APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ADVICE PROVISION AND DRIVING CONDITION DIAGNOSIS

• US 20100030420A1
• Filed: 07/31/2009
• Published: 02/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Takeuchi, Shojiro, Tauchi, Nobutaka, Yamaoka, Kousuke
• Granted Patent: US 8,694,200 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/29
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0098 Details of control systems ensuring comfort, safety or stability not otherwise provided for

Abstract

An advice provision apparatus calculates the driving condition of the vehicle for every predetermined travel section, for the purpose of comparison with the driving condition in the previous travel section. The driving condition of the current section is evaluated in a relative manner based on the comparison of at least two travel sections, even when the absolute assessment of the driving condition is difficult. Thus, the advice provision apparatus can accurately and precisely diagnose the driving condition of the driver.

Claims

1. An advice provision apparatus comprising:

a vehicle information acquisition unit for acquiring vehicle information that represents a condition of a vehicle;

a diagnosis unit for diagnosing a driving condition of the vehicle based on the vehicle information acquired by the vehicle information acquisition unit;

an advice generation unit for generating an advice to be provided for a driver of the vehicle based on a diagnosis result by the driving diagnosis unit; and

an advice notification unit for notifying the driver of the advice generated by the advice generation unit, wherein

the diagnosis unit diagnoses the driving condition of a target travel section by (a) calculating the driving condition of the vehicle for each of travel sections and (b) comparing the calculated driving condition of the target travel section with the calculated driving conditions of other travel sections.

2. The advice provision apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the advice generation unit generates the advice based on the diagnosis result by the diagnosis unit when the diagnosis result indicates the deterioration of the driving condition in the target travel section in comparison to the driving condition from the previous travel section, and

the advice generation unit does not generate the advice based on the diagnosis result by the diagnosis unit when the diagnosis result indicates that (a) the deterioration of the driving condition in the target travel section in comparison to the driving condition from the previous travel section and (b) the improvement of the driving condition in the target travel section relative to a threshold.

3. The advice provision apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the diagnosis unit diagnoses multiple items of the driving condition, and

the advice generation unit generates the advice on each of the multiple items based on the diagnosis result of the relevant item with the reservation that the advice for a specific item is not generated for a predetermined period if the specific item has deteriorated diagnosis results for consecutive travel sections.

4. The advice provision apparatus of claim 3, wherein

each of the multiple items has a weighting factor, and

the driving condition of the target travel section is diagnosed based totally on the diagnosis results of the multiple items respectively weighted by the weighting factor.

5. The advice provision apparatus of claim 4, wherein

the advice notification unit notifies the driver of the advice in an order of heavily weighted items by the weighting factor.

6. The advice provision apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the advice notification unit notifies the driver of the advice when the vehicle is stopping.

7. The advice provision apparatus of claim 6, wherein

the advice generation unit generates the advice when the vehicle is stopping.

8. A driving condition diagnosis apparatus comprising:

a vehicle information acquisition unit for acquiring vehicle information that represents a condition of a vehicle; and

a diagnosis unit for diagnosing a driving condition of the vehicle based on the vehicle information acquired by the vehicle information acquisition unit, wherein

the diagnosis unit diagnoses the driving condition of a target travel section by (a) calculating the driving condition of the vehicle for every travel section and (b) comparing the calculated driving condition of the target travel section with the calculated driving condition of the other travel section.

9. A method for advice provision, the method comprising:

acquiring vehicle information that represents a condition of a vehicle;

diagnosing a driving condition of the vehicle based on the vehicle information acquired by an act of acquiring the vehicle information;

generating an advice to be provided for a driver of the vehicle based on a diagnosis result by an act of diagnosing the driving condition; and

notifying the driver of the advice generated by an act of generating the advice, wherein

the act of diagnosing a driving condition diagnoses the driving condition of a target travel section by (a) calculating the driving condition of the vehicle for each of travel sections and (b) comparing the calculated driving condition of the target travel section with the calculated driving conditions of other travel sections.

10. A method for diagnosing a driving condition comprising:

acquiring vehicle information that represents a condition of a vehicle; and

diagnosing a driving condition of the vehicle based on the vehicle information acquired by an act of acquiring the vehicle information, wherein

the act of diagnosing a driving condition diagnoses the driving condition of a target travel section by (a) calculating the driving condition of the vehicle for every travel section and (b) comparing the calculated driving condition of the target travel section with the calculated driving condition of the other travel section.