Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100131139 | Charge planning apparatus - A charge planning apparatus that formulates a control plan for controlling both of a motor and a generator in a hybrid vehicle performs a control plan re-formulation by changing a control index that provides a basis for state of charge (SOC) estimation, when a modification of the control plan based on a current SOC during the travel of the hybrid vehicle results in an excessive charging or discharging portion in a transition of the modified SOC estimation. | 05-27-2010 |
20100152937 | Drive control apparatus for hybrid vehicle - In a hybrid vehicle, an ECU collects data of (i) an amount of acquisition electrical power acquired when regeneratively charging a battery and (ii) an amount of requirement electrical power required for operating a motor, for every road section in association with a travel of the vehicle, and records the collected data in a storage device. Thereafter, when a travel course the vehicle is going to travel includes a road section where the amount of acquisition electrical power is greater than an acquisition-related threshold value or a road section where the amount of requirement electrical power is greater than a requirement-related threshold value, a re-plan of a control schedule for the engine and the motor is executed. In contrast, when the travel course does not include such a road section, a re-plan of the control schedule is prohibited. | 06-17-2010 |
20100152939 | Planning apparatus - A planning apparatus for use in a hybrid vehicle specifies a plan section for the purpose of creating a travel plan, and stores the plan section in a durable storage medium. The medium-stored plan section is then presented for an occupant of the vehicle, for the purpose of confirmation. The stored plan section may be modified according to an intention of the occupant, thereby enabling the occupant's intention to be reflected to the plan section. Then, the plan section reflecting the occupant's intention is used to create a travel plan of the hybrid vehicle. | 06-17-2010 |
20100161166 | Drive control apparatus for hybrid vehicle, travel schedule making apparatus for hybrid vehicle and travel route prediction apparatus - A drive control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle is disclosed. The apparatus is configured to: record, for every section of a traveled route, a number of times the hybrid vehicle has traveled the section; identify subsequent sections, which the hybrid vehicle is expected to travel after a present position section; calculate, for every subsequent section, a travel probability that the hybrid vehicle travels the subsequent section, based on the number of times; determine a high reliable section based on the travel probability; and perform the drive control of the internal combustion engine and the motor based on the travel schedule when it is determined that the hybrid vehicle has moved into the high reliable section, the travel schedule being made through setting a planned section to the high reliable section. | 06-24-2010 |
20100204863 | VEHICLE DRIVE POWER GENERATION CONTROL APPARATUS - A hybrid vehicle control ECU calculates an estimated EV travelable distance based on a minimum travel cost and a usable charge amount of a battery, when a next external charge point, at which an external power source is available for charging, is set. The minimum travel cost indicates a minimum value of electric power amount consumed by a battery when a vehicle travels a unit distance. If the estimated EV travelable distance is longer, electric motor travel is selected estimating that it is possible to reach the next external charge point. If a remaining distance is longer and a present SOC is higher than a usable SOC lower limit, hybrid travel is selected. If the present SOC is lower than the usable SOC lower limit, a constant SOC travel is selected. | 08-12-2010 |
20100228459 | Notification apparatus - A re-generation instruction apparatus has a re-generation instruction computer that receives brake operation information from a re-generation control computer for calculating an energy loss in a total energy from speed reduction by the brake operation of the driver, which is lost by a re-generation brake system. The calculated energy loss is utilized for preparing notification for the driver in various situations such as a pre-travel notification, a during-travel notification and/or an after-travel notification. | 09-09-2010 |
20100292893 | Air-conditioner controlling device - An air-conditioner controlling device includes a first control unit and a second control unit. The first control unit changes an air-conditioner operation from a standard to an energy-saving, when a vehicle is determined to be located in a target area. The target area is defined by a predetermined interval from a target point of the vehicle. The second control unit changes the air-conditioner operation from the energy-saving to the standard, after the first control unit changes the air-conditioner operation from the standard to the energy-saving, in a case that a destination of the vehicle is estimated to be different from the target point. | 11-18-2010 |
