Vehicle travel control apparatus

• US 6,381,524 B1
• Filed: 04/20/2001
• Issued: 04/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Endo, Yoshinori, Nishino, Kimio, Minowa, Toshimichi, Takezaki, Jiro, Yoshikawa, Tokuji, Kuragaki, Satoru
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuchlinski, Jr., William A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hernandez, Olga
• Application Number:
  US09/763,770
• Time in Patent Office: 375 Days
• Field of Search: 701/36, 701/35, 701/24, 701/300, 701/1, 731/78.R, 340/286.01
• US Class Current: 701/36
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 31/0008 including means for detecting potential obstacles in vehicle path
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 31/0058 responsive to externally generated signalling
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 31/0066 responsive to vehicle path curvature
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 31/04 and means for comparing one electrical quantity, e.g. voltage, pulse, waveform, flux, or the like, with another quantity of a like kind, which comparison means is involved in the development of an electrical signal which is fed into the controlling means
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 31/107 the memory being digital
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2201/02 Active or adaptive cruise control system; Distance control
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/14 Yaw
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/28 Wheel speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/05 Type of road, e.g. motorways, local streets, paved or unpaved roads
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/16 Control of distance between vehicles, e.g. keeping a distance to preceding vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: F02B 2075/125 Direct injection in the combustion chamber for spark ignition engines, i.e. not in pre-combustion chamber
• CPC Class Codes: F02B 23/101 the injector being placed on or close to the cylinder centre axis, e.g. with mixture formation using spray guided concepts
• 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 2061/022 Calculation or estimation of optimal gear ratio, e.g. best ratio for economy drive or performance according driver preference, or to optimise exhaust emissions
• CPC Class Codes: F16H 61/0213 characterised by the method for generating shift signals
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45583 Memory management, e.g. access or allocation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle control apparatus which makes it possible to share information by a plurality of devices and which can improve controllability. An OS switching means (OS-CH) switches a plurality of operating system (OS1, OS2). A shared object (CO) has a memory resource which can be referred to from the plurality of operating systems. The shared object (CO) shares at least road information, and the road information registered by the application of one of the operating systems can be referred to from the application of the other operating system.

Claims

1. A vehicle travel control apparatus, characterized by comprising:

a plurality of operating systems (OS1, OS2);

an OS switching means (OS-CH) for switching the plurality of operating systems; and

a shared object (CO) having a memory resource which can be referred to from the plurality of operating systems, wherein the shared object (CO) shares at least road information, and the road information registered by the application of one of the operating systems can be referred to from the application of the other operating system.

2. A vehicle travel control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein while one of the operating systems registers road information to the shared object or refers to the road information, the shared object (CO) prohibits the other operating system from register road information to the shared object or from referring to the road information.

3. A vehicle travel control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when one of the operating systems registers road information to the shared object or refers to the road information, the shared object (CO) notifies the other operating system that road information is registered to the shared object or the road information is referred to.

4. A vehicle travel control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the application of one of the operating systems analyzes a signal received through broadcasting or communication and extracts road information as well as registers road information to the shared object, and the application of the other operating system controls the traveling speed of a one'"'"'s own vehicle referring to the road information registered to the shared object.

5. A vehicle travel control apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the application of one of the operating systems analyzes the signal received through the broadcasting or the communication and extracts information added to the road information as well as registers the added information to the shared object, and the application of the other operating system controls the traveling speed of the one'"'"'s own vehicle referring to the road information and the added information registered to the shared object and to the traveling environment information of the vicinity of the one'"'"'s own vehicle.

6. A vehicle travel control apparatus, characterized by comprising:

a plurality of operating systems (OS1, OS2); and

a shared object (CO) having a memory resource which can be referred to from the plurality of operating systems, wherein the shared object (CO) shares at least road information, and the road information registered by the application of one of the operating systems can be referred to from the application of the other operating system.

7. A vehicle travel control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein while one of the operating systems registers road information to the shared object or refers to the road information, the shared object (CO) prohibits the other operating system from register road information to the shared object or from referring to the road information.

8. A vehicle travel control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein when one of the operating systems registers road information to the shared object or refers to the road information, the shared object (CO) notifies the other operating system that road information is registered to the shared object or the road information is referred to.

9. A vehicle travel control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the application of one of the operating systems analyzes a signal received through broadcasting or communication and extracts road information as well as registers road information to the shared object, and the application of the other operating system controls the traveling speed of a one'"'"' own vehicle referring to the road information registered to the shared object.

10. A vehicle travel control apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the application of one of the operating systems analyzes the signal received through the broadcasting or the communication and extracts information added to the road information as well as registers the added information to the shared object, and the application of the other operating system controls the traveling speed of the one'"'"'s own vehicle referring to the road information and the added information registered to the shared object and to the traveling environment information of the vicinity of the one'"'"'s own vehicle.