METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DIAGNOSING DRIVING OPERATION

• US 20120065874A1
• Filed: 03/09/2010
• Published: 03/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Sato, Yasushi, Tsuchikiri, Hideyuki, Inoue, Hiroshi, Fujii, Mai
• Granted Patent: US 8,660,785 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/123
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/174 Economic driving
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/174 Economic driving
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/28 characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0236 for economical driving
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/004 Indicating the operating range of the engine economical driving B60R16/0236, F02B77/084; measuring liquid fuel of an engine G01F9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0825 using optical means
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/84 Data processing systems or methods, management, administration

Abstract

An apparatus is provided for providing users diagnosis on driving operations in the same manner as diagnosing vehicle failures and for presenting evaluation with supporting data so that users may recognize their driving operations. The apparatus reads out driving data for a plurality of driving cycles from an electronic control unit on board the vehicle. The electronic control unit includes a memory for storing driving data representing fuel efficiency condition of the vehicle in accordance with driving operation by a user in each driving cycle of the vehicle. Charts are produced representing fuel efficiency condition for each driving operation by the user for each driving cycle, based on the read out driving data. The charts are output as comparison results for each one of the driving cycles.

Claims

1-6. -6. (canceled)

7. An apparatus provided outside of vehicles for diagnosing driving operations, comprising:

means for reading out driving data for a plurality of driving cycles from an electronic control unit on board a vehicle, the electronic control unit including a nonvolatile memory for storing driving data representing fuel efficiency condition of the vehicle in accordance with driving operation by a user in each driving cycle of the vehicle;

means for producing charts presenting fuel efficiency condition for each driving operation by the user for each driving cycle, based on the read out driving data, said charts visually and comparatively presenting said fuel efficiency condition in temporal sequence; and

means for outputting the charts as comparison results for each one of the driving cycles.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7,

wherein said driving cycle is a period from turning on of the ignition of the vehicle to turning off of the ignition of the vehicle;

and

wherein when at least one of driving speed and driving distance does not reach respective predetermined values, or when the engine of the vehicle is not rotating after a predetermined time has passed since start of the engine, said electronic control unit is configured to prohibit recording of the driving data of this driving cycle into the nonvolatile memory.

9. An apparatus according to claim 8,

wherein the driving data includes evaluation score that the electronic control unit calculates for each driving operation item having influence on fuel efficiency, and advice messages to present to the user in relation to the fuel efficiency;

and

wherein the apparatus is configured to visually output, out of the plurality of advice messages, one or more advice messages corresponding to the driving operation items that are given low evaluation scores.

10. A method of diagnosing driving operations, comprising:

reading out driving data for a plurality of driving cycles from an electronic control unit on board a vehicle, the electronic control unit including a nonvolatile memory for storing driving data representing fuel efficiency condition of the vehicle in accordance with driving operation by a user in each driving cycle of the vehicle;

producing charts representing fuel efficiency condition for each driving operation by the user for each driving cycle, based on the read out driving data, said charts visually and comparatively presenting said fuel efficiency condition in temporal sequence; and

outputting the charts as comparison results for each one of the driving cycles.

11. A method according to claim 10:

wherein said driving cycle is a period from turning on of the ignition of the vehicle to turning off of the ignition of the vehicle;

said method further comprising,

when at least one of driving speed and driving distance does not reach respective predetermined values, or when the engine of the vehicle is not rotating after a predetermined time has passed since start of the engine, prohibiting recording of the driving data of this driving cycle into the nonvolatile memory.

12. A method according to claim 11:

wherein the driving data includes evaluation score that the electronic control unit calculates for each driving operation item having influence on fuel efficiency, and advice messages to present to the user in relation to the fuel efficiency; and

said method further comprising,

out of the plurality of advice messages, visually outputting one or more advice messages corresponding to the driving operation items that are given low evaluation scores.