving device 10 may further receive additional signals, such as a signaling E to enable a cruise control function of the vehicle. The cruise control function may be, for example a normal cruise control or an adaptive cruise control. In a normal cruise control mode, the speed of a vehicle may be controlled such that a constant speed of the vehicle is maintained. In an adaptive cruise control function, the speed of the vehicle may be automatically adapted depending on a further parameter, for example, a distance of a further vehicle in front of the ego-vehicle. However, the signal for enabling cruise control may be only an indication that cruise control might be activated upon further conditions, in particular conditions controlled by the apparatus 1 for controlling cruise control. Hence, cruise control might be still deactivated even though a signaling for enabling cruise control is received by receiving device 10.

[0031] Additionally, receiving device 10 may receive further signals, for example a signaling from an acceleration pedal or a brake pedal.

[0032] The signaling received by receiving device 10 may be provided to Controller 20. Controller 20 monitors the speed of the vehicle and/or the distance between the vehicle and a further vehicle in front of the vehicle based on the speed signal V received by receiving device 10. If the speed and/or the distance of the vehicle is within a predetermined range, and this value maintains within this predetermined range for a specified first period of time, this may be an indication for an appropriate situation to activate the cruise control. Accordingly, if cruise control is enabled by providing an appropriate enable signaling to receiving device 10, and the condition that the speed of the vehicle and/or the distance between the vehicle and a further vehicle in front of the vehicle is within the predetermined range for the specified first period of time, controller 20 may activate cruise control. For this purpose, an appropriate activation signaling may be provided to a cruise control device 100. Furthermore, controller 20 may provide a signaling to the user to indicate that an automated activation of cruise control is determined.

[0033] In this way, cruise control is automatically activated without a further interaction of the user.

[0034] After activating cruise control, cruise control device 100 may control the speed of the vehicle without further activities of the user. In particular, the user no longer has to operate the acceleration pedal.

[0035] Furthermore, it may be possible that the automatic activation of cruise control is only performed after a further confirmation of a user. For this purpose, controller 20 may provide a signaling upon detecting that the speed of the vehicle is within a predetermined range for the first period of time. However, cruise control is only activated, if a further acknowledgement of the user is received after outputting the signaling. For example, the further acknowledgement of the user may be a further user activity. In particular, the further user activity may be a release of the acceleration pedal. Accordingly, the user can acknowledge the automatic activation of the cruise control by removing his foot from the acceleration pedal. Accordingly, the speed of the vehicle is controlled by the cruise control system 100 upon the user releases the acceleration pedal. However, it may be also possible to acknowledge the activation of the cruise control by any other kind of user activity.

[0036] The signaling for indicating an automated activation of the cruise control may be provided as an optic, acoustic or haptic signaling. For example, the signaling may be provided by a signaling device 30. In particular, an optic signaling may be provided by a lamp or any other optic indication, for example an optic indication on an instrument panel. An acoustic signaling may be provided by outputting a predetermined sound, in particular a sound sequence. For example, an activation of cruise control may be indicated by a sound sequence having an increasing frequency. Furthermore, it may be also possible to provide a haptic signaling, for example by vibrating a steering wheel or an acceleration pedal.

[0037] FIG. 2 shows a diagram illustrating the speed v of the vehicle over the time t for a transition to cruise control according to an embodiment. In a first sequence I, the vehicle is manually driven by the user. In a second sequence II, the speed of the vehicle is within a predetermined range r. Upon the speed of the vehicle maintains within the predetermined range for the above-mentioned first period of time t1, cruise control is automatically activated. Thus, in section III, the speed of the vehicle is controlled by the cruise control and the speed is kept constant or adapted depending of a preceding vehicle.

[0038] The predetermined range of the speed may be a fixed, predetermined range of speed. For example, a user may preset a desired speed, and the range of speed is computed to a range having a specific deviation from this preset, fixed speed. For example, a user may set a desired speed to 50 km/h, and the range of speed may be set a range of 3 km/h, i.e. 47-53 km/h. However, it may be also possible that the upper and the lower limit may be different with respect to the desired speed.

[0039] Furthermore, it may be also possible to dynamically adapt the range of speed. For example, a range of speed may be set depending on a current speed of the vehicle. For example, a current speed of the vehicle may be used as a basis, and the range of the speed may be set to predetermined limits with respect to this current speed. The upper and lower limit of the range of speed may be set based on fixed values with respect to the current speed. For example, a range of the speed may be set to the current speed3 km/h, 5 km/h or 10 km/h. However, it may be also possible to dynamically adapt the values for specifying the range of the speed depending on the current speed. For example, the range of speed may be set to the current speed2%, 3%, 5% or 10%. However, any other scheme for determining the range of speed may be also possible.

