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US 12,031,510 B2Granted
Methods and systems for inhibiting automatic engine shutdown
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsYanan Zhao, Jason Meyer, James Reynolds
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods for improving operation of a vehicle are presented. In one example, a controller may respond to a presence or absence of a prediction of an increase in vehicle speed during a look ahead window. The controller may inhibit or allow automatic engine stopping in response to the presence or absence of the prediction of the increase in vehicle speed during the look ahead window.
Claims18
A method for operating an engine, comprising:
- detecting brake application;
- defining a look ahead window, where the look ahead window is at least 20 seconds in duration, and where the look ahead window begins at a time or vehicle location when the brake pedal is applied;
- inhibiting automatic engine stopping via a controller according to a prediction that conditions indicative of an operator change of mind condition are expected within the look ahead window, where conditions indicative of the operator change of mind comprise an increase of predicted vehicle speed, an increase of driver demand pedal position, at least partially releasing a brake pedal, and off board conditions.
A system for operating a vehicle, comprising:
- an internal combustion engine and a brake pedal;
- and
- a controller including executable instructions stored in non-transitory memory that cause the controller to:
- define a look ahead window, where the look ahead window is a future period of time, and where the look ahead window begins at a time or a vehicle location when a vehicle brake is applied;
- and inhibit automatic stopping of the internal combustion engine in response to predicted conditions that indicate an operator change of mind during the look ahead window, where conditions that indicate the operator change of mind comprise determining a first vehicle speed estimate and a second vehicle speed estimate during the look ahead window, and where the first vehicle speed estimate and the second vehicle speed estimate are different, and where the vehicle speed estimation is based on off board conditions.
2 more elements
A method for operating an engine, comprising:
- defining a look ahead window;
- predicting a presence or absence of a change in a vehicle speed within the look ahead window via a controller, where the look ahead window is a future period of time, and where the look ahead window begins at a time or vehicle location when a vehicle brake is applied;
- where a predicted vehicle speed is generated by two different sources;
- and
- inhibiting automatic engine stopping via the controller according to the predicting the presence of the change in the vehicle speed, where the predicting is based on data for conditions external to a vehicle that includes the engine, and where the conditions external to the vehicle that includes the engine comprise status of traffic lights, status of traffic signs, obstacles detected in a travel path that are not included in maps, and behavior of other surrounding vehicles.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.