METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING AN AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION USING A GPS ASSIST HAVING A LEARN MODE

• US 20070135996A1
• Filed: 10/10/2006
• Published: 06/14/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cary Bates, John Santosuosso, Paul Day, Robert Crenshaw
• Original Assignee: Cary Bates, John Santosuosso, Paul Day, Robert Crenshaw
• Inventors: Day, Paul, BATES, CARY, Santosuosso, John, Crenshaw, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 7,480,552 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/213
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 2059/666 Determining road conditions by using vehicle location or position, e.g. from global navigation systems [GPS]
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 59/66 Road conditions, e.g. slope, slippery
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 61/0213 characterised by the method for generating shift signals

Abstract

A method and system for controlling an automatic transmission is disclosed. The method and system include obtaining positioning data using a global positioning satellite (GPS) and monitoring the automatic transmission to obtain transmission data. The method and system also include learning whether performance of the automatic transmission can be improved utilizing the positioning data and the transmission data. Moreover, the method and system include adjusting a shift threshold for the positioning data for the automatic transmission if it is determined that the performance of the automatic transmission can be improved.

Claims

1. A system for controlling an automatic transmission comprising:

a global positioning satellite (GPS) subsystem for obtaining positioning data using a GPS satellite;

a transmission subsystem coupled to the transmission and the GPS subsystem for monitoring the automatic transmission to obtain transmission data, four learning whether performance of the automatic transmission is improvable utilizing the positioning data and the transmission data and for adjusting a shift threshold for the automatic transmission for the positioning data if the transmission subsystem determines that the performance of the automatic transmission is improvable; and

wherein the automatic transmission includes a preset shift threshold and wherein if the GPS subsystem is off, the transmission subsystem sets the shift threshold to the preset shift threshold;

wherein the automatic transmission subsystem determines that the performance of the automatic transmission is improved when a predetermined load on the automatic transmission system increases by a particular amount within a particular time.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the transmission subsystem adjusts the threshold by determining whether a driving condition exists and determining a desired threshold for the automatic transmission based on the driving condition.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the transmission subsystem further adjusts the shift threshold only if the transmission subsystem determines a particular number of times that the performance of the automatic transmission is improvable.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the transmission subsystem further adjusts the shift threshold each time the transmission subsystem determines that performance of the automatic transmission is improvable.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a memory coupled to the transmission subsystem for storing a record of the positioning data and transmission data.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the transmission subsystem further removes the record if the positioning data is not repeated for a particular time.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the transmission subsystem monitors a load on the transmission.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the transmission subsystem determines whether the load indicates that the automatic transmission is to shift up or shift down and wherein the transmission subsystem further adjusts the shift level up if the load indicates that the automatic transmission is to shift up and adjusting the shift threshold down if the load indicates that the automatic transmission is to shift down.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the GPS subsystem and the transmission subsystem are integrated into the automatic transmission.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the GPS subsystem is integrated into a GPS navigation system.

11. A system for controlling an automatic transmission comprising:

a global positioning satellite (GPS) subsystem for obtaining positioning data using a GPS satellite;

a transmission subsystem coupled to the transmission and the GPS subsystem for monitoring the automatic transmission to obtain transmission data, for learning whether performance of the automatic transmission is improvable utilizing the positioning data and the transmission data and for adjusting a shift threshold for the automatic transmission for the positioning data if the transmission subsystem determines that the performance of the automatic transmission is improvable wherein the transmission subsystem further determines whether a one-time event has occurred and ensures that the automatic transmission is at a factory setting if the one-time event has occurred.

12. A system for controlling an automatic transmission comprising:

a global positioning satellite (GPS) subsystem for obtaining positioning data using a GPS satellite;

a transmission subsystem coupled to the transmission and the GPS subsystem for monitoring the automatic transmission to obtain transmission data, for learning whether performance of the automatic transmission is improvable utilizing the positioning data and the transmission data, the performance of the automatic transmission being improved by a shift threshold adjustment if the automatic transmission performs an unnecessary shift, the unnecessary shift being a shift that occurs for less than or equal to a particular amount of time, and for adjusting a shift threshold for the automatic transmission for the positioning data if the performance of the automatic transmission can be improved.