What is claimed is:
1. An information system for a host vehicle, comprising:
an accelerator manipulation detecting device that detects an accelerator manipulation quantity of an accelerator according to which a driver demand driving force is generated by an internal combustion engine,
an object detecting unit that detects an object ahead of the host vehicle; and
a controller connected to the accelerator manipulation detecting device and the object detecting unit, the controller being configured,
to determine a contact possibility that the host vehicle will contact with an object ahead of the host vehicle, on the basis of information from the objecting detecting unit, and
to correct a driving-force relationship between the driver demand driving force and the accelerator manipulation quantity according to the contact possibility.
2. The information system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to decrease the driver demand driving force with respect to the accelerator manipulation quantity as the contact possibility increases.
3. The information system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to increase the driver demand driving force with respect to the accelerator manipulation quantity when the accelerator manipulation quantity is greater than a predetermined quantity.
4. The information system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to increase the driver demand driving force with respect to the accelerator manipulation quantity when a rate of change of the accelerator manipulation quantity is greater than or equal to a predetermined rate, as compared with the driver demand driving force with respect to the acceleration manipulation quantity in a condition that the rate of change of the accelerator manipulation quantity is smaller than the predetermined rate.
5. The information system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a brake manipulation detecting device that detects a brake manipulation quantity of a brake manipulation device according to which a driver demand braking force is generated by a brake system, wherein the controller is further configured to correct a braking-force relationship between the driver demand braking force and the brake manipulation quantity when the accelerator manipulation quantity is smaller than a predetermined manipulation quantity.
6. The information system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the controller is further configured to vary a degree of a correction of the braking-force relationship according to a degree of the correction of the driving-force relationship.
7. The information system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the controller is further configured to increase the driver demand braking force with respect to the brake manipulation quantity.
8. The information system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the controller is further configured to limit correcting the driving-force relationship and the braking-force relationship when a manipulation of the accelerator manipulation device corresponds to a predetermined manipulation.
9. The information system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the predetermined manipulation is a manipulation for suddenly decreasing the accelerator manipulation quantity, and the limitation of correcting the driving-force relationship is a limitation of a rate of decrease of the driver demand driving force with respect to the accelerator manipulation quantity, and the limitation of correcting the braking-force relationship is a limitation of a rate of increase of the driver demand braking force with respect to the brake manipulation quantity.
10. The information system as claimed in claim 5, wherein on the assumption that a virtual force applied to the host vehicle is generated so as to increase as a distance between the host vehicle and an object of having a possibility of contacting with the host vehicle decreases, the controller is configured to correct the driving-force relationship and the braking-force relationship so that a sum of a decreased quantity of the driver demand driving force and a increased quantity of the driver demand braking force is equal to the virtual force, wherein the decreased quantity of the driver demand driving force is a quantity generated by decreasing the driver demand driving force with respect to the accelerator manipulation quantity and the increased quantity of the driver demand braking force is a quantity generated by increasing the driver demand braking force with respect to the brake manipulation quantity.
11. The information system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the virtual force is a reaction force of a virtual elastic member which is compressed according to the distance between the host vehicle and the object.
12. The information system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the virtual force is a running resistance which is applied to the host vehicle when the host vehicle travels on a virtual upslope whose gradient varies according to the distance between the host vehicle and the object.
13. The information system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to determine the contact possibility on the basis of a host-vehicle speed, a relative speed between the host-vehicle speed and a preceding-object speed, and a distance between the host vehicle and an object ahead of the host vehicle.
14. A method of informing a contact possibility of a host vehicle with an object ahead of the host vehicle, comprising:
determining a contact possibility that the host vehicle will contact with an object ahead of the host vehicle; and
correcting a driving-force relationship between a driver demand driving force and an accelerator manipulation quantity according to the contact possibility.
15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the operation of correcting the driving-force relationship includes an operation of decreasing the driver demand driving force with respect to the accelerator manipulation quantity as the contact possibility increases.
16. The method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising an operation of correcting a braking-force relationship between a driver demand braking force and a brake manipulation quantity when the accelerator manipulation quantity is smaller than a predetermined manipulation quantity.
17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the operation of correcting the braking-force relationship includes an operation of increasing the driver demand braking force with respect to the brake manipulation quantity.
