Drive control apparatus for hybrid vehicle, travel schedule making apparatus for hybrid vehicle and travel route prediction apparatus

A travel schedule making apparatus mounted to a hybrid vehicle, which uses an internal combustion engine and a motor as a power source for traveling and is configured to perform drive control of the internal combustion engine and the motor of the hybrid vehicle based on a travel schedule, the travel schedule making apparatus being coupled with a storage medium, the travel schedule making apparatus comprising:

• a reliable section record unit configured to:
• accumulatively record information on a plurality of sections of a traveled route that the hybrid vehicle has traveled;
• accumulatively record, for every section of the traveled route, a number of times the hybrid vehicle has traveled the section;
• identify a present position section and a plurality of subsequent sections from the sections of the traveled route, wherein the present position section is one section where the hybrid vehicle is located, wherein the subsequent sections include the present position section and another section where the hybrid vehicle is expected to travel after the 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;
• and
• record a high reliable section in the storage medium through setting the high reliable section to a series of continuous sections included in the subsequent sections, wherein each section in the series of continuous sections has the travel probability that is greater than or equal to a threshold;
• and
• a scheduling unit that is configured to make the travel schedule through setting a planned section to the high reliable section stored in the storage medium.

A travel route prediction apparatus (i) mounted to a vehicle, (ii) configured to predict a expected travel route that the vehicle is expected to travel, and (iii) coupled with a storage medium, the travel route prediction apparatus comprising:

• a reliable section record unit configured to:
• accumulatively record information on a plurality of sections of a traveled route that the hybrid vehicle has traveled;
• accumulatively record, for every section of the traveled route, a number of times the vehicle has traveled the section;
• identify a present position section and a plurality of subsequent sections from the sections of the traveled route, wherein the present position section is one section where the hybrid vehicle is located, wherein the subsequent sections include the present position section and another section where the hybrid vehicle is expected to travel after the present position section;
• calculate, for every subsequent section, a travel probability that the vehicle travels the subsequent section, based on the number of times;
• and
• record a high reliable section in the storage medium through setting the high reliable section to a series of continuous sections included in the subsequent sections, wherein each section in the series of continuous sections has the travel probability that is greater than or equal to a threshold;
• and
• a prediction unit that is configured to predict the expected travel route by setting the expected travel route to the high reliable section stored in the storage medium.