Vehicle coastdown control system
AssigneesToyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc., Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorThomas S. Hawley
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for controlling a vehicle includes: the vehicle, at least one forward-looking sensor disposed within the vehicle, and a positioning system disposed within the vehicle. The system also includes a processor disposed within the vehicle and configured to: during deceleration of the vehicle, determine, based on inputs from the at least one forward-looking sensor or the positioning system, whether it is likely that a driver of the vehicle will stop decelerating the vehicle and will instead accelerate the vehicle. If it is likely that the driver will accelerate, the processor is configured to inhibit the downshifting of the vehicle's transmission.
Claims18
A system for controlling a vehicle, the system comprising:
- the vehicle;
- at least one forward-looking sensor disposed within the vehicle;
- a positioning system disposed within the vehicle;
- a processor disposed within the vehicle and configured to:
- during a deceleration of the vehicle, determine, based on inputs from the at least one forward-looking sensor or the positioning system,
- whether it is predicted that a driver of the vehicle will stop decelerating the vehicle and will instead accelerate the vehicle;
- and
- if it is predicted that the driver of the vehicle will stop decelerating the vehicle and will instead accelerate the vehicle, inhibit a downshifting of a transmission of the vehicle,
- wherein determining whether it is predicted that the driver of the vehicle will stop decelerating the vehicle and will instead accelerate the vehicle involves determining whether, for greater than a threshold duration, a torque on a brake of the vehicle exceeds a torque threshold and a rate of change of the torque on the brake is greater than zero.
A method for controlling a vehicle, the method comprising:
- with a processor disposed within the vehicle:
- during a deceleration of the vehicle, determining, based on inputs from at least one forward-looking sensor or a positioning system, whether it is predicted that a driver of the vehicle will stop decelerating the vehicle and will instead accelerate the vehicle;
- and
- if it is predicted that the driver of the vehicle will stop decelerating the vehicle and will instead accelerate the vehicle, inhibiting a downshifting of a transmission of the vehicle,
- wherein determining whether it is predicted that the driver of the vehicle will stop decelerating the vehicle and will instead accelerate the vehicle involves determining whether, for greater than a threshold duration, a torque on a brake of the vehicle exceeds a torque threshold and a rate of change of the torque on the brake is greater than zero.
A vehicle comprising:
- at least one forward-looking sensor disposed within the vehicle;
- a positioning system disposed within the vehicle;
- a processor disposed within the vehicle and configured to:
- during a deceleration of the vehicle, determine, based on inputs from the at least one forward-looking sensor or the positioning system, whether it is predicted that a driver of the vehicle will stop decelerating the vehicle and will instead accelerate the vehicle;
- and
- if it is predicted that the driver of the vehicle will stop decelerating the vehicle and will instead accelerate the vehicle, inhibit a downshifting of a transmission of the vehicle,
- wherein determining whether it is predicted that the driver of the vehicle will stop decelerating the vehicle and will instead accelerate the vehicle involves determining whether, for greater than a threshold duration, a torque on a brake of the vehicle exceeds a torque threshold and a rate of change of the torque on the brake is greater than zero.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.