18. The method as claimed in claim 16, further comprising an operation of correcting the driving-force relationship and the braking-force relationship so that a sum of a decreased quantity of the driver demand driving force and a increased quantity of the driver demand braking force is equal to the virtual force when it is assumed that a virtual force applied to the host vehicle is generated so as to increase as a distance between the host vehicle and an object of having a possibility of contacting with the host vehicle decreases,
wherein the decreased quantity of the driver demand driving force is a quantity generated by decreasing the driver demand driving force with respect to the accelerator manipulation quantity and the increased quantity of the driver demand braking force is a quantity generated by increase the driver demand braking force with respect to the brake manipulation quantity.
19. A method of informing a contact possibility of a host vehicle with an object ahead of the host vehicle, comprising:
detecting an environment of the host vehicle; and
correcting a driving-force relationship between a driver demand driving force and an accelerator manipulation quantity according to the detected environment.
20. The method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising an operation of correcting a braking-force relationship between a driver demand braking force and a brake manipulation quantity when the accelerator manipulation quantity is smaller than a predetermined manipulation quantity.
21. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the environment includes at least one of a state of the host vehicle itself and an environment around the host vehicle.
22. An information system for a host vehicle, the host vehicle being equipped with an engine controller for controlling an internal combustion engine so as to generate a driving force according to a manipulation quantity of an accelerator manipulating means, the information system comprising:
object detecting means for detecting an object ahead of the host vehicle;
contact-possibility determining means for determining a contact possibility of the host vehicle with an object ahead of the host vehicle on the basis; and
correcting means for correcting a generated quantity of the driving force with respect to the manipulation quantity, according to the contact possibility.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An element substrate comprising:
an inorganic substrate having a hole in a top surface; and
a metal layer embedded in the hole;
the hole having a width of 40 nanometers to 1 micrometer and a depth of 20 nanometers to 300 nanometers.
2. The element substrate as defined in claim 1, wherein a recess is formed in a top surface of the metal layer.
3. The element substrate as defined in claim 1, wherein the inorganic substrate is an optically-transparent substrate.
4. A method of manufacturing an element substrate comprising:
(a) forming a release layer on a first support substrate;
(b) forming a metal layer having a predetermined pattern on the release layer;
(c) applying a sol-gel solution including a material for an inorganic substrate to the first support substrate;
(d) removing a solvent from the sol-gel solution by heat treatment to form the inorganic substrate; and
(e) removing the metal layer from the first support substrate by decomposing the release layer to transfer the metal layer to the inorganic substrate.
5. The method of manufacturing an element substrate as defined in claim 4, further comprising:
polishing a surface of the inorganic substrate to which the metal layer is transferred after the step (e).
6. The method of manufacturing an element substrate as defined in claim 4, wherein the metal layer is formed by electroless plating in the step (b).
7. The method of manufacturing an element substrate as defined in claim 6,
wherein the first support substrate is immersed in a surfactant solution in the step (a) to form a surfactant layer as the release layer; and
wherein the step (b) includes:
forming a catalyst layer on the release layer by immersing the first support substrate in a catalyst solution; and
depositing a metal layer on the catalyst layer by immersing the first support substrate in an electroless plating solution.
8. The method of manufacturing an element substrate as defined in claim 7, further comprising:
(g) forming a resin section having the same predetermined pattern as the metal layer has on the first support substrate before the step (a),
wherein the release layer is formed on the resin section in the step (a).
9. The method of manufacturing an element substrate as defined in claim 8,
wherein the step (g) includes:
applying a resin material in a fluid state to the first support substrate;
pressing a nanostamper having a predetermined recessed pattern against the first support substrate to transfer the predetermined recessed pattern to the resin material; and
curing the resin material.
10. The method of manufacturing an element substrate as defined in claim 9,
wherein an upper portion of the cured resin material and a portion of the cured resin material not having the transferred predetermined pattern are removed by ashing between the steps (g) and (a).
11. The method of manufacturing an element substrate as defined in claim 8,
wherein the resin section is formed of a photoresist; and
wherein the resin section is formed by an interference exposure method in the step (g).
12. The method of manufacturing an element substrate as defined in claim 8, further comprising:
removing part of the resin section by immersing the first support substrate in an alkaline solution.