# US 2021/0276566 A1 · Preview damping control apparatus for vehicle and preview damping control method for vehicle > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2021/0276566 A1 - Document ID: US20210276566A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 17/172,748 - Filed: 2021-02-10 - Published: 2021-09-09 - Earliest claimed: 2020-03-04 - Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha - Applicants: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha - Inventors: Hiroki Furuta - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210276566A1 ## CPC - B60G 17/08: Characteristics of fluid dampers (adjusting fluid dampers in general F16F9/44 - F16F9/53) - B60W 40/06: Road conditions - B60G 17/0165: to an external condition, e.g. rough road surface, side wind - B60G 17/06: Characteristics of dampers {, e.g. mechanical dampers}(B60G17/015 takes precedence) - B60W 10/18: including control of braking systems - B60W 10/20: including control of steering systems - B60W 10/22: including control of suspension systems - B60W 50/0097: {Predicting future conditions} - B60W 60/001: {Planning or execution of driving tasks} - G01C 21/3407: {specially adapted for specific applications} - G01C 21/3655: {Timing of guidance instructions} - G08G 1/096725: {where the received information generates an automatic action on the vehicle control} - G08G 1/096741: {where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle} - G08G 1/09675: {where a selection from the received information takes place in the vehicle} - G08G 1/096775: {where the origin of the information is a central station} - G08G 1/096827: {where the route is computed onboard} - G08G 1/09685: {where the complete route is computed only once and not updated} - G08G 1/096894: {where input is assisted by the navigation device, i.e. the user does not type the complete name of the destination, e.g. using zip codes, telephone numbers, progressively selecting from initial letters} - B60G 2400/0523: Yaw rate - B60G 2400/104: lateral or transversal with regard to vehicle - B60G 2400/204: Vehicle speed - B60G 2400/208: of wheel rotation - B60G 2400/25: Stroke; Height; Displacement - B60G 2400/82: Ground surface - B60G 2401/142: Visual Display Camera, e.g. LCD - B60G 2401/16: GPS track data - B60G 2500/10: Damping action or damper - B60G 2600/70: Computer memory; Data storage, e.g. maps for adaptive control - H04W 4/44: for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H] - Y02T 90/16: Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles - B60G: VEHICLE SUSPENSION ARRANGEMENTS (air-cushion vehicles B60V; {cycle suspensions B62K25/00}) - 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 - G01C: MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY (measuring liquid level G01F; radio navigation, determining distance or velocity by use of propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effects, propagation time, of radio waves, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S) - G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93}) - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) - Y02T: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION ## Abstract The preview damping control includes an ECU. When the vehicle is traveling within a communications disruption area in which a radio communication device is hard to communicate with a cloud, the ECU uses road surface displacement correlating information that has been stored in an on-board memory device in advance for the communications disruption area so as to perform a preview damping control. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A preview damping control apparatus for a vehicle comprising: a communication device configured to be able to communicate with outside of the vehicle; a control force generating device configured to generate a control force to a part corresponding to at least one of wheels of the vehicle to damp a vibration of a sprung mass of the vehicle; a control unit configured to perform a preview damping control to damp the vibration of the sprung mass by letting the control force generating device generate, at a time point at which the wheel actually reaches a predicted passing through position which the wheel is predicted to reach and which is ahead of the wheel, the control force that corresponds to a force determined based on road surface displacement correlating information that correlates with a vertical displacement of a road surface at the predicted passing through position; and an on-board memory device configured to store the road surface displacement correlating information, wherein the control unit is configured to: obtain, through communication of the communication device, the road surface displacement correlating information from an external storage device that is located outside of the vehicle and has stored the road surface displacement correlating information, and perform the preview damping control using the obtained road surface displacement correlating information, when the vehicle is traveling within a communicably area in which the vehicle can communicate with the external storage device; and perform the preview damping control using the road surface displacement correlating information that has been stored in the on-board memory device in advance for a communications disruption area in which the vehicle is hard to communicate with the external storage device, when the vehicle is traveling within the communications disruption area. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The preview damping control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 1 further comprising: a navigation apparatus configured to determine a guidance route to a destination for providing a route guidance to a driver of the vehicle, wherein the control unit is configured to: specify the communications disruption area through which the guidance route passes; obtain, from the external storage device through communication of the communication device, the road surface displacement correlating information corresponding to the specified communications disruption area, when the communication device can communicate with the external storage device; and store the obtained road surface displacement correlating information in the on-board memory device. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The preview damping control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 1 further comprising: an autonomous driving control apparatus configured to perform an autonomous driving control by determining an autonomous driving route along which the vehicle is planned to travel, and to control steering, braking, and driving of the vehicle so as to let the vehicle travel along the autonomous driving route, wherein, the control unit is configured to: specify the communications disruption area through which the autonomous driving route passes; obtain, from the external storage device through communication of the communication device, the road surface displacement correlating information corresponding to the specified communications disruption area, when the communication device can communicate with the external storage device; and store the obtained road surface displacement correlating information in the on-board memory device. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The preview damping control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein, the control unit is configured to: predict a predicted traveling route that is a route along which the vehicle is predicted to travel; specify the communications disruption area through which the predicted traveling route passes; obtain, from the external storage device through communication of the communication device, the road surface displacement correlating information corresponding to the specified communications disruption area, at a time point at which the vehicle reaches a position predetermined distance before the specified communications disruption area, while the communication device can communicate with the external storage device; and store the obtained road surface displacement correlating information in the on-board memory device. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The preview damping control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein, the road surface displacement correlating information is information relating to an unsprung mass displacement that represents a vertical displacement of an unsprung mass of the vehicle. ### Claim 6 (depends on 2) The preview damping control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 2, wherein, the road surface displacement correlating information is information relating to an unsprung mass displacement that represents a vertical displacement of an unsprung mass of the vehicle. ### Claim 7 (depends on 3) The preview damping control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 3, wherein, the road surface displacement correlating information is information relating to an unsprung mass displacement that represents a vertical displacement of an unsprung mass of the vehicle. ### Claim 8 (depends on 4) The preview damping control apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 4, wherein, the road surface displacement correlating information is information relating to an unsprung mass displacement that represents a vertical displacement of an unsprung mass of the vehicle. ### Claim 9 A preview damping control method for a vehicle having a control force generating device configured to generate a control force to a part corresponding to at least one of wheels of the vehicle to damp a vibration of a sprung mass of the vehicle, comprising a preview damping control step of performing a preview damping control to let the control force generating device generate a control force that corresponds to a force determined based on road surface displacement correlating information that correlates with a vertical displacement of a road surface at a predicted passing through position which the wheel is predicted to reach and which is ahead of the wheel, so as to damp the vibration of the sprung mass caused when the wheel actually reaches the predicted passing through position, wherein, the vehicle comprises: a communication device configured to be able to communicate with outside of the vehicle; and an on-board memory device configured to store the road surface displacement correlating information, and wherein, the preview damping control step includes a first step and a second step: the first step including: a step of obtaining, through communication of the communication device, the road surface displacement correlating information from an external storage device that is located outside of the vehicle and has been storing the road surface displacement correlating information, when the vehicle is traveling within a communicably area in which the vehicle can communicate with the external storage device; and a step of using the obtained road surface displacement correlating information to perform the preview damping control, when the vehicle is traveling within the communicably area; and the second step including: a step of using, when the vehicle is traveling within the communications disruption area in which the vehicle is hard to communicate with the external storage device, the road surface displacement correlating information for the communications disruption area that has been stored in the on-board memory device while the vehicle is traveling within the communicably area, so as to perform the preview damping control.