Motor vehicle and method of control of a motor vehicle
First Claim
1. A vehicle control system comprisinga controller configured to:
- implement a start/stop functionality to automatically stop an associated motor vehicle engine;
monitor one or more parameters associated with a motor vehicle during a drive cycle;
determine a value of a driver behavior index based on a value of the one or more parameters over time during the drive cycle;
determine whether a current driving style of a driver corresponds to a first driving style or a second driving style in dependence on the value of the driver behavior index;
wherein the value of the driver behavior index is a value from a range of values, wherein values at a first end of the range are assigned to the first driving style and values at a second end of the range are assigned to the second driving style;
determine whether the motor vehicle engine is not required to provide torque to drive the motor vehicle;
over-ride implementing the start/stop functionality to prevent stopping the associated motor vehicle engine when it is determined that the motor vehicle engine is not required to provide torque to drive the motor vehicle and the value of the driver behavior index corresponds to the second driving style;
while over-riding implementing the start/stop functionality to prevent stopping the associated motor vehicle engine, decrease a current value of the driver behavior index, to a value toward the first end of the range compared to the current value;
wherein when it is determined that the motor vehicle engine is not required to provide torque to drive the motor vehicle and the value of the driver behavior index corresponds to the second driving style, the controller is configured to freeze the value of the driver behavior index for a prescribed amount of time before decreasing the value of the driver behavior index while it is determined that the motor vehicle engine is not required to provide torque to drive the motor vehicle;
only implement the start/stop functionality to stop the associated motor vehicle engine when the controller determines that the value of the driver behavior index corresponds to the first driving style and the motor vehicle engine is not required to provide torque to drive the motor vehicle; and
when the value of the driver behavior index has changed to correspond to the first driving style, automatically re-implement the start/stop functionality.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In one aspect of the invention there is provided a motor vehicle comprising an engine, the vehicle being operable automatically to stop the engine responsive to a determination that the engine is not required to provide torque to drive the vehicle, wherein the vehicle comprises control means operable to monitor a value of one or more parameters associated with the vehicle during a drive cycle, the control means being arranged automatically to determine whether a current driving style of a driver corresponds to an economy-oriented driving style or a performance-oriented driving style responsive to the value of the one or more parameters over time during the drive cycle, the control means being operable to over-ride stopping of the engine when it is determined that the driving style of the driver corresponds to a performance-oriented style.
39 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A vehicle control system comprising
a controller configured to: -
implement a start/stop functionality to automatically stop an associated motor vehicle engine; monitor one or more parameters associated with a motor vehicle during a drive cycle; determine a value of a driver behavior index based on a value of the one or more parameters over time during the drive cycle; determine whether a current driving style of a driver corresponds to a first driving style or a second driving style in dependence on the value of the driver behavior index; wherein the value of the driver behavior index is a value from a range of values, wherein values at a first end of the range are assigned to the first driving style and values at a second end of the range are assigned to the second driving style; determine whether the motor vehicle engine is not required to provide torque to drive the motor vehicle; over-ride implementing the start/stop functionality to prevent stopping the associated motor vehicle engine when it is determined that the motor vehicle engine is not required to provide torque to drive the motor vehicle and the value of the driver behavior index corresponds to the second driving style; while over-riding implementing the start/stop functionality to prevent stopping the associated motor vehicle engine, decrease a current value of the driver behavior index, to a value toward the first end of the range compared to the current value; wherein when it is determined that the motor vehicle engine is not required to provide torque to drive the motor vehicle and the value of the driver behavior index corresponds to the second driving style, the controller is configured to freeze the value of the driver behavior index for a prescribed amount of time before decreasing the value of the driver behavior index while it is determined that the motor vehicle engine is not required to provide torque to drive the motor vehicle; only implement the start/stop functionality to stop the associated motor vehicle engine when the controller determines that the value of the driver behavior index corresponds to the first driving style and the motor vehicle engine is not required to provide torque to drive the motor vehicle; and when the value of the driver behavior index has changed to correspond to the first driving style, automatically re-implement the start/stop functionality. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A vehicle comprising:
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an engine; and a controller that is configured to; implement a start/stop functionality to automatically stop the engine; monitor one or more parameters associated with the vehicle during a drive cycle; determine a value of a driver behavior index based on a value of the one or more parameters over time during the drive cycle; determine whether a current driving style of a driver corresponds to a first driving style or a second driving style in dependence on the value of the driver behavior index; wherein the value of the driver behavior index is a value from a range of values, wherein values at a first end of the range are assigned to the first driving style and values at a second end of the range are assigned to the second driving style; determine whether the engine is not required to provide torque to drive the vehicle; over-ride implementing the start/stop functionality to prevent stopping the engine when it is determined that the engine is not required to provide torque to drive the vehicle and the value of the driver behavior index corresponds to the second driving style; while over-riding implementing the start/stop functionality to prevent stopping the engine, decrease a current value of the driver behavior index to a value toward the first end of the range compared to the current value; wherein when it is determined that the engine is not required to provide torque to drive the vehicle and the value of the driver behavior index corresponds to the second driving style, the controller is configured to freeze the value of the driver behavior index for a prescribed amount of time before decreasing the value of the driver behavior index while it is determined that the engine is not required to provide torque to drive the vehicle; only implement the start/stop functionality to stop the engine when the controller determines that the value of the driver behavior index corresponds to the first driving style and the engine is not required to provide torque to drive the vehicle; and when the value of the driver behavior index has changed to correspond to the first driving style, automatically re-implement the start/stop functionality. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of controlling a motor vehicle including a start/stop functionality, the method comprising:
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monitoring a value over time of one or more parameters associated with the motor vehicle during a drive cycle; determining a value of a driver behavior index based on the value of the one or more parameters over time during the drive cycle; determining that a current driving style of a driver corresponds to a second driving style responsive to the value of the driver behavior index; wherein the value of the driver behavior index is a value from a range of values, wherein values at a first end of the range are assigned to a first driving style and values at a second end of the range are assigned to the second driving style; determining that a motor vehicle engine is not required to provide torque to drive the motor vehicle; over-riding implementing the start/stop functionality to prevent stopping the motor vehicle engine when it is determined that the motor vehicle engine is not required to provide torque to drive the motor vehicle and the value of the driver behavior index corresponds to the second driving style; while over-riding implementing the start/stop functionality to prevent stopping the associated motor vehicle engine, decreasing a current value of the driver behavior index to a value towards the first end of the range compared to the current value; when the motor vehicle engine is not required to provide torque to drive the motor vehicle and the value of the driver behavior index corresponds to the second driving style, freezing the value of the driver behavior index for a prescribed amount of time before decreasing the value of the driver behavior index while it is determined that the motor vehicle engine is not required to provide torque to drive the motor vehicle; only implementing the start/stop functionality to stop the associated motor vehicle engine when the value of the driver behavior index corresponds to the first driving style and the motor vehicle engine is not required to provide torque to drive the motor vehicle; and when the value of the driver behavior index has changed to correspond to the first driving style, automatically re-implementing the start/stop functionality.
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Specification