20100305799 | Drive control apparatus for hybrid electric vehicle and method for controlling the same - In a drive control apparatus, an information storing unit collects first and second information at predetermined intervals while the vehicle runs and the information storing unit stores the first and second information in a storage device. A schedule effective section extracting unit extracts a schedule effective section from a route from an origin to a destination based on the second information. A control index storage controlling unit defines the schedule of the control index of each of multiple predetermined sections within the schedule effective section based on the first information such that fuel consumption of the engine is reduced in the schedule effective section, wherein the defined schedule of the control index is stored in the storage device. An assist control process unit performs drive control of a motor and an engine based on the schedule of the control index. | 12-02-2010 |
20110022255 | Drive control device for hybrid electric vehicle - A drive control device is mounted to a hybrid electric vehicle that has an engine and a motor as a running power source, wherein the hybrid electric vehicle runs under a plurality of running modes that is switched in accordance with accelerator operation. The drive control device specifies a present position of the vehicle. The drive control device defines a schedule of the accelerator operation for each of a plurality of sections in a route from an origin to a destination in order to achieve an enhanced fuel efficient running of the vehicle. The drive control device displays a recommended accelerator operation for a present section of the plurality of sections, in which section the vehicle is presently located, in accordance with the schedule of the accelerator operation and the present position of the vehicle. | 01-27-2011 |
20110066310 | In-vehicle charge and discharge control apparatus and partial control apparatus - A temperature increase of a battery of a vehicle in a schedule effect road range is estimated based on an estimate of energy acquirable by regeneration in the schedule effect road range of the vehicle. A special value of the battery upper limit temperature is designated which is obtained by subtracting the temperature increase from a default value of the battery upper limit temperature. A battery upper limit temperature reduction road range is designated which is located just prior to the schedule effect road range. While the vehicle runs the battery upper limit temperature reduction road range, the battery upper limit temperature is set at the special value by being switched from the default value. When the vehicle completes running the battery upper limit temperature reduction road range and starts running the schedule effect road range, the battery upper limit temperature is returned to the default value from the special value. | 03-17-2011 |
20110071712 | Driving power control apparatus for vehicle and method for controlling vehicle - A driving power control apparatus for a vehicle having an internal combustion engine and an electric motor includes a charge specifying unit and a schedule specifying unit. When determining that congestion exists ahead based on received wireless information, the charge specifying unit specifies a required charge quantity of a battery, which is needed at a congestion start, such that a charge quantity of the battery remains more than a predetermined quantity at a congestion end after traveling through the congestion using the motor. The schedule specifying unit extracts a partial section in advance of the congestion start. The schedule specifying unit further specifies a schedule of a control index in the partial section, such that the charge quantity of the battery at the congestion start is more than the required charge quantity. | 03-24-2011 |
20110184622 | VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL APPARATUS, TRAVEL SECTION PICK-UP APPARATUS AND METHOD OF PICKING UP TRAVEL SECTION - A vehicle drive control apparatus for use in a vehicle collects the number of travels in each of road sections in a traveled route for each of travel directions, extracts road sections having been traveled for more than a threshold number for each of travel directions, and stores extracted road sections as control section data maps in a durable storage medium. If the vehicle travels into the road sections stored as the control section data map, the “stored-as-the-map” road sections are identified as a series of road sections of high-travel-probability. In this manner, a series of road sections can be accurately identified as a high-probability section without having a user input of a travel destination or the like. | 07-28-2011 |
20120004839 | DRIVING ASSISTANCE APPARATUS - A driving assistance apparatus mounted to a vehicle is provided. The driving assistance apparatus includes: an information acquisition component configured to acquire information on at least one of a route condition in a predetermined region of a future travel path of the vehicle, a present vehicle condition, and a past operation condition; a prediction component configured to predict, based on the information acquired by the information acquisition component, whether fuel efficiency of the vehicle is degraded in the future travel path; and a notification component configured to notify an operation for improvement of the fuel efficiency of the vehicle to an occupant of the vehicle in advance in cases where the fuel efficiency of the vehicle is predicted to be degraded in the future travel path. | 01-05-2012 |
