Gearbox control device

A method of controlling and regulating operation of either an automatic or an automated transmission of a motor vehicle with a transmission control device, the transmission control device communicates with the automatic or the automated transmission, an engine control device, a navigation device and a plurality of sensors to transmit driving condition data, vehicle mass data, driving resistance data, vehicle inclination data, vehicle velocity data, vehicle acceleration data, engine rotational speed data, engine torque data, and data about a driver's wishes therebetween, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving, with the transmission control device, the driving condition data from the automatic or the automated transmission, the engine control device, the navigation device and the plurality of sensors, the driving condition data comprising the vehicle mass data, the driving resistance data, the vehicle inclination data, the vehicle velocity data, the vehicle acceleration data, the engine rotational speed data and the engine torque data;
• receiving, with the transmission control device, the driver wish data;
• calculating, with the transmission control device, topographic data of a defined distance ahead of a current position of the motor vehicle, and the defined distance ahead of the motor vehicle being determined depending on a current velocity of the vehicle;
• and
• determining a shifting strategy with the transmission control device-with based on the driving condition data, the driver wish data and the topographic data;
• and
• controlling a gear shift in the transmission with the transmission control device from a current actual gear to a targeted gear based upon the shifting strategy determined by the transmission control device, and at least one of:
• performing a gear upshift in coasting mode, with the transmission control device, to reduce an engine braking effect of the drive assembly, when the transmission control device detects from the topographic data of the defined distance ahead of the current position of the motor vehicle, that a level section of drive surface follows an adjacent declined section of the drive surface;
• blocking coasting upshifts, with the transmission control device, and only permitting shifts in the transmission which protects the drive assembly from excessive rotational speed, when the transmission control device detects either that a steep decline lies ahead of the motor vehicle or that the motor vehicle is located at a start of a longer section of a decline;
• and
• calculating, with the transmission control device, which gear must be engaged in the transmission, so that the motor vehicle in a decline section can operate with constant drive speed through a braking effect of the driving assembly using an engine drag moment, when the transmission control device detects that the motor vehicle is currently located in a plane and the decline section follows the plane.