# US 2019/0168732 A1 · Vehicle control unit > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2019/0168732 A1 - Document ID: US20190168732A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 16/314,567 - Filed: 2017-08-02 - Published: 2019-06-06 - Earliest claimed: 2016-09-28 - Assignees: Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd. - Applicants: Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd. - Inventors: Naoyuki TASHIRO; Takashi OKADA - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20190168732A1 ## CPC - B60W 10/06: including control of combustion engines - B60W 10/10: including control of change-speed gearings - B60W 10/18: including control of braking systems - B60W 30/18: Propelling the vehicle - B60W 30/18163: {Lane change; Overtaking manoeuvres} - B60W 40/02: related to ambient conditions - B60W 40/04: Traffic conditions - F02D 29/02: peculiar to engines driving vehicles; peculiar to engines driving variable pitch propellers - F02D 41/107: {and deceleration} - B60W 2540/18: Steering angle - B60W 2540/20: Direction indicator values - B60W 2552/00: Input parameters relating to infrastructure - B60W 2552/30: Road curve radius - B60W 2554/80: Spatial relation or speed relative to objects - B60W 2554/801: Lateral distance - B60W 2554/804: Relative longitudinal speed - B60W 2710/0644: Engine speed - B60W 2710/18: Braking system - F02D 45/00: Electrical control not provided for in groups F02D41/00 - F02D43/00 - F02D 2200/101: Engine speed - F02D 2200/501: Vehicle speed - F02D 2200/701: Information about vehicle position, e.g. from navigation system or GPS signal - F02D 2200/702: Road conditions - B60W: CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT - F02D: CONTROLLING COMBUSTION ENGINES (vehicle fittings, acting on a single sub-unit only, for automatically controlling vehicle speed B60K31/00; conjoint control of vehicle sub-units of different type or different function, road vehicle drive control systems for purposes other than the control of a single sub-unit B60W) ## Abstract When acceleration control is interrupted due to a lane change or the like, the engine speed is controlled from a high rotation speed to a low rotation speed, a variation in engine speed increases, and poor driver's driving performance is brought about. Furthermore, suppression of acceleration when there is a lane change possibility may rather cause the lane change and the driver feels discomfort. The vehicle control unit according to the present invention includes a target engine speed calculation unit which corrects a target engine speed to be reduced relative to a predetermined target engine speed when the acceleration/deceleration possibility determination unit determines that there is a deceleration possibility during acceleration to a target vehicle speed in automatic acceleration/deceleration control, and an engine control unit which controls an engine to have a target engine speed corrected by the target engine speed calculation unit. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A vehicle control unit comprising: a surrounding vehicle information acquisition unit which acquires surrounding information around a host vehicle; an acceleration/deceleration possibility determination unit which determines acceleration possibility or deceleration possibility of the host vehicle on the basis of surrounding information from the surrounding vehicle information acquisition unit; a target engine speed calculation unit which corrects a target engine speed to be reduced relative to a predetermined target engine speed when the acceleration/deceleration possibility determination unit determines that there is a deceleration possibility during acceleration to a target vehicle speed in automatic acceleration/deceleration control; and an engine control unit which controls an engine to have a target engine speed corrected by the target engine speed calculation unit. ### Claim 2 A vehicle control unit comprising: a surrounding vehicle information acquisition unit which acquires surrounding information around a host vehicle; an acceleration/deceleration possibility determination unit which determines acceleration possibility or deceleration possibility of the host vehicle on the basis of surrounding information from the surrounding vehicle information acquisition unit; a target engine speed calculation unit which corrects a target engine speed to be increased relative to a predetermined target engine speed when the acceleration/deceleration possibility determination unit determines that there is an acceleration possibility during deceleration to a target vehicle speed in automatic acceleration/deceleration control; and an engine control unit which controls an engine to have a target engine speed corrected by the target engine speed calculation unit. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The vehicle control unit according to claim 1, comprising a first acceleration mode and a second acceleration mode with an acceleration level lower than the acceleration level of the first acceleration mode, wherein the target engine speed calculation unit selects the first or second acceleration mode on the basis of a deceleration possibility during acceleration. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The vehicle control unit according to claim 1, wherein the target engine speed calculation unit corrects a target engine speed to have an acceleration level lower than a predetermined acceleration level on the basis of a deceleration possibility during acceleration. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The vehicle control unit according to claim 1, wherein in a case where engine output already reaches target output when the acceleration/deceleration possibility determination unit determines that there is a deceleration possibility, the engine control unit controls an engine to have a target engine speed before correction. ### Claim 6 (depends on 2) The vehicle control unit according to claim 2, comprising a first deceleration mode and a second deceleration mode with a deceleration level lower than the deceleration level of the first deceleration mode, wherein the target engine speed calculation unit selects the first or second deceleration mode on the basis of an acceleration possibility during deceleration. ### Claim 7 (depends on 2) The vehicle control unit according to claim 2, wherein the target engine speed calculation unit corrects a target engine speed to have a deceleration level higher than a predetermined deceleration level on the basis of an acceleration possibility during deceleration. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The vehicle control unit according to claim 1, wherein the acceleration/deceleration possibility determination unit determines a deceleration possibility during acceleration on the basis of a distance to an intersection, traffic signal information, acceleration of a preceding vehicle, steering angle operation amount of a host vehicle, blinker operation of a host vehicle, distance to a curve, curvature of a curve, position or speed information of a parallel running vehicle. ### Claim 9 (depends on 2) The vehicle control unit according to claim 2, wherein the acceleration/deceleration possibility determination unit determines an acceleration possibility during deceleration on the basis of a distance to an intersection, traffic signal information, acceleration of a preceding vehicle, steering angle operation amount of a host vehicle, blinker operation of a host vehicle, or road width. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The vehicle control unit according to claim 1, wherein the target engine speed calculation unit corrects target engine speed to be not less than a minimum engine speed enabling target output to be output in acceleration. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The vehicle control unit according to claim 1, wherein in a case where engine output already reaches target output when the acceleration/deceleration possibility determination unit determines that there is a deceleration possibility, the engine control unit controls an engine to have a target engine speed in the vicinity of optimum fuel consumption in engine characteristics.