[0040] Furthermore, the first period of time t1 may be set to a fixed value, for example 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 60 seconds or the like. Alternatively, it may be also possible to adapt the first period of time t1 depending on further parameters. For example, the first period of time may be adapted depending on the current speed of the vehicle. For example, a function, in particular a linear function may be defined for determining the first period of time depending on the current speed. Alternatively, it may be also possible to predefine a number of two or more periods of time depending on the speed of the vehicle in a lookup table or the like. However, any other scheme for determining the first period of time depending on the speed of the vehicle may be also possible.

[0041] Furthermore, it may be also possible to set the first period of time depending on further parameters, for example external parameters such as a road condition, or internal parameters of the vehicle such as a steering wheel angle, parameter of a transmission lever or selector, a driving indicator or the like.

[0042] FIG. 3 shows a further diagram of the speed over the time illustrating a transition to activated cruise control. In section I, the speed of the vehicle is manually controlled by a user. In section IIa, the speed of the vehicle remains within a predetermined range r. Accordingly, after the speed of the vehicle maintains within the predetermined range r for the predetermined first period of time t1, a signaling is output. However, the speed of the vehicle still is controlled manually by a user in section IIb. At the end of section IIb, a specific user activity is detected, and upon detecting the user activity, cruise control is activated in section III. The user activity may be, as already described above, a release of an acceleration pedal or the like. Hence, the user still may decide whether or not to accept the suggestion for automatic activation of cruise control. If the user does not respond with the desired user activity, the speed of the vehicle is still controlled manually by the user.

[0043] The time period in which a user may apply the predetermined user activity for activating cruise control may be limited to a predetermined second period of time t2. Accordingly, only if the user performs the predetermined user activity within the second period of time t2 after providing the signaling, an automated activation of cruise control is performed. Otherwise, if the user does not provide the specific user activity within the second period of time t2 after providing the signaling, the cruise control is not activated. Furthermore, the signaling may be also cancelled, if the user does not provide the desired user activity within the second period of time t2. Hence, no further disturbance is provided to the user if the user does not accept the suggestion for activating cruise control.

[0044] FIG. 4 shows a further diagram of the speed of a vehicle over the time. In section III, cruise control is performed. Upon receiving a specific further user activity, for example an activity of a brake pedal or the acceleration pedal, cruise control is deactivated in section IV. After deactivating cruise control, the system may return to the beginning and start monitoring the speed of the vehicle in order to determine a speed of the vehicle within a predetermined range for the first period of time.

[0045] FIG. 5 shows a flow diagram illustrating a method for controlling cruise control according to an example embodiment.

[0046] In step S1, a speed of the vehicle and/or a distance between the vehicle and a further vehicle in front of the vehicle is received and monitored.

[0047] In a step S2, a signaling is output upon detecting that the speed of the vehicle and/or a distance between the vehicle and a further vehicle in front of the vehicle is within a predetermined range for a first period of time.

[0048] In step S4, cruise control of the vehicle may be activated. In particular, cruise control of the vehicle may be activated, if the speed of the vehicle and/or the distance between the vehicle and a further vehicle in front of the vehicle is within a predetermined range for the first period of time and consequently, the signaling is output.

[0049] FIG. 6 shows a flow diagram illustrating a further method for controlling cruise control according to an embodiment. The method mainly corresponds to the previously described method according to FIG. 5. The method according to FIG. 6 differs from the method according to FIG. 5 in that the method in FIG. 6 further comprises a step S3, for detecting a user activity. The user activity may be, for example, a release of an acceleration pedal.

[0050] Thus, the activation of cruise control in step S4 is only executed after detecting the further user activity.

[0051] Furthermore, the methods according to FIGS. 5 and 6 may also include any features as described above in conjunction with the control apparatus 1.

[0052] Summarizing, the present invention relates to an improved control of cruise control for a vehicle, in particular an automated activation of cruise control. For this purpose, the speed of the vehicle is monitored. If the speed of the vehicle is within a predetermined range for a specific period of time it is indicated to a user that cruise control can be activated. Accordingly, cruise control can be automatically activated after providing the indication to the user, or a user may respond to this indication by providing a specific activity such as a release of the acceleration pedal.