20120010773 | DRIVING DIAGNOSIS APPARATUS AND PROGRAM FOR SAME - When an accelerator is put in an OFF state to decelerate a vehicle and perform inertia travel with supply of fuel being cut off, measurement of an accelerator OFF lapse time is started. When a travel speed falls down to be lower than a pre-stop speed, a measured lapse time is stored in a memory, with the measurement of the lapse time being further continued. After finishing a travel of a downward slope, the travel speed is reduced to fall down to the pre-stop speed again, a lapse time continuously measured up to that time is updated in the memory. When the travel speed falls to a stop speed, the measurement of the lapse time is finished and the continuously-measured lapse time is determined as a required stop time of the vehicle. As the required stop time increases, driving is diagnosed as being fuel-efficient. | 01-12-2012 |
20120011122 | APPARATUS FOR CONNECTING GETTING-IN RECORD AND GETTING-OFF RECORD OF VEHICLE, AND METHOD OF THE SAME - An apparatus for connecting getting-in and off records of a vehicle includes: a driving information memory unit for storing getting-in and off records having a pair of getting-in and getting-off records, each of which represents a getting-in or off time and place; a grouping unit for grouping the getting-in or off records representing a same getting-in or off time zone and place, so that segmentalized getting-in or off groups are generated; a connecting unit for searching a segmentalized getting-in group connected to one segmentalized getting-off group, and for storing connection information between a searched segmentalized getting-in group and the one segmentalized getting-off group; and an estimating unit for specifying a getting-off time and a getting-off point when the getting-off action of the driver is detected, and estimating a getting-in time for a next driving according to the connection information. | 01-12-2012 |
20120022775 | VEHICULAR FUEL CONSUMPTION NOTIFICATION APPARATUS AND IN-VEHICLE SYSTEM - An actual fuel consumption rate and a tentative fuel consumption rate are repeatedly acquired from an air-conditioning apparatus. The tentative fuel consumption rate is a fuel consumption amount per unit time to generate a power consumed under a post-offset preset temperature being different from a present temperature by an offset temperature. Based on the acquired actual fuel consumption rate and the acquired tentative fuel consumption rate, an actual fuel consumption accumulation amount and a tentative fuel consumption accumulation amount are calculated in the same record period and are recorded as a data set in a travel history database. Then, several data sets recorded over the several record periods are read out from the travel history database. The total of the actual fuel consumption accumulation amounts and the total of the tentative fuel consumption accumulation amounts over the read several data sets are notified. | 01-26-2012 |
20120041629 | HYBRID VEHICLE - A hybrid vehicle includes a regenerative charging area detection section, a recovery loss estimation section, and a motor use ratio increase section. The regenerative charging area detection section detects arrival of a regenerative charging possible area in which a regenerative charging from a motor to a battery is possible. The recovery loss estimation section estimates a recovery loss of the regenerative charging based on a regenerative charge amount in the regenerative charging possible area and a current remaining battery amount in response to detection by the regenerative charging area detection section. In response to estimation by the recovery loss estimation section, before the arrival at the regenerative charging possible area, the motor use ratio increase section increases a use ratio of the motor so as to decrease a remaining battery amount while limiting the temperature of the battery to a predetermined temperature range. | 02-16-2012 |
20120078458 | VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL APPARATUS - A drive condition, which is used to determine a SOC management plan, is collected from each of road sections and is cumulatively memorized in a durable memory medium. When a remaining charge amount of a battery reaches a lower limit standard value or an upper limit standard value at a certain location, a candidate control section is defined around and includes such point. The candidate control section is defined to extend a predetermined distance forward and backward from such point. The drive conditions stored for the candidate control section are used to determine the SOC management plan that controls the remaining charge amount of the battery to be controlled within a standard range. When the vehicle enters the candidate control section, the drive control of a power source in the vehicle is performed according to the SOC management plan for the candidate control section. | 03-29-2012 |
20130345897 | INFORMATION SERVICE SYSTEM AND NON-TRANSITORY TANGIBLE COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM FOR THE SAME - An information service system for providing facility information includes: a restriction information obtaining device for obtaining restriction information relating to a driving condition or a user behavior; a preference information obtaining device for obtaining preference information of the user; a first information retrieving device for retrieving necessary facility information among multiple facility information items according to the restriction information; a second information retrieving device for retrieving preference facility information suited to the user preference among multiple necessary facility information items according to the preference information when the necessary facility information includes multiple necessary facility information items; and an information output device for outputting the necessary facility information or the preference facility information. | 12-26-2013 |