VEHICLE CONTROL APPARATUS AND VEHICLE CONTROL SYSTEM USING THE SAME

• US 20090164071A1
• Filed: 12/22/2008
• Published: 06/25/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: TAKEDA, Toshihiko
• Granted Patent: US 8,155,843 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/48
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2025/1016 Remote signals alerting owner or authorities, e.g. radio signals
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/04 operating on the propulsion system, e.g. engine or drive motor
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/18 including control of braking systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/26 for electrical energy, e.g. batteries or capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0095 Automatic control mode change
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/021 Means for detecting failure or malfunction
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/10 Longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/05 Type of road, e.g. motorways, local streets, paved or unpaved roads
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2555/20 Ambient conditions, e.g. wind or rain
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/02 Control of vehicle driving stability
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18 Propelling the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18172 Preventing, or responsive to skidding of wheels
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0097 Predicting future conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/02 Ensuring safety in case of control system failures, e.g. by diagnosing, circumventing or fixing failures
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/04 Monitoring the functioning of the control system
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/08 Interaction between the driver and the control system
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/40 : Engine management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/84 : Data processing systems or methods, management, administration

Abstract

A vehicle control apparatus is provided, which comprises a mode setting unit and a control adjusting unit which are mounted in a vehicle. The vehicle is provided with control units that control behavior of a subject to be controlled which is mounted on a vehicle by each functional domain of the vehicle. The mode setting unit is provided independently from the control units and sets a vehicle mode depending on a vehicle environment in which the vehicle is placed. The control adjusting unit is also provided independently from the control units and adjusts behavior control performed by the control units based on the vehicle mode.

Claims

1. A vehicle control apparatus comprising:

a mode setting unit provided independently from control units that control behavior of a subject to be controlled which is mounted on a vehicle by each functional domain of the vehicle, the mode setting unit setting a vehicle mode depending on a vehicle environment in which the vehicle is placed, and

a control adjusting unit provided independently from the control units, the control adjusting unit adjusting behavior control performed by the control units based on the vehicle mode.

2. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle environment is at least one of a running state of the vehicle and a peripheral condition of the vehicle.

3. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mode setting unit and the control adjusting unit are provided independently from a coordination control unit that controls coordination dependent on the behavior controls performed by a plurality of control units, and

the control adjusting unit adjusts the coordinated control performed by the coordination control units based on the vehicle mode.

4. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the control adjusting unit includes a resource managing unit that manages resources used by the control units and the coordination control unit based on the vehicle mode and a resource distribution instruction given by the coordination control unit, the resource distribution instruction giving an instruction to distribute the resources among the control units based on the vehicle mode.

5. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control adjusting unit includes a resource managing unit that manages resources used by the control units based on the vehicle mode.

6. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the resource managing unit manages the resources based on amounts of resources remaining that are respectively predicted for time spans of differing lengths.

7. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the mode setting unit sets the vehicle mode based on a history of the vehicle environments.

8. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 7, wherein, when an abnormality is found in the history of the vehicle environments, the mode setting unit sets the vehicle mode to an abnormal mode in which an instruction is given to perform a danger-avoidance running operation.

9. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 8, wherein, in the abnormal mode, an instruction is given to perform an initially set danger-avoidance operation.

10. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the mode setting unit sets a plurality of abnormal modes in which instructions are given to perform different danger-avoidance running operations, based on the abnormality in the history of the vehicle environments.

11. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 10, wherein one of the plurality of abnormal modes is a vehicle theft mode in which an instruction is given to stop running the vehicle.

12. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 11, wherein, in the vehicle theft mode, an instruction is given to notify a vehicle owner of a theft.

13. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 10, wherein one of the plurality of abnormal modes is a maintenance mode in which an instruction is given to suppress behavior of the subject to be controlled.

14. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 13, wherein, in the maintenance mode, an instruction is given to notify a vehicle owner that maintenance is required to be performed.

15. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the mode setting unit sets the vehicle mode for each driver based on the history of the vehicle environments of each driver.

16. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the mode setting unit analyzes a usage probability of at least one vehicle environment in the history for each driver, and sets the vehicle mode for each driver based on the analysis results.

17. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the mode setting unit acquires a history of at least one vehicle environment for each driver from map information.

18. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the resource managing unit instructs the driver to drive the vehicle in accordance with the vehicle mode.

19. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the resource managing unit manages at least energy in the vehicle.

20. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 19, wherein at least one type of energy is electrical energy.

21. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 20, wherein electrical energy has at least two or more types of input and output time response characteristics, and

the resource managing unit manages electrical energy based on the input and output time response characteristics.

22. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 19, wherein at least one type of energy is heat energy.

23. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 19, wherein at least one type of energy is fuel for an internal combustion engine mounted on the vehicle.

24. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the resource managing unit instructs the control units that can switch operating speeds to switch an operating speed based on the vehicle mode, or the vehicle mode and at least one of an amount of energy remaining and a usage request value of the resources from the control units.

25. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the resource managing unit manages the resources to be distributed to the control units based on the vehicle mode, or the vehicle mode and at least one of an amount of energy remaining and a usage request value of the resources from the control units.

26. The vehicle control apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the resource managing unit instructs the control units that can switch an amount of resources consumed to switch the amount of resources consumed based on the vehicle mode, or the vehicle mode and at least one of an amount of energy remaining and a usage request value of the resources from the control units.

27. A vehicle control system comprising:

control units that control behavior of subjects to be controlled which are mounted on a vehicle for each functional domain of the vehicle;

a mode setting unit provided independently from the control units in the vehicle, the mode setting unit setting a vehicle mode depending on a vehicle environment in which the vehicle is placed; and

a control adjusting unit provided independently from the control units in the vehicle, the control adjusting unit adjusting behavior control performed by the control units based on the vehicle mode.